Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA Rogues and rackets on trial 4th December 2009 A corruption case in Geneva snares some of Nigeria’s political elite, and judges order the return of stolen state assets The conviction in a Swiss Court on 19 November of Abba Abacha, son of former military leader General Sani Abacha, for participating in a criminal organisation together with...
Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA The Abacha family's plunder machine 4th December 2009 General Sani Abacha is reckoned to have stolen over US$3 billion of Nigeria's public assets, of which at least $1 bn. and 900 million Deutsche Marks were deposited... READ FOR FREE
Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA Ailing president, procrastinating politics 4th December 2009 The latest illness of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua adds urgency to calls for far-reaching electoral and political reforms ahead of national elections due by early 2011. Despite mounting calls for Yar’Adua to step down on health grounds after he was spirited off to Saudi Arabia for treatment of acute pericarditis, his cabinet ministers insist he must remain in charge. Meanwhile, activists and opposition politicians are reorganising to challenge the incumbent People’s Democratic Party’s overwhelming grip on power. With national elections due by early 2011. The financial stakes are huge - control of some US$100 billion of annual oil and gas revenue. The last elections in...
Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA The opposition frontrunners 4th December 2009 No politician in Nigeria evokes reactions as intense and sharply divided as General Muhammadu Buhari. Many people think him incorruptible and a disciplinarian and accuse him of religious...
Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA Recycled activists, new tactics 4th December 2009 On 24 November, the Mega Summit Movement (MSM) disclosed plans to launch a Mega Party in 2010. Its three component groups had hitherto looked more like siblings squabbling...
Vol 50 No 24 | MALI Drugs and thugs 4th December 2009 Interpol is investigating the fate of a Boeing jet carrying some 10 tonnes of cocaine which landed in Mali on 2 November and may have been deliberately destroyed....
Vol 3 (AAC) No 1 | GUINEACHINA The junta rewards new friends 26th November 2009 Conakry begins stripping foreign companies of mining and oil assets for its Chinese partners as those partners turn towards Zimbabwe While some were left asking if the US$7 billion deal signed by the China International Fund and its sister company China Sonangol International in early October had actually...
Vol 50 No 23 | NIGERIAOIL AND GAS The biggest reform of all 20th November 2009 President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s government is trying to win support for its new oil law by offering Delta communities a stake in the business The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s supporters are trying to steer through the National Assembly, is meeting massive opposition from the major oil companies,...
Vol 50 No 23 | NIGERIAOIL AND GAS Big oil and small print 20th November 2009 The differences seem to be narrowing between the presidency and the critical stakeholders: indigenous and international oil companies, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Inland...
Vol 50 No 23 | NIGERIACHINA China's new bid for Nigerian oil 20th November 2009 China has expressed interest in buying 49% stakes in 23 soon-to-expire oil block licences. The London Financial Times reported in September that the China National Offshore Oil Corporation...