Vol 43 No 9 | NIGERIA The Generals' election 3rd May 2002 The military has helped tear the country apart but civilians still defer to the soldiers and politicians It is a measure of Nigeria's political class that in next year's presidential election, the two most likely candidates - Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari - are retired...
Vol 43 No 9 | NIGERIA Khaki blues, business suits 3rd May 2002 Civilian rule, even by a retired general, does not suit the army The army is back at the centre of politics, three years after it handed over to an elected government whose head, President Olusegun Obasanjo, is himself a recycled...
Vol 43 No 5 | NIGERIA Blitzing the banks 8th March 2002 In its attempt to clean up the banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria risks sparking a crisis. It wants to deter banks and multinationals from dealing on the...
Vol 43 No 4 | NIGERIA Crossed lines 22nd February 2002 Africa's biggest privatisation so far, the US$1.3 billion deal for control of Nitel, Nigeria's state telecoms company, is unravelling. A consortium of Nigerian businesses, banks, state governments and...
Vol 43 No 3 | NIGERIA Torrents of trouble 8th February 2002 Policy failures and political ambitions lie behind the latest tragedies and threaten the government When British Prime Minister Tony Blair visits President Olusegun Obasanjo this week, he will find his host facing something like a civil war. Officially, the two leaders will...
Vol 43 No 3 | NIGERIA New parties, new plots 8th February 2002 The chief sponsor of the new party movement is Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, the former military leader who bankrolls the United National Democratic Party (UNDP), run by the veteran...
Vol 43 No 1 | NIGERIA Murdering sleep 11th January 2002 The murder of Attorney General and veteran politician Chief Bola Ige on 23 December raises new doubts about the prospect of free elections in 2003. He was murdered...
Vol 42 No 25 | NIGERIA Octopus at work 21st December 2001 Opus Dei, a secretive organisation favoured by Pope John-Paul II, hopes to sign up more followers in Africa, where only 1,500 of its 80,000 members are estimated to...
Vol 42 No 22 | NIGERIA Unknown soldiers 9th November 2001 A massacre of more than 200 Tiv causes ructions in the military and the federation When Nigerian soldiers slaughtered more than 200 civilians in Benue State, they called into question the moral basis of President Olusegun Obasanjo's government. The Obasanjo regime, in contrast...
Vol 42 No 17 | NIGERIA Northern Lights 31st August 2001 The north wants to rule again but its two strongest candidates are deadly rivals General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is once more at the centre of Nigerian politics. As he celebrated his 60th birthday in Saudi Arabia on 17 August, many northern Nigerians...