Nigeria

The local government elections on 5 December were good news for Nigeria and bad news for the presidential frontrunner and former military leader, General Olusegun Obasanjo. There was...

If General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s government cannot sort out the oil business, its brokering of a political transition may not amount to much. Six months ago,when Gen. Sani Abacha...

Former military leader General Olusegun Obasanjo’s bid for the Presidency in February’s elections has attracted a strange coalition of supporters: genuine patriots fearful of the breakup of the country,...

After four years as a virtual pariah, Nigeria was feted at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meeting as a rare bright spot on a sea...

Party politics are back in Nigeria with all their ebullience and razamatazz. Alongside marching bands more than 10,000 supporters waving party flags packed out Abuja’s central parade ground...

‘After General Abacha you have a rather easy act to follow, don’t you?’ Lola Alakija, a feisty TV interviewer asked Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar on 7...

One appointment and one non-appointment stand out in the 31-strong new Federal Executive Council announced by General Abdulsalaami Abubakar on 22 August just before his threeday trip to...

For Nigeria's soldier-politicians, the so-called 'militicians', GeneralAbdulsalaam Abubakar's plan to return the country to civilian rule by next June, announced on 21 July, looks too much like a...

Although the sudden death of Chief Moshood Abiola (60) happened in the presence of a visiting United States’ delegation on 7 July, it has nevertheless raised suspicions of...

For a regime which proclaims continuity with its predecessor, the new order in Abuja under General Abdulsalaam Abubakar is making some major changes to the political script written...

Abuja’s hoteliers are among the most obvious beneficiaries of General SaniAbacha’ sdemiseon8June.Sincethen,theinlandcapital’ s hotels and guest houses have been full of would-be advisors, influence- pedlars, contract-seekers and curious...

As enigmatic in death as in life, General Sani Abacha died suddenly in the early hours of 7 June. He left many Nigerians puzzling over whether it was...

The death sentences handed down on 28 April to six convicted coup plotters - all from the Yoruba south-west - will do little to settle the unease in...

The appointment of Federal Capital Territory Minister Lieutenant General Jerry Useni as head of a taskforce to tackle the chronic gasolene and diesel shortage is having little effect....

What have Indonesia and Nigeria got in common? On the face of it, almost everything - deepening economic crises, embattled military leaders, a web of corruption and nepotism...

True to his word, his supporters say, General Sani Abacha is determined to hand over to a civilian successor in October - himself. A year ago, that script...

Universally known as 'MD', former spymaster and police chief Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko Yusufu (66) has emerged as the most credible challenger to General Sani Abacha's as yet unannounced...

The detention at London's Gatwick airport on 24 March of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, and his family after it was claimed that drugs valued at...

General Sani Abacha is pulling out all the stops to gain maximum political advantage from the latest alleged coup plot. Videotaped scenes from interrogations of the accused, including...

On the face it, the 21 December allegation that the Deputy Head of State, Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya, Major General Tunji Olanrewaju, Maj. Gen. Abdulkarim Adisa and eight...