"Via Facebook, Nigerian leader says he’ll run" by Associated Press | September 16, 2010
ABUJA, Nigeria — President Goodluck Jonathan announced yesterday on Facebook that he will run in the oil-rich nation’s January election, ending months of speculation over his plans after he assumed power following the death of Nigeria’s elected leader.
Related: Our New Man in Nigeria
Jonathan’s announcement, as well as a campaign rally yesterday by Ibrahim Babangida, a former military dictator, signaled the start of campaigning ahead of the Jan. 22 presidential election in Africa’s most populous nation.
But with the polls only four months away and voting equipment yet to be purchased, Nigeria could see a repeat of the notoriously corrupt elections that have plagued the country since it became a democracy a decade ago.
Who cares as long as there is "stability?"
Nigeria is a top supplier of crude oil to the United States, putting additional importance on a peaceful transition of power in the nation of 150 million in a country where most earn less than $1 a day and few have access to the Internet....
Oh, SWIMMING in OIL DOUGH as its PEOPLE SUFFER?
Also see: Nigeria Experiences Exxon Valdez Size Spill Every Year
Don't go swimming.
Meanwhile, authorities said that 283 inmates have returned to a prison in northern Nigeria after a prison break orchestrated by a radical Muslim sect.
Prison official Mohammad Ahmad said more than 120 members of the Boko Haram sect freed from the prison remained at large.
--more--"
BAUCHI, Nigeria — About 800 inmates escaped from a federal prison holding Muslim extremists in northern Nigeria during a sunset attack by gunmen believed to be members of a radical sect, a police official said yesterday.
The attackers went cell by cell at the prison in Bauchi, breaking open locks and setting fire to part of the prison before escaping during the confusion, said Danlami Yar’Adua, Bauchi State Police commissioner. Four people died and six others are in critical condition.
You know, the same way special operations forces go through villages.
Yar’Adua said police believe Boko Haram sect followers freed by the attack are hiding in the mountains surrounding the region’s pasturelands.
Which cave are they calling from?
Members of Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sacrilege’’ in the local Hausa language, rioted and attacked homes and police stations in July 2009, triggering a violent police crackdown. More than 700 people died. Many of those arrested following the 2009 attacks were being held at the prison pending trial.
See: The Boston Globe's African Insult: African Taliban
African Safari: Clinton Cuts Nigerian Peace Deal
I guess it didn't hold.
Yar’Adua said 36 prisoners had returned to the prison on their own by yesterday morning, hoping to serve out the remainder of their sentences.
There is a name for that syndrome that escapes me right now.
The city itself remained calm yesterday, as paramilitary police officers guarded the prison.
Also see: Nagging the Nigerian Police
Yeah, who cares if they don't do their job.
There is oil under 'em!
