ABUJA, Nigeria—Two bombs exploded early Monday outside a government building in the city of Warri, a Nigerian oil hub, said officials and witnesses, dealing a blow to a peace deal that aimed to prevent militant attacks on the nation’s oil infrastructure.

The attacks occurred just minutes before state governors were to convene to discuss a government peace program with Niger Delta militants. Several state governors had already taken their seats for the event when bombs in two nearby vehicles were detonated, say witnesses and officials. Although several people were injured, there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Oma Djebah, information commissioner of Delta State, which includes Warri, said the explosions occurred about 200 yards from the meeting and the venue was then evacuated.

The militant group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed responsibility for the attack. Earlier on Monday, MEND sent an email warning to media organizations about the attack.

“The deceit of endless dialogue and conferences will no longer be tolerated,” the group’s statement read. The militant group accused oil companies and government of stealing land “with the stroke of a pen.”

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ABUJA, Nigeria—The Nigerian government said Friday it will review the potential $2.5 billion sale of the country’s telecoms giant, following last month’s troubled auction in which one of the top bidders, China Unicom Ltd., initially denied taking part.

In a meeting of the National Council on Privatization, chaired by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian government said it had set up a committee of senior officials to do “further due diligence on the prospective investors” for Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd., known as Nitel. The ad-hoc committee that will probe the bidding process includes the Nigerian attorney general and minister of finance, among other senior officials, according to a statement from the privatization body.

The highest current bid for Nitel is from a group called the New Generation Telecommunications Consortium. The consortium includes the European arm of China Unicom and the Minerva Group, a Dubai-based company that is providing the financing for the bid.

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. originally denied any involvement in last month’s bid, saying at the time it had “not commenced any negotiations with the relevant parties.” The Chinese company later acknowledged that its European subsidiary, China Unicom (Europe) Operations Ltd., had expressed interest in a technical partnership for the bid and in the possibility of acquiring a 20% equity stake if the bid was approved.

Executives at Minerva Group didn’t respond to requests for comment. The company’s listed location in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, is a one-room office in a dilapidated building. A secretary who answered the door said Minerva employees rarely make appearances in the office, and that the only Minerva employee in the country was a man the secretary knew simply as “Chief.”

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Text Messaging Will Enable Consumers to Check Authenticity; Spate of Fatalities Included Antifreeze-Laced Cough Syrup

LAGOS, Nigeria—Biofem Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a Nigerian medicine distributor, wanted to arrest a slide in sales after a counterfeit ring targeted its best-selling drug. Sproxil Inc., a start-up founded by a Ghana-born Ph.D. student at Dartmouth, promised to do what Nigerian authorities could not: help companies and consumers detect fake pharmaceuticals.

Sproxil’s founder, 28-year old Ashifi Gogo, overcame initial skepticism and a lack of funding to persuade investors to back a technology that offers a quick counterfeit-drug test. The technology could pave the way for wary foreign drug makers to enter the huge African market. The market includes Nigeria, Africa’s biggest country by population but one rife with scams and scamsters.

“Initially it was challenging because venture capitalists run for the hills when they hear Nigeria,” Mr. Gogo said in a telephone interview. “They don’t even care if you’re making gold.”

The company has developed technology that allows customers to use their mobile phones to check on newly purchased drugs. Using scratch-off labels and ID numbers, customers can send a code via text message to a database in the U.S. to check whether the medicine they purchased is authentic. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest mobile-phone market, with more than 70 million users.

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ABUJA, Nigeria—Hundreds of protesters rallied Wednesday in this country’s capital, piling political pressure on a government that is already reeling from a leadership shakeup and deadly violence in a nearby city.

The demonstrations in the Nigerian capital of Abuja took aim at the country’s absentee president, Umaru Yar’Adua, and voiced frustration at what is seen as a leadership vacuum in Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria, also a major oil exporter, has been engulfed in a series of crises, from militant attacks on pipelines to Sunday’s slaughter, in which Muslims allegedly killed hundreds of Christian, in villages outside the city of Jos.

After the violence, Nigeria’s vice president, Mr. Jonathan, sacked the country’s national security adviser. The new security adviser, retired Gen. Aliyu Gusau, is a prominent figure in Nigeria who has served as National Security Adviser to two former heads of state.

The security official’s dismissal fueled speculation that the government may have known about imminent attacks. Jonah Jang, the governor of Plateau State, told reporters that shortly before Sunday’s violence he had warned the country’s military that an attack was imminent, but that they didn’t respond.

On a separate front, Mr. Jang sent a letter to the Senate president, a fellow member of the ruling political party in Nigeria, asking for help to resolve political infighting in the state. The letter, which was viewed by the Wall Street Journal, was dated March 2, five days before the massacres outside Jos.

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DOGO NAHAWA, Nigeria— The attackers came at night and surrounded this small farming village, firing shots in the air to scare residents from their homes. Men, women and children were hacked with machetes as they rushed out. Several houses were set on fire with residents still inside.

Details are beginning to emerge from attacks Sunday on four villages in central Nigeria, where witnesses say members of the predominantly Muslim Fulani ethnic group targeted villages that were home to members of the mostly Christian Berom ethnic group. On Monday, local officials counted 378 bodies in the villages of Dogo Nahawa, Rasat, Zot and Shen.

The dead, in a freshly dug mass grave, included a pregnant woman and at least one infant. A few miles away in Jos, a city of a half-million at the crossroads of Nigeria’s Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, troops patrolled the outskirts and set up checkpoints. There was a light police presence in Dogo Nahawa.

“I was sleeping at night next to my husband when I heard shooting,” said villager Nomi Dung, 38 years old, her eyes red. “My husband told us to run, but I said, ‘No I will not run—even if I die, let me die in my home.’ My husband ran, and entered into the [attackers'] hands. My children ran outside because they were afraid from the shooting.”

Ms. Dung could not finish. A relative said her three children, ages 8, 5 and 3, had been killed.

The latest violence compounds the political uncertainties in Africa’s most-populous nation. With sub-Saharan Africa’s largest Muslim population, Nigeria has largely avoided extremist ideology. But the threat of a deepening religious divide adds to security problems and a leadership vacuum that have prompted worries that one of the world’s largest oil-producers could be careening out of control.

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Camp of Ailing President Says Vice President Will Rule for Now

By WILL CONNORS

ABUJA, Nigeria—The return of Nigeria’s ailing president after a three-month medical absence sets the stage for a showdown over who will ultimately call the shots in Africa’s most-populous nation.

President Umaru Yar’Adua, who had been receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia, returned home early Wednesday but remains too ill to govern, according to a presidential spokesman.

Mr. Yar’Adua, who didn’t make a public appearance, offered a message of support for his vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, who was appointed acting president earlier this month by the Nigerian National Assembly, to serve until the return of the president.

“President Yar’Adua wishes to reassure all Nigerians that on account of their unceasing prayers and by the special grace of God, his health has greatly improved,” presidential spokesman Segun Adeniyi said. “However, while the president completes his recuperation, Vice President Jonathan will continue to oversee the affairs of state.”

That statement appears to start a clock toward the return of Mr. Yar’Adua, 58, whose absence with kidney and heart problems left the country in political limbo. Stepping into the president’s role earlier this month, Mr. Jonathan has reshuffled the cabinet, made long-delayed government appointments and has held meetings with foreign oil companies to calm international investors and the public.

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