Jimeh Saleh
BBC Hausa service editor

Image source, Getty Images

Yesterday we reported the bizarre story of a Nigerian man who was arrested and charged with a “conduct likely to cause breach of the peace” for naming his dog Buhari, in honour, he says, of the country's President Muhammadu Buhari.

The police have said that Joachim Iroko's unusual choice of name may have offended some of his neighbours, who abhor dogs for religious and cultural reasons. 

But should it really matter what name you give your pet, and how can it be a crime in itself? 

Joachim's case exposes something about the tensions that exist in modern-day Nigeria's mixed communities. 

Image source, AFP

Joachim is an Igbo Christian, but he lives in an area of south-western Ogun state, which has a large communities of ethnic Hausas, who are Muslim.  

Naming a dog Buhari may have been doubly problematic for the Hausa community, which considers dogs unclean for religious reasons and strongly supports President Buhari, who is from the same ethnic group. 

So perhaps Joachim didn't choose the wrong name, but the wrong place in which to give the name to his dog?

Nigerians are not against giving eccentric names to their pets, or indeed their children. 

I remember interviewing a painter many years in Lagos who told me his name was Honest Millionaire.

Former President Goodluck also charmed many with his name. 

A lot of children born during his presidency were named after him in hope that they would one day occupy the highest office in the land by sheer luck.

Read: Buhari profile

War crimes prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have called for a jail sentence of between nine and 11 years for Malian militant Islamist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi after he admitted to attacking shrines in the ancient city of Timbuktu in 2015. 

Image source, EPA

He is the first militant Islamist to be put on trial buy the court, and the first to plead guilt since the court was formed more than a decade ago to try war crimes suspects. 

The militants accused the Muslims who prayed at the shrines of being grave-worshippers, believing that the sites, where saints had been buried, posed a threat to monotheism and should be destroyed.

Read: Why is Mali an insurgent hotspot? 

The world's newest gold rush is under way in Mauritania.

It follows a government decision to allow people to search for gold in the desert.

Watch the BBC video here

Naziru Mikailu
BBC Abuja editor

Image source, AFP

What lies behind Nigeria's decision to suspend foreign exchange trading at nine banks? (see earlier post)

The government of President Muhammadu Buhari established a Single Treasury Account last year and asked all state agencies and departments to transfer revenues to that account, as part of an anti-corruption drive. 

Many commercial banks have suffered as a result of the policy, after government agencies stopped depositing their money with them in compliance with the directive.

The nine banks named will have to remit the missing  $2.1bn (£1.6bn) to the government before they are allowed to resume foreign exchange trading.

Image source, AFP

One source at the Central Bank of Nigeria tells me that this will have a major impact on some of the affected banks' operations. 

The central bank is also expected to impose fines on the banks for the failed payments. 

Customers of these banks will definitely be affected, especially those who have foreign currency accounts.

The bigger question, according to the source, should be: Why are these banks holding this money? Are they doing it in connivance with the national oil company NNPC, which stands accused of failing to remit billions of dollars of revenues to the government in recent years, or is there a more innocent explanation? 

This can only be determined after a proper investigation, the source says. 

However, an NNPC spokesman told me that the ban was triggered after it submitted a complaint to President Buhari, asking him to intervene and compel the banks to remit the money. 

See earlier post for more details

The US says it has imposed economic sanctions on Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony's two sons, accusing them of being involved in trafficking ivory. 

Salim Kony and Ali Cony were LRA commanders who played "critical roles" in trafficking of ivory from Garamba National Park in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo through the Central African Republic (CAR) to Sudan's disputed region of Kafia Kingi for sale or trade with local merchants, the US treasury said in a statement, external. 

Any assets that the two men had in the US would be be frozen and US citizens were "generally" prohibited from doing business with them, the treasury said. 

The LRA was formed in Uganda, but was driven out by government forces.

Its fighters now roam the vast jungles in the region. 

Joseph Kony: Profile of the LRA leader

Image source, EPA

Ethiopia's state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate has failed to refer to asylum-seeking athlete Feyisa Lilela in its website coverage, external of the return of the Olympic team from Brazil. 

The team was received by senior government officials, including Minister of Youth and Sports, Redwan Hussein, at the Bole International Airport, it reports.   

Feyisa won silver in the marathon, and crossed his arms at the finish line to protest against the government for its crackdown on the Oromo people, who form the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia.  

Ethiopia’s ranking at the Rio Olympics was the lowest compared with the previous six Olympics, Fana Broadcasting Corporation points out.  

With one gold, two silver and five bronze medals, it finished 44th in the medal table and 3rd from Africa.

Feyisa is expected to seek asylum in the US. 

See earlier post for more details 

Nigeria's central bank has suspended nine commercial banks from all foreign exchange transactions and operations after they failed to transfer $2.1bn (£1.6bn) of dividends from the state-owned gas company to the government, Reuters news agency reports.

Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the merger of state accounts into one single account at the central bank to reduce corruption.

Matthew Davies
Editor, BBC Africa Business Report

The South African rand has taken a tumble on international currency markets after it was rumoured, once again, that the country's finance minister may face charges in relation to an alleged rogue unit at the state tax revenue service. 

There's a real feeling of deja vu swirling around the rumours that Pravin Gordhan, faces imminent arrest. 

Back in May, local media was jumping with speculation that Mr Gordhan would face espionage charges over an investigation unit that was set up at the South African Revenue Service when he was in charge of the tax collection agency several years ago. 

The Treasury has confirmed that Mr Gordhan has been contacted by the elite police unit, the Hawks, and sources are claiming he must report to them on Thursday. 

Analysts say there's a much broader political picture at play here - at the centre of which is a deteriorating relationship between the finance minister and President Jacob Zuma. 

Mr Gordhan is widely seen in the markets as a safe pair of hands - even the suggestion of removing him from the Treasury sent the rand around 3% lower.

Prime Ndikumagenge
BBC Africa, Bujumbura

Eight people have been arrested in Burundi for "defaming" government leaders and institutions on Facebook and Twitter, police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye has confirmed to me. 

The eight were arrested on 20 August in the capital, Bujumbura, while meeting to write messages to spread via social media sites, he added. 

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has survived protests and a coup attempt since he announced last April that he was seeking to extend his decade-long rule. 

He subsequently won elections, which were rejected by his critics as a sham. 

More than 400 people have been killed in unrest since April 2015.  

Image source, AFP

Read: Presidents who cling to power

Image source, Getty Images

Ethiopia's athletes have returned home without marathon silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa who protested against the government at the Rio Olympics in defiance of the Games' rules. 

Ethiopian sports officials congratulated team members when they landed at the airport in the capital, Addis Ababa, but made no mention of Lilesa's silver medal achievement and refused to answer any questions about the athlete, AFP news agency reports.

Earlier, the government said would he be treated as a hero if he returned.

As he finished Sunday's race, the 26-year-old crossed his arms - a gesture of protest made by the Oromo people, who have suffered brutal police crackdowns.

Feyisa is from Oromia, home to most of Ethiopia's 35 million Oromo people.  

The athlete is expected to seek asylum in the US - a staunch ally of Ethiopia's government.

What is behind Ethiopia's wave of protests?

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs 

Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page, where we'll be bringing you the latest news from around the continent.