OPINION: Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou Awarded Mo Ibrahim Prize for Excellence in African Leadership

By John Campbell Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou, set to step down after two terms in office, was last week awarded the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The chair of the Mo Ibrahim Prize Committee, Festus Mogae, a former president of Botswana and himself a recipient of the prize, said that Issoufou had “led his people on a path of progress.” The committee noted that Issoufou had faced “severe political and economic issues.” Niger in the best of times...

2023: No Resolution On Zoning Of Presidential Ticket Yet – PDP

The People’s Democratic Party(PDP) having denied reaching any decision over the zoning of its presidential ticket for the 2023 election. This announcement was made to resolve the contention between major stakeholders over the recommendations. The party’s committee on the review of the 2019 elections had suggested that the party should conduct a primary election for its Presidential ticket which led to a disagreement. However, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP’s national publicity secretary, has indicated that it is...

Bandits Have External Sponsors-NSCDC Boss

Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Ahmed Audi says persons involved in banditry and similar criminal activities receive sponsorship from international circles. The country in recent times, witnessed a rise in the activities of bandits, especially with the mass abduction of schoolchildren in the northern part of the country for ransom. Audi who spoke during training for state commandants of the agency in Abuja stated that the country is experiencing “asymmetric...

Six Super-Tucano Fighter Jets Due To Arrive Nigeria

The Presidency said on Thursday said six of the 12 Super-Tucano fighter jets ordered by the Federal Government from the United States (U.S.) are due in the country in July. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said six of the jets would be delivered by the middle of July. In a post on his Twitter handle, Shehu said the remaining six would arrive shortly after, adding that...

OPINION: The Nigerian Military’s Missing Link: A Joint Special Operations Command

By Fola Aina Nigeria’s northern regions continue to struggle with insecurity, claiming the lives of tens of thousands and displacing millions due to armed banditry and Boko Haram. Significant battlefield defeats led the military to resort to a strategy of establishing super camps to prevent terrorists and armed bandits from overrunning areas of relative peace. However, as that approach has largely failed, President Muhammadu Buhari decided to heed months of repeated calls for change among the military’s top brass when he appointed new service chiefs in late...

OPINION: John Magufuli, Tanzania’s COVID-Denying President, Dies

By Nolan Quinn ____ President John Magufuli’s death at sixty-one years of age followed a familiar pattern among Africa’s putative strongmen: denials that he was sick followed by secrecy as to the circumstances of his dying and where it happened. Magufuli, like other African heads of state, apparently sought treatment outside his own country, rumor had it either in Kenya or India—perhaps both. Vice President Samia Suluhu, announcing the president’s death yesterday, said the president died from a heart...

Senate Suspends Bill Seeking to Restructure Nigeria Military

The Senate on Wednesday had a heated debate following the presentation of a bill seeking to restructure the Nigerian Armed Forces. The bill was titled, ‘A bill for the Establishment of Armed Forces Service Commission, 2021’ and sponsored by the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe. The bill seeks for the appointment of service chiefs in compliance with the federal character principle based on the recommendations of members of a proposed commission. Abaribe, while leading the...

United Nations Launch $1b Appeal For 6.4m Vulnerable People Of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe

The United Nations is appealing for $1 billion to help 6.4 million of Nigeria’s most vulnerable people, including two million who have been forced to flee their homes because of armed conflict. The bulk of the money will be used to provide life-saving assistance to millions of people in Nigeria’s northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe due to activities of Boko Haram, which began in 2009. Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for...

Tanzania President Dies At the Age of 61

Tanzanian President, John Magufuli has died at the age of 61 from a heart condition. The Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, said this in an address on state television on Wednesday. The news of his death broke out after days of uncertainty over his health and whereabout. According to the Vice President, “It is with deep regret that I inform you that today on the 17th of March, 2021 at 6 pm we lost our...

OPINION: Nigeria Needs to Better Protect its Schoolchildren

By Nkasi Wodu In early March, over three hundred schoolgirls abducted by armed groups from a secondary school in Zamfara State in northern Nigeria were released by their abductors. Unfortunately, the global outrage this incident stoked has not deterred the armed groups operating in the north. Just last week, another set of students was kidnapped from a college in Kaduna State—the third mass kidnapping of students in Nigeria in 2021. An ugly video released by the kidnappers in Kaduna showed the students being...

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