SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The league MVP and the winners of the other seven AP NFL awards will be announced at NFL Honors on Thursday night, just days ahead of Super Bowl 60.
Christian McCaffrey is only the second player to be a finalist for three AP NFL awards in the same year. He joins Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford in the running for The Associated Press 2025 NFL Most Valuable Player.
Maye, who will lead the New England Patriots into the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks, and McCaffrey are also finalists for Offensive Player of the Year. McCaffrey and Lawrence are among the finalists for Comeback Player of the Year.
A nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began. Votes were tabulated by the accounting firm Lutz and Carr.
Voters selected a top 5 for the eight AP NFL awards. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.
The other awards being presented Thursday in San Francisco include Coach of the Year, Assistant Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year.
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Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford warms up before the NFC Championship NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye looks to pass during practice ahead of the Super Bowl 60 NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen speaks at a NFL news conference in Orchard Park, N.Y., Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen believed to be Islamic extremists have killed scores of people in a western Nigerian state that is becoming a new hot spot of violence that affects large parts of Africa's most populous country.
Local officials said at least 162 people died in the Tuesday attack and said the victims in the Muslim-majority villages of Woro and Nuku in Kwara state were targeted for refusing extremist ideology. The gunmen razed homes and looted shops.
The attack is the latest in a surge in violence in Kwara, as well as other conflict hot spots, despite recent support from the U.S. military.
Separately on Thursday, the governor of Kaduna state announced that all 183 people abducted from churches last month are free. He did not give details of how this was achieved.
Nigeria is facing a protracted fight with dozens of local armed groups increasingly battling for turf, including Islamist sects like the homegrown Boko Haram and its breakaway faction Islamic State West Africa Province. There is also the Islamic State group-linked Lakurawa, as well as other “bandit” groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and in illegal mining.
Recently, the crisis has worsened to include other militants from the neighboring Sahel region, including the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which claimed its first attack on Nigerial soil last year.
Anaysts say Nigeria’s recent military campaigns against the armed groups in the north, added to the growing competition within the groups, have contributed to the groups moving to new areas like Kwara through vast forests that make it difficult to hunt them.
“We may likely see the situation where these groups may come together to confront their common enemy, which is the state,” said Malik Samuel, a security researcher at Good Governance Africa.
The United States is supporting Nigeria in its military campaigns against the armed groups, despite some disagreements.
This week, the head of U.S. Africa Command said a small team of U.S. military officers are in Nigeria, focused on intelligence support.
Nigeria has been in the diplomatic crosshairs of the U.S. in recent months following threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to attack the country, alleging it is not doing enough to protect its Christian citizens.
While Christians have been among those targeted, analysts say the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s north, where most attacks occur.
But those tensions have since eased and the two countries have begun to cooperate. In December, U.S. forces launched airstrikes on IS-affiliated militants in Nigeria.
Last month, Nigeria’s government also said the U.S. has pledged to deliver military equipment purchased by the country but not yet delivered in recent years over concerns about possible human rights abuses by Nigeria’s security forces.
Kwara State Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said Tuesday’s attack was likely carried out in response to recent counterterrorism operations in the region. Some of these operations have been launched based on intelligence from local communities.
Mohammed Omar Bio, a federal lawmaker from the district, blamed the attack on Lakurawa, whose members were targeted by U.S. strikes in December, forcing some of them to flee to areas like Kwara.
Experts say that Kwara, which has seen a recent spike in deadly attacks and kidnappings, is fast becoming a new frontier for armed groups seeking to expand.
Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal, and Adetayo from Lagos, Nigeria.
Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, right, holds a child, freed with other worshipers, abducted by gunmen in Kurmin Wali, upon their arrival at the state government house in Kaduna, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abel Omotosho)
Freed church worshipers who were abducted by gunmen in Kurmin Wali, are seen upon their arrival at the state government house in Kaduna, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abel Omotosho)
Freed church worshipers who were abducted by gunmen in Kurmin Wali, applaud upon their arrival at the state government house in Kaduna, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abel Omotosho)
