Goodluck Jonathan faces challenge from anti-corruption ex-general By William Wallis in London

Muhammadu Buhari, who could emerge as the main challenger to Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan at next year’s elections, is positioning himself as the strongman needed to root out corruption and roll back the brutal Islamist insurgency tearing at the country.

“We are almost over the cliff,” says the 71-year old former general, who seized power in 1983 and ruled Africa’s most populous nation with authoritarian zeal before being overthrown by rival generals 20 months later.

The coalition he formed last year alongside Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state and political godfather in Nigeria’s Yoruba-speaking southwest, and Atiku Abubakar, a wealthy former vice-president, will on Friday begin the delicate task of choosing party leaders.

McCain - US military should rescue schoolgirls, even without Nigeria's permission

The US military should rescue the 200 schoolgirls abducted in Nigeria by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, even if the Nigerian government disapproves, Sen. John McCain says. Meanwhile, negotiations on a prisoner-hostage exchange appear to be advancing.

The longtime US senator and two-time presidential candidate told The Daily Beast that the US should feel no compunction to withhold sending special operations forces to find the kidnapped girls – especially in a country led by “some guy named Goodluck Jonathan.”

Boko Haram’s massacre: Women to Organise Mourning Protest in Nigeria Major Cities Wearing Black

Thousands of women are gearing up for mass protest in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin and Abuja following Boko Haram’s massacre of school children and others in Yobe and other northern states.

‘Mother of all Protests’ will see the women wearing black, which symbolises mourning, and they will march on the streets of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Benin in a peaceful protest to call for an end to the endless gorry killings in the north.