Pocket News Nigeria

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights activist, Baptist minister and two-time presidential candidate, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 84. "Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.” Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement that “our nation lost one of its greatest moral voices” and paid tribute to a man who “carried history in his footsteps and hope in his voice.” "Reverend Jackson stood wherever dignity was under attack, from apartheid abroad to injustice at home. His voice echoed in boardrooms and in jail cells. His presence shifted rooms. His faith neve...

Reuters The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries. The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold negotiations with Iran on Tuesday in Geneva, with representatives from Oman acting as mediators. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned on Saturday that while Trump's preference was to reach a deal with Tehran, "that’s very hard to do." Meanwhile, Trump has amassed military forces in the region, raising fears of new military action. U.S. officials said on Friday the Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East,...

British investigative journalist for the Daily Mail, David Patrikarakos visits areas affected by Fulani insurgents in Plateau State Driving through the vast, scorched landscape, I hear the words that have followed me all day. ‘They roasted the pastor and his wife alive in the church. We heard their screams." Plateau State stretches to the horizon. Rich black soil that once grew cassava and sugar cane is now ash. Trees are encrusted with soot. Fields of maize that shone gold in the sun are grey and lifeless, stalk after stalk standing in formation like an army frozen in defeat. Bricks lie scattered in the scrub. Concrete blocks jut from the earth like jagged teeth. Roofs have collapsed inward. And then come the churches. Burned-out shell after burned-out shell. Crosses broken. Windows blown through. One has been gutted by fire, another reduced to rubble. It’s as though someone has tried to erase every visible sign of Christianity from this land For more than two decades...

FIFA is set to rule on Monday on Nigeria’s petition against Democratic Republic of Congo over alleged use of ineligible players, a decision that could reshape Africa’s final World Cup qualification picture, Saturday PUNCH reports. FIFA’s meeting scheduled for February 16 is expected to address numerous issues including the Nigeria Football Federation’s protest against DR Congo, with the outcome potentially reinstating the Super Eagles into the intercontinental play-offs in Mexico later this month, where one of the last World Cup tickets is on offer. The NFF’s protest is centred on allegations that six Congolese players were ineligible during last year’s 2026 World Cup African play-offs, where Nigeria lost on penalties in Morocco. NFF officials insist they would not have gone this far without confidence in their evidence. “We believe that we have a chance; that is why we petitioned. If we knew we didn’t have a chance, we wouldn’t have petitioned,” NFF General Secretary Moham...

The first wave of United States military personnel has arrived in Nigeria, marking the beginning of a deployment of approximately 200 American intelligence analysts, advisers and trainers to assist the country’s armed forces in targeted counterterrorism operations aimed in part at protecting Nigerian Christians, officials from both countries confirmed on Friday. A U.S. military plane landed in the northeastern city of Maiduguri on Thursday night, according to Nigerian officials. Officials from both countries confirmed that the first tranche of roughly 100 American troops will steadily arrive over the weekend. On Friday evening, three planes could be seen at the base, with equipment being offloaded from one. These initial flights are the vanguard of what will be a stream of C-17 transport flights into three main locations across Nigeria, according to a U.S. Defense Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. Several additional...

A group of far-right  Canadian separatists who would like the oil-rich province of Alberta to secede from Canada say they have held meetings with senior Trump administration officials with a view to gaining U.S. support for the plan. The group, named the Alberta Prosperity Project, is hoping to hold a referendum on separating Alberta – sometimes known as the Texas of Canada – from the rest of the country this year. In three secret meetings with officials from the U.S. State and Treasury departments, the group has discussed the mechanics of Alberta breaking with Canada, including plans to switch to U.S. currency and even to create a new military force, according to reports in the Financial Times and on NBC. A fourth meeting has also been planned in the coming weeks to further discuss how a transition process might work, should a legally-binding referendum be held and the result indicate a desire to form a new independent nation. “For those of us who are very much in supp...