Context Afzelia africana is one of the most important woody fodder plants in many parts of Africa. Aims This study evaluated the anticancer and antibacterial potentials of A. africana leaf and stem bark in Nigeria. Patients and methods The methanolic extracts were filtered and concentrated in vacuo according to standard procedures. The extracts were screened for phytochemical properties in accordance with standard methods. The antibacterial potentials of the plant extracts against 10 selected clinical bacterial isolates were evaluated using the agar well diffusion method. Anticancer potential using Human Embryonic Kidney cells and therapeutic index (TI) of the plant extracts were determined by standard procedures. Statistical analysis used The χ 2 test was used to determine the correlation between the antibacterial activities exerted by different concentrations of the stem bark and leaf extracts. Results Both plant parts contained alkaloids, anthraquinones, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, tannins, triterpenes, and xanthoproteins. The anticancer test with Human Embryonic Kidney cells showed that the leaf and stem bark extracts elicited cytotoxic activity. The leaf extract had TI ranging from 0.23 to 0.97 whereas that of the stem bark ranged from 0.24 to 0.75, against the selected test organisms. There was no significant difference (P=0.077) in the TI between the leaf and the stem bark extracts. There were no significant differences between the antibacterial activities exerted by the leaf and stem bark extracts and within the antibacterial activities exerted by the control antibiotics (P=0.073). Conclusions This study revealed that the stem bark and leaf extracts of A. africana possess anticancer and antibacterial properties.