1, May 2018

Gabon: Constitutional Court orders PM to resign, dissolves parliament over delayed polls ⁰

Gabon’s Constitutional Court on Monday ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly thus bringing the work of the Ali Bongo-led government to an end

A statement read out by its president Marie Magdeleine Mborantsuo said the mandate of all lawmakers in the lower chamber of parliament had been terminated because the government had failed to hold elections to replace them.

It was now incumbent on Bongo to appoint a new Prime Minister, leader of government, to steer affairs of the oil-rich central African nation. Till then, the upper chamber (Senate) has been tasked with doing the work of the dissolved chamber.

Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet who was ordered by the court to resign said he accepted the ruling which was sacrosanct.

“The decisions of the Constitutional Court are not to be commented on. They are to be applied,” Issoze-Ngondet said on national television after the ruling.

On his part, Richard August Onouviet, the president of the National Assembly, also said he accepted the court’s decision.

A multi-party committee appointed an electoral commission last Friday after repeated delays to organise the vote but no new election date has yet been set. The government had failed to organize parliamentary elections before the end of April.

Bongo appointed Issoze-Ngondet prime minister after a narrow victory in a 2016 election that international observers said was marred by irregularities and that sparked brief spasms of violence.

Source: Reuters

1, May 2018

Buhari admin attacks Ambazonians again, Says several S. Cameroonians possess Nigerian voter cards ⁰

Cross River State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, yesterday, alerted the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of illegal registration by Cameroonian refugees in the state. The state Comptroller of NIS, Mr. Felix Uche, made this disclosure when he led his management team on a courtesy visit to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Frankland Briyai, at the state office of INEC in Calabar.

Uche disclosed that several Cameroonian refugees have been discovered to possess voter cards. He said no fewer than 30, 000 Cameroonian refugees have entered Cross River State in the last one year following the crisis in the southern part of Cameroon. According to the Comptroller, there is the need for security agencies to assist INEC in stopping the refugees from participating in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration exercise.

In his response, the REC said he had earlier met with relevant security agencies to ensure that the influx of Cameroonian refugees does not pose threat to the ongoing CVR. Briyai, however, noted that the ongoing voter’s registration was only meant for Nigerians, adding that more strategies would be put in place to check intruders.

Source: www.vanguardngr.com

1, May 2018

Chad parliament approves new constitution ⁰

Chad’s parliament on Monday overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that expands President Idriss Deby’s powers and could allow him to stay in office until 2033, in a vote boycotted by most opposition lawmakers.

The new constitution reimposes a two-term limit scrapped in a 2005 referendum. But it will not be applied retroactively, meaning Deby could serve two terms after the next election in 2021.

The constitution now heads to Deby for his signature. Deby’s opponents say that the constitution, which eliminates the post of prime minister and creates a fully presidential system, is aimed at installing a de facto monarchy in Chad, an ally of Western nations fighting jihadist groups in West Africa.

The new constitution – approved by a vote of 132 to two – introduces six-year rather than five-year presidential terms. That would mean Deby could stay in power until 2033, when he will be at least 80.

Deby first came to power in a rebellion in 1990. He has recently faced strikes and protests due to budget shortfalls caused by low prices for Chad’s chief export, oil.

(REUTERS)

1, May 2018

Trump praises Nigeria’s role in the fight against terrorism ⁰

US president Donald Trump praised Nigeria’s efforts in the fight against terrorism, pledging to help Buhari’s government solve the deadly violence between Christian farmers and Fulani herdsmen. Trump was addressing a press conference with Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari after the latter’s historic visit to the White House.

“Nigeria was one of the first African countries to join the coalition to defeat the Islamic state group and Nigerian forces are leading regional efforts against EI in West Africa,” he said, also mentioning the fight against Boko Haram “another ruthless jihadist group.

We will work on this problem because we cannot accept such a situation. Nigeria enters its 9th year of struggle against Boko Haram, who devastated the northeast of the country. The conflict has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Trump also praised Buhari’s determination to fight corruption and secure the people of his country. The US president then pledged to help Buhari address the issue of ‘Christians who are being killed, murdered in Nigeria’.

“We will work on this problem because we cannot accept such a situation,” he said. The Middle Belt of Nigeria, a meeting point between a predominantly Muslim North and a predominantly Christian South, is regularly the scene of intense inter-community tensions.

For months now, the region has been experiencing renewed tensions between Christian farmers and Muslim nomadic herders. Legislators have called for the sacking of security chiefs over failure to contain the communal violence while catholic bishops have asked Buhari to resign.

Muhammadu Buhari became, in 2015, the first Nigerian opposition leader to beat an incumbent president in an election considered free and fair. He has expressed his desire to seek reelection in next year’s elections.

Buhari used the occasion to trace the cause of communal violence in Nigeria to commend the United States for the physical and financial commitment to the fight against terror.

“The commitment of the United States to get rid of terrorism across the world, we have firsthand experience of that and we are very grateful for it,’‘ Buhari said.

“On security, I am very grateful to the United States for agreeing to sell to us the aircraft we asked for and the spare parts.’‘

Shithole or not?

The two leaders also took on the controversial storm that was raised when remarks attributed to Trump allegedly labeled several African countries as ‘shitholes’.

Asked about this episode which had provoked strong protests on the continent, Buhari preferred to stay out of the controversy. “I’m not sure how accurate this is, so the best thing for me is to keep quiet,” he simply replied.

Trump was less diplomatic.

‘‘There are countries that are in very poor condition and where living conditions are very difficult,” he said. Cooperation between the two countries has improved in substance over the past year.

Shortly after coming to power in 2015, Buhari accused President Barack Obama of refusing to sell arms to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. But the Trump administration has changed its position by allowing the sale to Nigeria of $500 million worth of Super Tucano surveillance and tactical support aircraft, to be delivered in 2020.

Source: Africa News