Last December I met the impressive Omoyele Sowore, founder of Nigerian online news site, Sahara Reporters. I was chairing an independent media panel in Brooklyn ahead of the World Social Forum in Dakar. Sowore was one of the panelists. Based in New York City, Sahara Reporters have broken a number of big stories, including events around […]
Yar’Adua est mort
May 5, 2010 By 2 Comments
Al Jazeera English is first out of the gate with an analysis of the life of the Nigerian President who died yesterday, but has been bedridden and in hiding for months–first in Saudi Arabia from November last year till February this year and from then at his official residence–while his appropriately named deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, […]
Good luck, Mr Jonathan
February 11, 2010 By 1 Comment
I could not resist the pun on the new Nigerian President’s name. Al-Jazeera English this week showed gruesome footage of Nigerian soldiers and police executing innocent people in broad daylight. The footage was taken last year when the Nigerian government claimed that it had defeated the Islamist rebel group, Boko Haram. (I can only image what […]
The Case of the Missing President
January 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Nigeria’s been without a President for at least two months. The incumbent, Umaru Yar’Adua, is in Saudi Arabia getting treatment for a heart condition. So the country’s effectively been without a leader all this time. This is in a context where the Nigeria’s now been placed on the US’s list of countries identified with terrorism […]
