#nigeria

#nigeria

Nigeria will deploy an army battalion to a district in the west of the country where suspected jihadist fighters killed 170 people in attacks in two villages in the region on Tuesday night, the office of the president has said. In the country's deadliest armed assault this year, gunmen attacked Woro and Nuku villages in Kaiama district in Kwara state, shooting residents, razing homes and looting shops.

All 166 people who were kidnapped during an attack on a village and churches in Kurmin Wali in northern Nigeria's Kaduna State last month have been released, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said. Reverend John Hayab, chairman of the northern chapter of CAN, said on Thursday that every abducted worshipper had now returned, without giving details on whether a ransom was paid or how the release was secured, the Reuters news agency reported.

Armed extremists attacked a pair of villages in western Nigeria overnight, a lawmaker and medics said on Wednesday, killing at least 162 people in one of the deadliest assaults of its kind in recent months. The attacks targeted the villages of Woro and Nuku in Kwara state, Mohammed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the area, told the Associated Press.

Gunmen known locally as bandits arrived in the village in numbers, armed with AK47 rifles. They broke down doors and ordered people out of their homes and the village's three churches. They blocked the village exits before taking people and marching dozens into the forest at gunpoint. Some captives were taken from church, while others were forcibly kidnapped as gunmen moved from house to house. In one house, more than 30 members of an extended family were abducted.

They offered a rare window into the lives, struggles and aspirations of African Americans, and a way for me to feel connected to a community far beyond my immediate environment. Through Ebony, I was introduced to towering figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Their courage, moral clarity and commitment to justice shaped how I thought leadership and service.

The acquisition brings together two of Africa's leading fintech infrastructure companies. Flutterwave operates one of the continent's widest payments networks, while Mono, often described as the "Plaid for Africa," has built APIs that allow businesses to access bank data, initiate payments, and verify customers. Mono has raised about $17.5 million from investors, including Tiger Global, General Catalyst, and Target Global.

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have passed their condolences to the families of Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, the two friends who died in a car crash in Nigeria this week in which Anthony Joshua was also injured. Ayodele, also known as Latz, was a personal trainer of Joshua, while Ghami acted as strength and conditioning coach for the 36-year-old boxer. Joshua remains in hospital in Lagos where he was described by his management team as being in a stable condition.

"ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not see for many years, and even Centuries!"

In his announcement, Trump said the strikes were aimed at Islamic State militants who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries! A Defense Department official told the Associated Press that the US worked with Nigeria to carry out the strikes, and that they'd been approved by that country's government.

Trump's rhetoric risks recasting criminal violence and state failure as a religious war with devastating consequences for civilians. In early November, United States President Donald Trump declared that Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, he accused radical Islamists of mass slaughter and warned that the US may very well go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing.

Amid reports of gunfire and civilians scampering to safety in the economic capital, Cotonou, Beninese and others across the region waited with bated breath as conflicting intelligence emerged. The small group of putschists, on the one hand, declared victory, but Benin's forces and government officials said the plot had failed. By evening, the situation was clear Benin's government was still standing.