With one week to go before Nigeria's presidential election, I met Peter Obi, the 'youth candidate' (though he's 61.)
reported with @Ola_deinde & 📸 by @taiwoaina_
Ruth Maclean
1,895 posts
- An exciting announcement for me: I’ll soon be joining @nytimes as their new West Africa bureau chief.
- The Lagos stadium where they held the Buhari / APC "mega-rally" today was quite full when I arrived but pretty empty by the time @MBuhari spoke. Not sure what happened. #NigeriaDecides2019
- How the Hotel Rwanda hero ended up in handcuffs in the country he fled involves Hollywood stars and presidents, private jets, armed groups, and cackling Rwandan officials. This riveting tale, weeks in the making, was a great piece of @nytimes teamwork.
- In Dakar, crowds of young people threw stones at the police, who were firing tear gas. A police van accelerated into a cluster of protesters, almost running them over.
- Love @MichelleObama on the world's most powerful people: "Here is the secret: I have been at probably every powerful table that you can think of (non-profits, foundations, corporations, corporate boards, G-summits, the UN). "They are not that smart"
- Hundreds of women descended on Chevron facilities in the Niger Delta, protesting against oil pollution in their fishing grounds, for which they blamed the company. My latest from Nigeria with 📸 by the great @YagazieEmezi nytimes.com/2021/07/25/wor…
- Nigeria locked up Omoyele Sowore, founder of @SaharaReporters. His American neighbors are fighting back.
- In Nigeria, ‘Feminist’ Was a Common Insult. Then Came the Feminist Coalition. Meeting some of the women behind @feminist_co and hearing their vision for Nigeria was an exhilarating delight. Great 📸 by @YagazieEmezi and @drewtesta
- Enjoying this from snowy Gambia.
- Senegal wins AFCON! Biggest win ever for the Lions of Teranga. Dakar is delirious with joy
00:00 - Body doubles, powerful generals, palace intrigue and past grudges. Nigeria's politics are anything but boring. Primer ahead of the February election by me and the brilliant @EromoEgbejule
- Zara gave birth to triplets. Two weeks later, she fled Boko Haram with them, carrying them through the bush for 48 hours. Does that sound like a “fully decimated” Boko Haram? Nigeria's security is on a knife edge ahead of next week's election.
- Alfa, a brilliant Nigerian journalist, has kept me and so many colleagues reporting on Boko Haram safe, and helped us report important stories. His daughter’s kidneys are failing and he doesn’t have the money for a transplant. Please help save her life.
