What happens when the state cannot provide security for its most vulnerable citizens? You hear of peace deals between villagers & non-state actors. But what if these deals collapse partly because of the state? People turn to local elders to mediate fresh deals. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

@eromoegbejule.bsky.social interviewed bandits in Nigeria's ungoverned north-west. Always fascinating to hear how violent people, in this case a 32yo gang leader, justify violence. “We are just trying to fend for our families. In the process, people are disturbing us – and that brings conflicts.”

Brutal and emboldened: how Nigeria’s bandit crisis spun out of control

A tale of two Francks? World’s oldest leader creates deputy role – raising prospect of dynastic succession

Thanks Rachel!

Fantastic, sobering visualisation of the extent of terrorism and other violence in the Sahel, by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social and colleagues. The way it shows the proliferation of violence by different groups across Nigeria is particularly striking.

This morning in Abidjan, the Djidji Ayôkwé, a 430-kg talking drum confiscated in 1916 and taken to Paris by French administrators after locals resisted forced labour on a road, returned home. The restitution and reparations movement gets another win. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

No Country for Young People: Notes From Ten Days in Eritrea, The Beautiful Prison Everything you've heard about Eritrea is probably true. But it is more than the sum of your thoughts, both negative and positive. @eromoegbejule.bsky.social 24hoursearlier.substack.com/p/no-country...

No country for young people. @eromoegbejule.bsky.social on ten days in Eritrea: open.substack.com/pub/24hourse...

If you want to know what's really going on in Nigeria, where Trump & Nicki Minaj claim there's a "Christian genocide", read The Long Wave newsletter with @eromoegbejule.bsky.social. "There’s never enough data, no one even truly knows the true size of the economy, it’s just inshallah and vibes."

“It’s like an episode of 24. You know Jack Bauer will win but you don’t know what happens before then.” Deja vu for Cote d'Ivoire, as Alassane Ouattara seeks a fourth term as president while cracking down on opposition and protests. Great @eromoegbejule.bsky.social report

Across Black communities, hairdressers have become a safe space, especially in communities with little / no access to mental health care - or quality healthcare in general. Fascinating piece by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social for the @theguardian.com on community-led therapy <3 buff.ly/MX3Rylz

Los nominados para el premio Impacto @josebautista.bsky.social, @andreipopoviciu.bsky.social y el editor @eromoegbejule.bsky.social estarán en el Congreso de Mérida presentando sus trabajos 👏👏👏 Investigación en Al Jazeera 👉 www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Super cool piece by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social, and Mauritanian colleagues, from Mauritania's far north about the growing desert trade in meteorites

92-year-old Paul Biya is running for another 7-year term as president of Cameroon (with much of it likely to be spent in Switzerland if he stays alive). @eromoegbejule.bsky.social reports from Douala and Yaounde

Our latest dispatch from the streets of Douala and Yaoundé ahead of this October's election, on the curious case of Paul Biya, 92, who one person said seems "set to hold on to the record of being the world's oldest president, or die trying." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Central African Republic’s President Touadéra is expected to run for a controversial 3rd term this year. The opposition & some in the ruling elite are concerned that Russia & Rwanda, both competing for influence there, will entrench their interests if he wins. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

‘Kush destroys them’ -- The Guinean #rehab clinic tackling a drug epidemic. Growing use of kush -- a deadly mix of cannabis, fentanyl, tramadol, formaldehyde and reportedly human bones -- is a national emergency, by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a... via @theguardian.com

A Nigerian senator accuses the senate president of sexual harassment, but SHE ends up on a six-month suspension. Insane story from the circus that is Nigerian politics. Story by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social

.@NatashaAkpoti told @guardian: "This was orchestrated to silence my voice. That action is an assault on democracy … I am not apologising for speaking my truth.” Here’s our story on the roots of the ongoing row in Nigeria’s senate.

Update from Conakry. By @eromoegbejule.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Restore, destroy or leave to rot? Battle lines drawn over west Africa’s architectural heritage @eromoegbejule.bsky.social for @theguardian.com

Why foreign correspondents are alarmed and dismayed at plans to sell the Observer | Letter

Ça commence… *Nigeria acquires 12 pre-owned alpha jets from French Air Force* www.thecable.ng/nigeria-acqu...

The U.S. government asked a federal judge last month to force Google to sell Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser. Here’s what happens next and how the ruling could potentially reshape the internet.

"Our nation's original sin." My story on Biden's speech on slavery and the rest of his visit to Angola so far

In other news, Ghana is going to the polls this weekend, after a pretty disastrous second half of President Nana Akufo-Addo's term in office - economic crisis, currency crash, debt default 👇

Ahead of Ghana’s presidential election this weekend, we took a look at the legacy of outgoing president Nana Akufo-Addo who many say did decently in the first half but steered his country into hardship in the second half. www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

City on the way down, United on the way up. As it should be.

What a script life is sometimes. The French Republican Guard chooses a song like Chop My Money (by brothers who couldn’t stay together) to perform as Macron lays out the red carpet for Tinubu on the same day Chad announces the end of its military partnership with France.

Chad terminates its defense agreement with France.

Football Daily | Tottenham are on a high again but will they end the wild form swings?

Sobering reporting by @eromoegbejule.bsky.social on just how widespread illegal galamsey gold mining is across Ghana and the extent of the environmental & agricultural destruction www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

Experts say illegal mining (galamsey) is happening in 14 of Ghana’s 16 regions and could make the country import water by 2030. Two weeks ago, while going across 3 regions, we saw mining pits and gold trading shops every few miles. www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

George Brown, a founding member and drummer of the group Kool & the Gang, died on Thursday at 74. Brown, known as Funk, was a key contributor to several of the band's biggest hits, including “Ladies Night,” “Jungle Boogie” and “Celebration.”