Church Bombings Are Declaration of War, Say Nigerian Christians
THE GUARDIAN: Head of Christian group criticises Muslim leaders and government for failing to intervene after series of deadly attacks

Christian leaders in Nigeria have accused Muslims of making a "declaration of war" after a series of fatal attacks, raising fears of sectarian conflict.

Islamist militants targeted churches in a series of explosions on Christmas Day, leaving more than 40 people dead and dozens wounded. On Tuesday a Christian couple and their one-year-old baby were shot dead.

Stirring tensions further, on the same day unknown attackers lobbed a crude homemade bomb into an Islamic school in Delta state, wounding seven people including six children in an Arabic class.

Nigeria is largely divided into a Muslim north and Christian south, although members of the two faiths live everywhere across the country, do business together and intermarry.

With the shadowy Islamist sect Boko Haram stepping up deadly attacks in recent months, Christian leaders have warned that they will take action to protect themselves. » | David Smith in Johannesburg | Thursday, December 29, 2011

Nigeria’s Proposal to Criminalize Same-Sex Marriage
BOX TURTLE BULLETIN: A BTB reader found a copy of Nigeria’s latest proposal to not just ban same-sex marriage (it’s already illegal in Nigeria), but to impose criminal penalties on anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage — as well as for anyone who “witnesses, abets and aids the solemnization of a same gender marriage contract.” The penalty for entering into a same-sex marriage under the proposed measure would be three years’ imprisonment. The penalty for witnessing/aiding/abeting a marriage would bring five years imprisonment or a fine of ₦2,000 (2,000 naria, or US$13 in a country where the average annual income is US$1,200). If a group of persons witness/aid/abet a marriage, the fine is ₦50,000. It’s unclear whether two people at a wedding would be considered two individuals or a group. The bill also does not define what constitutes witnessing, abetting or aiding in the solemnization of a marriage. » | Jim Burroway | Thursday, September 29, 2011

Nigeria Boko Haram Islamists ‘Bomb Maiduguri Drinkers’

BBC: A bomb attack in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Maiduguri has killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens, security sources say.

They say they believe the attack, which occurred in a beer garden, was carried out by the Islamist sect Boko Haram.

The group wants to establish an Islamic government in Nigeria.

It has carried out a number of bombings in north-eastern Nigeria, as well as an attack on police headquarters in the capital Abuja earlier this month.

Gunmen on two motorcycles attacked a packed beer garden late on Sunday, officials said.

"The attackers believed to be Boko Haram members threw bombs and fired indiscriminate gun shots on a packed tavern at Dala Kabompi neighbourhood, killing at least 25 people and seriously injuring around 30 others," an unnamed police officer told the AFP news agency. » | Monday, June 27, 2011

Nigeria's Gay Church Is Reborn amid a Climate of Fear
THE GUARDIAN: House of Rainbow church offers underground prayer and preaching to Christians ostracised by rampant homophobia

When Ade's aunt learned he was gay, the then 16-year-old Nigerian was made to go through an exorcism to expel "the demon of homosexuality".

"The priest came to the house with candles, holy water and anointing oils. I had to kneel down, holding candles in my hands," recalls Ade, now 25, as he sits in a cafe in Lagos. He does not wish to reveal his full name. "He kept shouting 'Come out! Come out! Come out!' in a fevered voice … I was allowed to go back to church after that but I had to pretend to be straight."

In a country where homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, it is no surprise that many of Ade's friends – those who, like him, are both gay and religious – stay away from church altogether for fear of being outed.

However, an alternative could soon be at hand. Ade is helping to resurrect a religious refuge for himself and his friends. He is part of the team restarting House of Rainbow, the country's only gay church, which was forced to close in 2008 after a witch-hunt stirred by exposés in local newspapers.

The Rev Rowland Jide Macaulay, the gay minister who founded the church, is leading the comeback even though he remains in self-imposed exile in London.

"Religion is a backbone to life in Nigeria, so we all want to go to church," he says. "But we don't want to lie to God about who we are." » | Shyamantha Asokan in Lagos | Sunday, April 24, 2011

Nigeria 'Drops Corruption Charge Against Dick Cheney'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Corruption charges against Dick Cheney, the former US Vice-President, have been dropped after Halliburton, the oil firm he used to run, agreed to pay $250 million in fines, according to reports.

Mr Cheney, who was chief executive of Halliburton between 1995 and 2000, and three other bosses were last week charged with bribery by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The company itself and four related businesses were also charged. It is alleged that bribes were paid to Nigerian officials to secure contracts for the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in the Niger delta.

Nigerian newspapers reported on Wednesday that the charges had been dropped after a deal was struck with help from George H.W. Bush, the former US President. >>> Jon Swaine, New York | Thursday, December 16, 2010

Related articles here and here

Nigeria klagt Dick Cheney an
Afrikanischer Staat wirft ehemaligem US-Vizepräsidenten Korruption vor
NZZ ONLINE: Der ehemalige amerikanische Vizepräsident Dick Cheney sieht sich in Nigeria mit einer Klage wegen Korruption konfrontiert. Das Vorgehen steht im Zusammenhang mit dem Bau einer Flüssiggasanlage durch den Energiekonzern Halliburton, dessen Chef Cheney war.

Der ehemalige amerikanische Vizepräsident Dick Cheney sieht sich in Nigeria mit einer Klage wegen Korruption konfrontiert. Das Vorgehen steht im Zusammenhang mit dem Bau einer Flüssiggasanlage durch den Energiekonzern Halliburton, dessen Chef Cheney war.

Die nigerianischen Staatsanwaltschaft hat gegen den früheren amerikanischen Vizepräsidenten Dick Cheney Anklage wegen Korruption erhoben. Die Vorwürfe stehen im Zusammenhang mit dem Bau einer Flüssiggasanlage durch den amerikanischen Energiekonzern Halliburton im Süden Nigerias. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> sda | Dienstag, 07. Dezember 2010

Nigeria vs. Dick Cheney
Korruptionsvorwürfe gegen früheren US-Vizepräsidenten
Dick Cheney, Aufnahme vom Mai 2009. Bild: NZZ Online
NZZ ONLINE: Wegen Korruption will Nigeria Anklage gegen den früheren US-Vizepräsidenten Dick Cheney erheben. Als Chef des Erdölkonzerns Halliburton soll er selbst in die Bestechung nigerianischer Beamter involviert gewesen sein.

Wie ein Sprecher der nigerianischen Anti-Korruptionsbehörde, Femi Babafemi, am Donnerstag mitteilte, soll die offizielle Anklageschrift Anfang nächster Woche vorliegen. Die Vorwürfe beträfen Schmiergeldzahlungen im Zusammenhang mit dem Bau einer Flüssiggasanlage durch den US-Energiekonzern Halliburton im Süden Nigerias. Insgesamt sollen zwischen 1995 und 2005 Schiergelder [sic] von 182 Millionen Dollar geflossen sein. >>> afp | Donnerstag, 02. Dezember 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nigeria 'to charge Dick Cheney': Nigeria is to charge Dick Cheney, the former US Vice-President, over a bribery scandal that involves a former subsidiary of energy firm Halliburton. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Thursday, December 02, 2010

From The Koran. Image: Google Images
Islamic Police Smash 80,000 Beer Bottles in Nigeria
YAHOO! NEWS: KANO, Nigeria – Islamic police smashed 80,000 bottles of beer in the Nigerian city of Kano on Tuesday to enforce a sharia law ban on consumption of alcohol that exists in much of the country's north.

Over a dozen veiled female sharia police, called Hisbah, destroyed the beer bottles with sticks amid shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) on the outskirts of the northern city in a ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by government officials as part of "efforts to rid the state of immorality," said Kano state Hisbah chief Saidu Dukawa. Kano city is the capital of the state by the same name.

"The sale and consumption of alcohol, like all forms of drugs and intoxicants, is illegal in Kano state, which practices sharia law and by this event we are enforcing that ban," Dukawa told AFP. >>> AFP | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

HT: Jihad Watch >>>

DAILY EXPRESS: This is what Muslims want for the UK! >>>

Nigeria: Court to Hear Child-bride Case
ASSOCIATED PRESS: ABUJA, Nigeria — A Nigerian federal court will hear a case over whether the West African nation's religious freedom and privacy laws allow a Muslim senator to marry a 13-year-old girl, the latest rift in a country split between Christians and Muslims.

The lawsuit filed by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria on behalf of Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima challenges the country's child protection laws that ban women from marrying before age 18. The suit, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, claims that Yerima's constitutional rights are being trampled over the controversy surrounding his alleged marriage to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl.

"The Nigerian constitution guarantees and protects the privacy of any citizen (and) his family member ... against invasion, intrusion and interference," the lawsuit reads. >>> Bashir Adigun, AP | Friday, June 04, 2010

Nigerian President Dead at 58

Christmas Day Bomber Shown Shooting Union Jack in Training Video

TIMES ONLINE: A video showing the failed Christmas Day plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab training with al-Qaeda in Yemen has been broadcast on America’s ABC television.

The video, which shows the 23-year-old Nigerian and other militants shooting at targets that include a Union Jack, a Jewish star and one labelled UN, appears to support Mr Abdulmutallab’s statements to American intelligence that there are “others like me” training in the Yemen to carry out attacks aginst Western targets.

Mr Abdulmutallab is charged with attempting to bring down a Detroit bound airliner on Christams Day by detonating explosives hidden in his underwear. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges but has been cooperating with US intelligence agencies interviewing him, discussing his contacts in Yemen and providing intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, according to US officials.

He is shown on the tape making an apparent martyrdom statement in Arabic, justifying his actions as part of a battle against: “the enemy is in your lands with their armies, the Jews and the Christians and their agents.”

He also reads several passages from the Koran, adding “God said if you do not fight back, He will punish you and replace you.”
According to ABC News, which obtained and broadcast the tape on Monday, the video was produced by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. >>> Times Online | Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Divide Nigeria in Two, Says Muammar Gaddafi
BBC: Nigeria should be divided into two nations to avoid further bloodshed between Muslims and Christians, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said.

In a speech to students, he praised the example of India and Pakistan, where he said partition saved many lives.

Splitting Nigeria "would stop the bloodshed and burning of places of worship," state news agency Jana quoted him as saying.

A senior Nigerian diplomat said he was not taking the suggestion seriously.

Hundreds of people have died in communal violence in villages around the central Nigerian city of Jos this year.

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says Col Gaddafi's suggestion is unsurprising given his past form.

Last year, he called for Switzerland to be abolished and for its land to be divided between Italy, Germany and France. >>> | Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Nigeria : des chrétiens massacrés dans un village
L'attaque est survenue dans la bourgade de Byei, à une quinzaine de kilomètres au sud de Jos, la capitale de l'Etat du Plateau. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Au moins 13 villageois, dont des femmes et des enfants, ont été tués à la machette et brûlés mercredi par des éleveurs musulmans. Une énième poussée de violences dans ce pays en proie depuis 2001 à des conflits interreligieux.

Nouvel épisode de violences interreligieuses au Nigeria. Au moins 13 villageois chrétiens, dont des femmes et des enfants, ont été tués mercredi par des éleveurs musulmans. L'attaque est survenue vers 1h30 dans la bourgade de Byei, à une quinzaine de kilomètres au sud de Jos, la capitale de l'Etat du Plateau. Une zone majoritairement chrétienne et peuplée par l'ethnie berom. Les assaillants, qui seraient quant à eux issus de l'ethnie d'éleveurs fulani (à majorité musulmane, ndlr), étaient déguisés en militaires lors de leur raid, selon ces mêmes sources.

«Je peux confirmer que 13 personnes sont mortes et six autres ont été grièvement blessées. Elles ont été admises dans un hôpital de missionnaires», près de Jos, a déclaré un haut responsable local. «Le gouvernement fera tout ce qui est en son pouvoir pour traduire les assaillants devant la justice», a-t-il ajouté.

Mercredi soir, sept personnes suspectées d'avoir participé à ce massacre ont été arrêtées en possession d'armes, a annoncé un porte-parole de l'armée, tandis que le gouverneur de l'Etat Jonah Jang a lancé un appel au calme à la télévision.

«Ce que j'ai vu dans le village est très triste, a expliqué un responsable gouvernemental sous couvert d'anonymat. J'ai vu les cadavres de femmes, dont certaines étaient très vieilles, celui d'un enfant qui devait avoir moins de cinq ans, et celui d'une femme qui était brulée, avec un enfant sur son dos.» >>> Par Le Figaro | Mercredi 17 Mar 2010

Nigerian Security Forces on Alert After New Burst of Sectarian Violence*
TIMES ONLINE: Nigeria's security forces have been put on high alert after a new burst of sectarian violence left over 500 people dead, most of them women and children hacked to death by machete wielding gangs.

The attack happened before dawn on Sunday morning when gangs of men descended on several mainly Christian villages near the central city of Jos, firing guns as they approached. Witnesses of the attack, which centred on the village of Dogo-Nahawa, described how victims were caught in animal traps and fishing nets as they tried to flee their attackers. >>> Anne Barrowclough | Monday, March 08, 2010

*Would this be Muslim violence against Christians, by any chance?

Ethnic Violence in Nigeria Has Killed 500, Officials Say
THE NEW YORK TIMES: DAKAR, Senegal — Officials and human rights groups in Nigeria said Monday that about 500 people had died in weekend ethnic violence near the central city of Jos, considerably more than what had initially been reported.

A government spokesman said Sunday that the dead numbered more than 300. The victims were Christians killed by rampaging Muslim herdsmen, officials and human rights workers said, apparently in reprisal for similar attacks on Muslims in January.

The head of a leading Nigerian rights group, Shehu Sani of the Civil Rights Congress, said in a telephone interview on Monday that his organization had counted 492 bodies, mainly in the village of Dogo Nahawa. >>> Adam Nossiter | Monday, March 08, 2010

Detroit Bomber 'Singing Like a Canary' Before Arrest
Obama must be a complete fool to insist on treating this disgusting character as an ordinary criminal; further, Americans have done themselves a complete disservice to elect this greenhorn President into office. – © Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama is under fire over claims that the Christmas Day underwear bomber was "singing like a canary" until he was treated as an ordinary criminal and advised of his right to silence.

The chance to secure crucial information about al-Qaeda operations in Yemen was lost because the Obama administration decided to charge and prosecute Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as an ordinary criminal, critics say. He is said to have reduced his co-operation with FBI interrogators on the advice of his government-appointed defence counsel.

The potential significance became chillingly clear this weekend when it was reported that shortly after his detention, he boasted that 20 more young Muslim men were being prepared for similar murderous missions in the Yemen.

The lawyer for the 23-year-old Nigerian entered a formal not guilty plea on Friday to charges that he tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25 – even though he reportedly admitted earlier that he was trained and supplied with the explosives sewn into his underwear by al-Qaeda in the Arab state.

"He was singing like a canary, then we charged him in civilian proceedings, he got a lawyer and shut up," Slade Gorton, a member of the 9/11 Commission that investigated the Sept 2001 terror attacks on the US, told The Sunday Telegraph.

"I find it incomprehensible that this administration is treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue. The president has finally said that we are at war with al-Qaeda. Well, if this is a war, then Abdulmutallab should be treated as a combatant not a criminal." >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, January 09, 2010

Clashes with Islamists Who Claim to Be Taleban Kill 150 in Nigeria
TIMES ONLINE: Radical Islamists, who claim to be linked to al-Qaeda, have killed more than 150 people in two days of violence in northern Nigeria, news agencies reported.

Residents in the state of Borno said that Islamic militants, loyal to an anti-Western preacher, burnt a police station, a church and a customs office early yesterday.

The attacks came after clashes in the neighbouring, mainly Muslim states of Bauchi and Yobe on Sunday.

The heavily armed sect, which calls itself Taleban, emerged in Nigeria in 2004. Although, it has never been clear if it has proper links to the Taleban in Afghanistan its leaders profess allegiance to and admiration of Osama bin Laden. >>> Jonathan Clayton | Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sharia Law: Nigeria
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here >>>

Oil-rich Nigeria Will Become Islamic Soon, Warn Dutch MPs
DIGITAL JOURNAL: Oil-rich Nigeria, population 140-million, now is very close to an all-out"Islamic takeover', warn two Dutch MPs. And this would have a massive impact: from Nigeria, Africa's islamisation would spread fast -- resulting in hundreds of millions of refugees.


This would have a massive impact on the future of all of Africa and of the West, warn Dutch parliamentarians Geert Wilders and Martin Bosma of the Party for Freedom, writing in an editorial in the Dutch religious daily, the Reformatorisch Dagblad. >>> Adriana Stuijt | Monday, March 16, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Nigerian Bill Defines Gay Roommates as "Married," Inflicts Prison Penalty
Anti-gay Anglican leader Peter Akinola. Photo courtesy of TDGE Boston

EDGE Boston: Under a proposed new law in Nigeria, same-sex marriage would consist of gays simply living together--and would be punishable by three years in prison.

The law would extend new powers to the police to crack down on anyone thought to be gay, reported the BBC in an article posted online Mar. 11.

Advocates of the country’s gay and lesbian population stood against the bill, with the Queer Alliance of Nigeria’s Rashidi Williams addressing a government committee with plea not to enhance the nation’s existing anti-gay legislation with a law that would essentially make it a crime for gays to share living space by defining the sharing of housing as "gay marriage."

Existing law in the Christian part of the country penalizes gays with 14 years in prison, while in Muslim areas gays face being stoned to death for their sexuality. >>> By Kilian Melloy | Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Menschenhandel: Nigerias brutale Geschäfte mit wehrlosen Babys
In Nigeria ist Babyhandel ein einträgliches Geschäft. Brutale Menschenhändler scheuen nicht davor zurück, Schwangere einzusperren, um ihnen die Neugeborenen wegnehmen zu können. Der Verkauf der Babys an Sklaven- und Adoptionshändler bringt gutes Geld. Manche Kinder werden gar Opfer von Ritualmorden.

Babys werden in Nigeria oft verkauft. Foto dank der Welt
Es ist heiß. Heiß und still. Irgendwie gehört das zusammen. Je heißer es wird, desto stiller ist es in den Außenbezirken der südnigerianischen Provinzstadt Enugu. Grace läuft langsam. "Komm", sagt sie und zeigt auf den Eingang ihres einfachen Hauses. Die Holztür quietscht. Drinnen ist es dunkel, das einzige Fenster wird mit einem blauen Tuch notdürftig abgehängt. Die Dunkelheit bringt Abkühlung und die Enge des Raumes Nähe. Letztere braucht man, wenn man mit einer Frau darüber redet, wie sie ihr eigenes Baby an einen Menschenhändler verkauft hat. "Ich wurde vergewaltigt und dann schwanger", sagt Grace Ejird leise.

Sie ist 22 Jahre alt und Absolventin eines Wirtschaftsstudiums. Eine schlanke Frau mit herbem Gesicht und breitem Lächeln, das sie fast hübsch aussehen lässt. Grace lebt bei ihren Eltern, ist unverheiratet. "An meine Eltern konnte ich mich nicht wenden, also bin ich zu einem Arzt gegangen", erzählt sie aus der Zeit, als sie die Schwangerschaft entdeckte. "Hier in Nigeria ist das nämlich so: Wenn man eine junge Frau mit einem Baby sieht und sie nicht verheiratet ist, dann geht man ihr aus dem Weg. Alleinerziehende Mütter sind eine Schande. Sie sind nichts mehr wert, weil kein Mann sie je heiraten wird." >>> Von Nicole Macheroux-Denault | Montag, 16. Februar 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch) – Deutschland & Österreich >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe) – Deutschland & Österreich >>>