Federal Government has declared Monday, October 2, as a public holiday in commemoration of the nation’s 63rd Independence Day celebration. The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Oluwatoyin Akinlade. Tunji-Ojo assured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s continued commitment to surmounting the challenges facing the country. “It is today a known fact that difficult socioeconomic and security challenges are global and Nigeria is not isolated,” the minister said. He, however, said the government was daily making efforts to address “these varied and numerous challenges with all the might available until…

Burkina Faso's military junta said on Wednesday that a coup attempt had been thwarted the previous day by security and intelligence services, without providing specifics on what had happened. In a statement it said officers and others had plotted to destabilise the country with "the dark intention of attacking the institutions of the Republic and plunging our country in chaos." It did not identify anyone but said some arrests had been made and searches continued for others. "Investigations will help unmask the instigators of this plot," it said. The military prosecutor later said four people had been detained and two…