Arik Resumes Flight To Maiduguri

According to Arik Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Roy Ilegbodu, the flight operations will commence on May 9.

Announcing the resumption in a press statement in Lagos, Arik Air said flights to Maiduguri will operate thrice weekly, with the possibility of increasing the frequency in the coming weeks.

The airline, however, said although the flight will operate via Abuja, passengers from other Arik Air network can conveniently connect to Abuja for their onward journey to Maiduguri.

Children Dead

Of Thirst In Niger

Desert

Niamey – Eight migrants, five of them children, have died of thirst in the Niger desert while making their way to Algeria, a key destination for would-be migrants to Europe, a security source told AFP.

“These migrants died of thirst on the way to Algeria,” the source, who asked not to be identified, said late on Tuesday.

The group, a man, a woman and five children aged between six and 12, “were abandoned by a smuggler” and “all died of thirst”, he added.

Online news site Air-info, which is based in northern Niger, said the eight were part of a larger group headed for Algeria, and that four men who had been rescued were found “completely dehydrated”.

Last June the bodies of 34 migrants were found in the desert, while in late 2013 a group of 92 Niger citizens, including many women and children, also died of thirst after being abandoned by smugglers

Somali Minister

Shot Dead

Mogadishu – A police officer says bodyguards for Somalia’s auditor general have shot dead a government minister near the presidential palace.

Captain Mohamed Hussein says bodyguards escorting Nur Farah opened fire on a car carrying Abbas Abdullahi, the public works and reconstruction minister, near a checkpoint close to the presidential palace on Wednesday evening.

It is not immediately clear what prompted the shooting.

Buhari’s Health

Not As Bad As

Percieved- Aisha

Muhammadu Buhari’s wife has sought to play down fears about her husband’s health, as he faces calls to go on extended medical leave.

Aisha Buhari said the head of state’s health was “not as bad as it’s being perceived”, without specifying the nature of his illness.

“He continues to carry out his responsibilities during this period,” she wrote on her Twitter account on Tuesday evening.

Buhari, 74, has been under growing pressure to disclose his state of health since he returned from London in early March after nearly two months away.

Shekau Wounded

In Air Strike

Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau has been injured and one of his deputies killed in an air strike in northeast Nigeria, civilian and security sources told AFP on Wednesday.

Two Nigerian Air Force jets bombarded fighters who had gathered for prayers in Balla village, some 40km from Damboa, on the edge of the Sambisa Forest, last Friday.

“Shekau was wounded in the bombings and is believed to be receiving treatment near the Nigerian border with Cameroon around Kolofata,” said one source with contacts within Boko Haram.