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No accountability: An Ecomog patrol in Freetown. Although Ecomog ousted the junta, its own troops also committed atrocities. (Patrick Robert/Sygma/Getty Images)
CHARLES TAYLOR

Nigerian peacekeepers haunted by the ghosts of executions past

They changed the course of Sierra Leone’s civil war, helping to defeat the rebels. But in keeping the peace, these soldiers sins of their own

  • Shola Lawal 1
19 min read
In Nigeria’s northern region, where poverty is high and literacy levels are already dangerously low, Boko Haram’s war on education has prompted many parents to disregard schools. (Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Boko Haram’s war on children

After escaping from the clutches of armed groups, abducted children in northern Nigeria don’t get a warm homecoming

  • Shola Lawal
8 min read
Lagos, as West Africa’s commercial hub, is arguably a bigger prize for any politician than Nigeria’s presidency itself. (Reuters)
ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS

Why governing Lagos is Nigeria’s ultimate political prize

Forget the presidency. Whoever controls Lagos controls Africa’s most important city

  • Shola Lawal
9 min read
Under fire: Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé
FAURE GNASSINGBE

Tensions simmer in restive Togo

Governance is a family business but a new generation of protesters is trying to disrupt the old order

  • Shola Lawal
7 min read
These days, when he’s not drilling his team in minus 38-degree weather, Amokachi is home in Nigeria making brand videos or lobbying for African sides. (Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters)
COACHING

‘A black coach doesn’t say no to Europe’: What happens next for Daniel Amokachi

Daniel ‘The Bull’ Amokachi was one of African football’s first household names, powering Nigeria to Olympic glory in 1996

  • Shola Lawal
14 min read
Oba Ewuare II has made it his mission to halt human trafficking, which usually follows the migrant trail (below left) from Edo State in Nigeria, across Niger, Libya and the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images)
CHIEFS

The Nigerian king who cursed the sex traffickers

Edo State is Nigeria’s capital of human trafficking, and local authorities are seemingly powerless. Enter His Royal Majesty Oba Ewuare II

  • Shola Lawal
11 min read
Fear factor: Most women in predominantly Muslim areas of Nigeria wear hijabs or niqabs, but some businesses, the military and educational institutions either ban or discriminate against women who wear the head coverings. (Florian Plaucheur/AFP)
HIJAB

Hijabis face fear and ignorance

The debate about what Muslim women in Nigeria can put on their heads is getting more heated

  • Shola Lawal
6 min read