Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers April 22 to April 28.   

Nigeria’s close-run presidential election was not about religion, until it was.

Roman Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Matthew Kukah in a Christmas message delivered a blistering critique of Nigeria's governance and political economy. In it he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of nepotism.

Policy makers, diplomats, and commentators in the secular West often fail to take into account the profound influence of religious leaders in sub-Saharan Africa, whether among Christians, Muslims, or adherents of traditional religions. Heaven, hell, and what secularists regard as magic are literal realities, more immediate than government policy or the pronouncements of political leaders. What the preacher says is more credible than the utterances of politicians.

For the first time since the country’s return to civil rule in 1999, Nigerian Pentecostals find themselves on the outside looking in.