In October 2021, Jesus College, part of the University of Cambridge, became the first institution in the world to return a Benin Bronze to Nigeria. It was a cockerel, a fine example of the bronzes, which are some of the most famous artifacts to have been looted from the African continent. The carvings, tusks, statues, plaques, headpieces, silhouettes and weaponry, collectively known as the “bronzes,” have acted as historical and cultural ambassadors of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, now the southern part of Nigeria, for over a century — though this role is still fairly new when compared to the ..read more

Down on his luck, Andy Okeke, a middle-class Nigerian trader, is desperate to make money and improve his impoverished circumstances. When a bogus investment goes awry, Andy slips into near-depression. Merit, his wife and the breadwinner of the family, remains an infinite source of encouragement. Walking down the road one humid afternoon, Andy stumbles into Paulo, his friend from high school, who pulls up in a yellow Mercedes-Benz. Andy's frumpy suit contrasts sharply with Paulo's flowing white agbada, the traditional robe of the Yoruba people. As the old-time pals exchange pleasantries, they ..read more

“Hello,” a voice called out from the other side. The phone number was strange. The voice was familiar. But it was a voice Ya Bawaye had not heard in over eight years. Her mother had just handed her her blue Tecno phone. Holding it against her right ear, she began to wonder. Could it be? Before she had time to gather her thoughts, she received confirmation. “It’s Babagana,” the voice said. “Or don’t you recognize me?” Ya Bawaye replied that she was surprised. It was all unexpected. “Have you been released?” she asked her husband. No, he answered. Not yet. Babagana Akau, 30, was calling from Gi ..read more

Late in the evening of Sept. 10, at a busy intersection in downtown Calabar, in southeastern Nigeria, a man raised the alarm that his penis had disappeared. A crowd of bystanders promptly rushed to his rescue. "What he saw was smaller than a grain of rice and there were no testicles too," an eyewitness told New Lines. Crying desperately, the man pointed at another man whom he alleged to have snatched his genitals during a handshake. Commotion ensued. An irate mob pounced on the accused with a torrent of fists, demanding he restore the other's organ. No sooner had the police arrived at the sce ..read more

Where must this story begin? That Saturday morning in March 2013, when Adamu Sa'adu set out for his tailoring shop in Maiduguri, in northern Nigeria? Days later, in an overcrowded detention center where he came face to face with death? Or now, more than a decade afterward, as his father staggers through memories of Adamu’s childhood? The truth is, regardless of how it starts, the story ends with a question mark, a gap into which Adamu vanished, and with the sinking dread that so many with loved ones who shared the same fate know: that the young man’s story likely ends with his body in a mass ..read more

There are more than 25,000 missing people in Nigeria, more than in any other country on the African continent. Many of them disappeared during the height of the Boko Haram crisis, as the Nigerian army fought to keep the Islamist insurgency, which had infiltrated several northern cities, at bay. During that time, thousands of civilians were arrested and detained at the Giwa barracks in the northern city of Maiduguri, suspected of being affiliated with the terrorists; few of them were ever released. A New Lines/HumAngle investigation has uncovered evidence that the Nigerian army undertook a cam ..read more

“Spotlight” is a newsletter about underreported cultural trends and news from around the world, emailed to subscribers every Monday and Wednesday. Sign up here. For days after polls closed in Nigeria’s presidential election this February, the nation held its breath, waiting for results to be announced. Despite promises from the country’s electoral commission that the vote would be free and fair, the election had been arguably disastrous. There were numerous reports of political violence and voter suppression all over the country; new voting technology was riddled with errors, keeping votes fr ..read more

When the police refused to investigate the rape of her 13-year-old daughter, Bisi (whose name has been changed to protect her privacy) decided that she would make a case that they couldn’t ignore. Outside a police station near Bwari, Nigeria, she took off her dress, wrapped it around an officer’s neck, grabbed his AK-47 and ran. “I needed something to happen,” Bisi told New Lines from her home on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja. “Instead, the police said I don’t have a case.” Bisi's daughter, Tolu (also a pseudonym), was raped in November 2016. After being lured into a car, she was ..read more

Apple Podcasts Spotify Tomorrow, Nigerians will head to the polls to elect a new president and vice president, as well as members of the Senate and House of Representatives. This election is Africa's first in 2023 and has been described as the most consequential election this year — not only for Africa but for the rest of the continent. Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and has its largest economy. So, when Nigeria sneezes, the rest of the continent catches a cold. “Citizens are tired of simply repeating and rinsing electoral cycles. So they want elections that lead to governance, no ..read more

Nigerians will head to the polls on Feb. 25 to elect a new president and members of the National Assembly, followed on March 11 by gubernatorial elections in over two thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states. The polling will take place against a troubling regional backdrop, as West Africa has experienced what political scientists label “democratic backsliding” in recent years, embodied most conspicuously by the spate of coups in the Francophone countries since 2021. Since the beginning of 2021, there have been military seizures of power in Guinea and Chad, while putsches have also occurred twice in bot ..read more