A Nigerian man who arrived in Ireland as an asylum seeker seven years ago has become the country's first black mayor.
Rotimi Adebari has been elected as first citizen of Portlaoise in County Laois.
The 43-year-old fled from Nigeria in 2000 because of religious persecution. After a few weeks, he and his family settled in the County Laois town.
In 2004, he was elected in the local elections as an independent councillor and on Thursday he became mayor.
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Nigeria News: Nigeria's 'evil genius' enters 2007 presidential race
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Ade Obisesan | Lagos, Nigeria
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, the former military dictator better known as "IBB" who ruled Nigeria with a rod of iron for eight years and who once dubbed himself "the evil genius", is determined to contest the 2007 elections and to win back the presidential seat he occupied from 1985 to 1993.
The 65-year-old retired general, who trained in Britain and the United States, aims to replace incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo, who will step down in May after two terms in office.
A Hausa Muslim from Nigeria's north-central Niger State, General Babangida is undoubtedly the country's most controversial head of state since independence in 1960.
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© IRIN
President Olusegun Obasanjo
ABUJA, 19 Oct 2006 (IRIN) - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo slapped emergency rule on southwestern Ekiti state on Thursday as tensions mount in two other Nigerian states over the controversial impeachment of state governors.
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Monrovia - Nigeria is giving firearms to Liberia's newly trained but cash-strapped national police force following the lifting of a United Nations arms embargo in June, Liberia's police chief said on Thursday.
"The arms and ammunitions will be turned over to the LNP (Liberia National Police) on Friday," Munah Sieh, director of police, said on state radio.
Sieh did not disclose the amount of weapons to be given by west Africa's regional power giant to one of the continent's most impoverished states.
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© Dulue Mbachu/IRIN
Seasonal rains have compounded erosion in the town of Ekwulobia in southeastern Nigeria.
EKWULOBIA, 6 Nov 2006 (IRIN) - Across large areas of Nigeria’s southeastern rainforest belt hundreds of communities are threatened by erosion because of decades of uncontrolled deforestation and other types of pressure on the land.
The town of Ekwulobia, or what remains of it, is a testament to the region’s environmental problems.
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