Gunmen kill 15 traders in Nigeria’s north

KANO, Nigeria: Gunmen have killed 15 people in a daylight attack near a northern Nigerian city where a radical sect last week killed 185 people, said a government official.

Zamfara state spokesman Ibrahim Muhammad Birnin Magaji said Friday that the gunmen burned the bodies of their victims in a village in Katsina state on Thursday, about 200 km from Nigeria’s largest northern city of Kano.

Birnin Magaji said the Muslim traders had been traveling from Zamfara state in a minibus to sell their goods in a market in Katsina state.

He said authorities suspect an armed robbery attack, but no goods were reported missing.

The killings come days after the Boko Haram sect claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks in Kano. However, Birnin Magaji said it was unlikely that the sect was involved because the area had seen similar attacks.

Meanwhile, Nigerian security forces searched for a kidnapped German engineer on Friday as the Boko Haram group threatened new attacks in the country.

In an audio recording posted on YouTube, Abubakar Shekau said he ordered the coordinated attacks that killed at least 185 people in Kano on Jan. 20 and vowed that the group would strike again.

“We were responsible,” said Shekau of the Jan. 20 assaults, the deadliest ever attributed to the shadowy group.

Nigeria’s Supreme Court says it has fired five governors who overstayed their tenures.

Justice Walter Onnoghen said Friday that the governors of Bayelsa, Cross River, Kogi, Adamawa and Sokoto states should have left office in May 2011.

The ruling-party governors first came into office in May 2007 for four-year tenures, but their elections were annulled. After a re-election, they took a second oath of office in 2008.

A lower court’s ruling on Feb. 23, 2011 had exempted the five governors from having to face elections in April 2011, saying their new tenures had started in 2008, not 2007. However, the Supreme Court now says it is unconstitutional for anyone to hold office for more than four years.

In another development, Nigeria’s Supreme Court has fired five governors who overstayed their tenures.

Justice Walter Onnoghen said Friday that the governors of Bayelsa, Cross River, Kogi, Adamawa and Sokoto states should have left office in May 2011.

The ruling-party governors first came into office in May 2007 for four-year tenures, but their elections were annulled. After a re-election, they took a second oath of office in 2008.

A lower court’s ruling on Feb. 23, 2011 had exempted the five governors from having to face elections in April 2011, saying their new tenures had started in 2008, not 2007. However, the Supreme Court now says it is unconstitutional for anyone to hold office for more than four years.