Vol 46 No 24 | NIGERIA Tummy tuck, bellyache 2nd December 2005 The dramatic farce in Bayelsa State is about money, not local patriotism 'Thank heaven for the return of our father,' sang several thousand supporters of the Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Solomon Alamieyeseigha, on 21 November, the morning of his return...
Vol 46 No 23 | NIGERIA Ten years after 18th November 2005 The Niger Delta still simmers a decade after the execution of its leading campaigner The legacy of writer-campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa a decade after his execution is secure. Saro-Wiwa put the worsening political and environmental crisis of the Niger Delta, the country's key...
Vol 46 No 23 | NIGERIA Abacha's verdict 18th November 2005 Ken Saro-Wiwa was a dangerous separatist 'who presented himself as an environmentalist and human rights activist before the international community', who was guilty of heinous crimes that demanded...
Vol 46 No 21 | NIGERIA No truce yet 21st October 2005 The battle between President Obasanjo and his deputy rages on and may sink the ruling party too Hopes of a ceasefire or even a deal between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar have evaporated despite high level attempts at reconciliation (AC Vol 46 No...
Vol 46 No 18 | NIGERIA Power show 9th September 2005 The epic battle between President Obasanjo and his deputy Abubakar is jolting the fragile political system Locked in a deadly embrace, President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy Atiku Abubakar look like two men struggling on a cliff edge as they try to hurl each...
Vol 46 No 18 | NIGERIA Players on parade 9th September 2005 If the battle between President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, is fired by the presidential race in 2007, what will happen if neither of them runs?...
Vol 46 No 17 | NIGERIA Opening the gates 26th August 2005 Will a public auction of oil blocks break the cycle of patronage and corruption? Nigeria's biggest ever oil licensing round this weekend will test President Olusegun Obasanjo's bold promises to fight corruption, which helped to secure a massive write-off on the country's...
Vol 46 No 15 | NIGERIA The net widens 22nd July 2005 Having uncovered illegal commissions of $170 million on the gas export plant, investigators have uncovered many more payment routes Investigators searching for hundreds of millions of dollars of corrupt payments linked to Nigeria's gas export plant have uncovered new channels for the payments through Kenya's Transnational Bank...
Vol 46 No 15 | NIGERIA Notes on a scandal 22nd July 2005 Wojciech Chodan, an executive with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), has emerged as the Samuel Pepys of the Nigeria gas scandal. At many key meetings, Chodan...
Vol 46 No 14 | NIGERIA Talking it over 8th July 2005 Against expectation, the national conference is becoming a force for change Basking in the glory of securing a two-thirds cut in Nigeria's US$34 billion foreign debt and the more ambiguous achievement of being British Prime Minister Tony Blair's new...