Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria — Mary Enweasor, who runs a tiny shop selling drinks and snacks in Nigeria's biggest city, had saved up for some new shoes but was unsure where to buy them. The quality of footwear in Lagos's sprawling markets was questionable. The door-to-door saleswoman's range was limited. The flashy new mall was too expensive. So Enweasor called her sister, who had Internet access at work. The next day, a motorcycle stopped on the narrow, potholed road outside Enweasor's shop, and the Konga.com courier handed her a package...

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Mobile phone service was cut off Thursday in areas of northeast Nigeria as jet fighters streaked through the sky and more soldiers were deployed to fight Islamic extremists waging a brutal insurgency. Witnesses saw low-flying Nigerian jet fighters over Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, which President Goodluck Jonathan placed under emergency rule on Tuesday along with Borno and Yobe states. However, soldiers have met "no resistance" yet from extremists who have taken...

OPOROZA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's last prominent militant leader agreed to halt fighting in the oil-producing Niger Delta and surrendered his weapons on Sunday in return for an unconditional pardon. Tompolo, whose gunmen were behind many attacks on the oil industry in the western Niger Delta, handed over rocket launchers, machine guns and explosives to Defense Minister Godwin Abbe at his camp in Oporoza in the creeks of Delta state. "It is an act of patriotism that Tompolo and his group surrendered their arms," Abbe...

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria rumbled to a war footing Wednesday as soldiers and equipment moved into its northeastern states as part of an emergency military campaign against Islamic extremists waging a bloody insurgency. In the last two days, Associated Press journalists and witnesses have seen armored tanks and soldiers moving through major roads and cities in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Those states, crossing an arid region of some 155,000 square kilometers (60,000 square miles)

The first time Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ever had to convince Barack Obama of anything was back in 2005. At the time, Obama was an ambitious young senator from Illinois with a keen interest in foreign affairs. Okonjo-Iweala was Nigeria's blunt-speaking finance minister, traversing the globe to convince the world's wealthiest nations that they should ease her country's debt burden. "Everybody was saying that this could never be done . . . that it would never happen," Okonjo-Iweala recounted at...

LAGOS, Nigeria — An ethnic militia killed at least 20 police officers who launched a raid to try and arrest them in central Nigeria, a police commissioner said Wednesday. The attack in Alakio, a village in Nasarawa state, saw the officers ambushed Tuesday when they tried to stop the gang that was forcing locals to take a blood oath, police commissioner Abayomi Akermale said. Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people, has some 250 ethnicities. Such ethnic...

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria rumbled to a war footing Wednesday as soldiers and equipment moved into its northeastern states as part of an emergency military campaign against Islamic extremists waging a bloody insurgency. In the last two days, Associated Press journalists and witnesses have seen armored tanks and soldiers moving through major roads and cities in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Those states, crossing an arid region of some 155,000 square kilometers (60,000...

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Authorities: At least 42 people killed in Islamic extremist attacks in northeast Nigeria. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria president declares state of emergency in 3 states because of Islamic extremist attacks. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BERLIN — A German ship operator says five crew members kidnapped from one of its ships off the coast of Nigeria last month have been released. The five Polish and Russian citizens were seized April 26 from the container ship City of Xiamen. The shipping company Sunship Schiffartskontor KG said they were released Saturday and are in good health. The company said in a statement the five have already returned to their home countries. The shipping company didn't...

LAGOS, Nigeria — Conceding that Islamic extremists control some of his country's villages and towns, Nigeria's president declared a state of emergency Tuesday across the troubled northeast, promising to send more troops to fight what he said is now an open rebellion. President Goodluck Jonathan, speaking live on state radio and television networks, also warned that any building suspected of housing Islamic extremists would be taken over in what he described as the "war" now facing Africa's most populous nation.

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria president declares state of emergency in 3 states because of Islamic extremist attacks. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

LAGOS, Nigeria — Mary Enweasor, who runs a tiny shop selling drinks and snacks in Nigeria's biggest city, had saved up for some new shoes but was unsure where to buy them. The quality of footwear in Lagos's sprawling markets was questionable. The door-to-door saleswoman's range was limited. The flashy new mall was too expensive. So Enweasor called her sister, who had Internet access at work. The next day, a motorcycle stopped on the narrow, potholed road outside Enweasor's shop, and the Konga.com courier handed her...

BERLIN — A German ship operator says five crew members kidnapped from one of its ships off the coast of Nigeria last month have been released. The five Polish and Russian citizens were seized April 26 from the container ship City of Xiamen. The shipping company Sunship Schiffartskontor KG said they were released Saturday and are in good health. The company said in a statement the five have already returned to their home countries. The shipping company didn't detail...

LAGOS, Nigeria — The leader of an Islamic extremist group in Nigeria says his group has started kidnapping women and children as part of its bloody guerrilla campaign against the country's government, according to a video released Monday. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says the kidnappings are retaliation for Nigerian security forces routinely imprisoning the wives and children of his group's members. The video shows 12 children, a mix of boys and girls, though...

The May 8 editorial " Tactics under fire ," about the recent confrontation between Boko Haram militants and Nigerian government forces in the town of Baga, calls for a thorough investigation and accountability. Our government is taking resolute actions to ensure that both are accomplished swiftly and effectively. Upon learning of the incident — in which Nigerian security forces and troops from Cameroon, Chad and Niger were called on to repel a Boko Haram assault in this border region — President Goodluck...

It's easy to overlook Tony Skinn's name in a quick scan of the Ni­ger­ian men's basketball team's roster. Guard, Anthony Oludewa Skinn, Number 4. "Obviously Anthony is my real name," said Skinn, "But, I don't know if they wanted to make my name to sound more Nigerian, so they put my middle name down. " The starting point guard for George Mason's Cinderella Final Four team, Skinn hasn't been back to Nigeria since he moved from there to Maryland when he was 2 years old. During his time with the...

FOR WEEKS after a clash between the Ni­ger­ian army and Islamic militants last month in the remote fishing village of Baga, it was difficult for outsiders to determine what had happened. Residents who fled to the state capital told the New York Times and human rights organizations that at least 180 people had been killed when the army went on a rampage, burning much of the village of thatch-roofed homes and shooting residents as they tried to flee. Ni­ger­ian officials claimed that only a...

LAGOS, Nigeria — Known for bringing in celebrities and smiling in photographs next to former Western leaders, a flamboyant Nigerian newspaper publisher now faces a challenge from his most vocal critics — his own employees. Workers have barricaded the front of ThisDay newspapers in Lagos, hoping to force publisher Nduka Obaigbena into paying them as much as four months' worth of back salaries due to them. Back pay disputes often hit industries in Nigeria, a country where steady paying...