Goodluck Jonathan

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Challenger Claims Historic Victory in Nigeria

Muhammadu Buhari defeats incumbent democratically for first time

(Newser) - Opposition candidate and onetime military ruler Muhammadu Buhari unceremoniously dumped incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria's presidential elections today by a tally that Reuters puts at 15.4 million to 13.3 million. "This is the first time in Nigeria that a sitting government will be voted out of...

Nigeria Postpones Elections Amid Boko Haram Crisis

Officials say voters' safety can't be ensured on original date of Feb. 14

(Newser) - Nigeria is postponing presidential and legislative elections until March 28 because security forces fighting an Islamic extremist uprising cannot ensure voters' safety around the country, the electoral commission announced today, a week before the vote was scheduled to occur. Millions could be disenfranchised if voting originally scheduled for Feb. 14...

Nigeria's New Casualties: Parents of Kidnapped Girls

11 dead as attacks, trauma-related illnesses take their toll

(Newser) - Whether Nigeria's 219 kidnapped schoolgirls will ever come home to Chibok is an open question, but some of them will definitely never see their parents again. Seven fathers were killed this month in an attack on a nearby village, the AP reports, and heart failure, high blood pressure, and...

'Happy Ending' Not Likely in Hunt for Nigerian Girls

Soldiers losing morale as president avoids Chibok

(Newser) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan today called off what was to be his first reported visit to Chibok since hundreds of girls were taken from the town last month. The AP reports security reasons were a factor after news of the visit leaked and reports surfaced of fresh attacks in the...

Nigerian Girls Likely Split Up by Now

US team arrives in country to help

(Newser) - About a dozen members of a US team have arrived in Nigeria to help with the hunt for the kidnapped girls , reports Voice of America , but the effort gets tougher by the day. "We do think they have been broken up into smaller groups," says a Pentagon official....

Boko Haram Stages Massacre as Nigeria Offers $300K for Girls

Reports say brutal attack in village killed at least 150

(Newser) - Nigeria is apparently feeling the international pressure over its kidnapped girls, with the national police offering a $300,000 reward today for information that leads to their rescue, reports the BBC . (The move comes a day after President Obama promised that a US team would help the cause.) But...

Obama: We'll 'Do Everything We Can' to Find Nigeria Girls

US team joins hunt, will include psychologists, investigators

(Newser) - President Obama has promised that the US will "do everything we can to recover" the 276 schoolgirls seized by militants in Nigeria three weeks ago. A White House spokesman says the team the US is sending to the country will include military and law enforcement personnel skilled in intelligence,...

US Sending Team to Nigeria to Help Find Kidnapped Girls

State Dept. says it will 'do everything we can to free these young women'

(Newser) - Today began with one of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls telling of her escape from Boko Haram , quickly followed by the kidnapping of eight more schoolgirls in the country's northeast, and is now met with the news that the United States is sending in a response team to assist Nigeria....

Police Collect Body Parts After Huge Nigeria Blast

71 dead, at least 124 others wounded, dozens of vehicles destroyed

(Newser) - A massive explosion ripped through a busy commuter bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital of Abuja this morning, leaving 71 dead and 124 wounded, according to police. Reporters saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts, as well as ambulances rushing the wounded to the hospital. The...

Nigeria Quietly Bans Gay Marriage

New law also bans homosexual displays of affection

(Newser) - Nigeria has quietly signed a controversial law banning same-sex marriage, along with gay clubs, organizations, and public displays of homosexual affection. How quietly? Well, the legislature passed it back on Dec. 17, and President Goodluck Jonathan signed it last Tuesday, according to a copy obtained by the AP, but it'...

Nigeria Launches 'Massive' Crackdown on Boko Haram

Goodluck Jonathan says recent attacks call for 'extraordinary measures'

(Newser) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has declared a state of emergency ( again ; though last time it was just smaller local areas) and launched a "massive" crackdown on Boko Haram, following a series of recent attacks. "I hereby declare a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states,...

Nigeria Bomb Kills at Least 5
  Nigeria Bomb Kills at Least 5 
Apr 8, 2012 7:23 AM CDT

Nigeria Bomb Kills at Least 5

Death toll expected to climb in Easter violence

(Newser) - A car bomb killed at least five people today in a central Nigerian city that has seen hundreds die in religious and ethnic violence in recent years, amid warnings by diplomats of possible terrorist attacks during the Easter holiday, officials said. The blast struck Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna state,...

Nigeria Cuts Fuel Prices, Halting Strikes

But some say renewed subsidies fall short

(Newser) - Strikes that shut down Nigeria's economy last week are off—at least temporarily—after the country's president announced new fuel subsidies. President Goodluck Jonathan has slashed fuel prices by a third to 97 naira per liter, or $2.27 per gallon, after they more than doubled Jan. 1,...

Enemy Boko Haram Has Infiltrated Gov't: Nigeria Prez

Goodluck Jonathan comments on Boko Haram

(Newser) - Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan warned yesterday that supporters of the violent Islamic group Boko Haram , which organized a wave of bombings over Christmas that killed dozens of people, have infiltrated the government and military at all levels, reports the BBC . "Some of them are in the executive arm...

Nigeria Declares Emergency After Attacks

It's battling radical sect Boko Haram

(Newser) - Nigeria's president today declared a state of emergency in parts of Africa's most populous nation, after a recent slew of deadly attacks blamed on a radical Muslim sect killed dozens of people. President Goodluck Jonathan declared an indefinite state of emergency in four states, which would all allow...

Nigeria Prez Sworn In, Bomb Blast Rocks City

Several die as Goodluck Jonathan starts term

(Newser) - A bomb blast rocked the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi within hours of the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday. Several people were killed, but an exact death toll was not released. A second minor blast hit a beer hall just outside the capital of Abuja, where the president was...

Nigerian Riots Leave Charred Corpses, Houses, Cars

At least 31 bodies found in Kaduna alone

(Newser) - The deadly rioting following Nigeria's presidential election has gotten worse: Mobs yesterday ran the streets of Kaduna, which separates the country's Muslim north from the Christian south, burning homes, churches, and police stations and leaving charred bodies in the streets. The AP reports that Muslim rioters started the...

Thousands Flee Nigeria Election Riots

Many killed as Buhari supporters torch homes, churches

(Newser) - Goodluck Jonathan's victory in Nigeria's presidential election has sparked deadly rioting across the nation's predominately Muslim north. The Nigerian Red Cross says many people have been killed and thousands more displaced by violence involving supporters of Jonathan's defeated rival Muhammadu Buhari, Reuters reports. Homes and churches...

Goodluck Jonathan Elected Nigeria Prez

But irregularities raise questions

(Newser) - Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People's Democratic Party appears to have won a decisive victory in Nigeria's most peaceful elections ever, with 20.3 million votes. The tally is nearly double that of his closest rival, according to an early report by the BBC . Jonathan, who has been...

Goodluck Jonathan Wins Nigeria Primary

Incumbent's victory lays bare north-south tensions

(Newser) - Incumbent Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has won a landslide victory in his party's primary, but his defeated opponent warns that instability looms in Africa's most populous country. Jonathan—who came to power when the elected president died last year —is a Christian from Nigeria's south. His candidacy violates an...

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