Politics

26, July 2023

Staying power: Ailing Biya among world’s longest-serving leaders ⁰

Following the announcement by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that he was stepping down after nearly four decades in power, here are the world’s longest-serving leaders, except for monarchs.

Four decades in power: Cameroon's President Paul Biya — Four decades in power: Cameroon’s President Paul Biya

40 years plus

Equatorial Guinea: The Soviet Union was still a decade from collapse when Teodoro Obiang Nguema came to power in a coup in the west African state of Equatorial Guinea in 1979.

Under his repressive nearly-44-year rule, Equatorial Guinea has become known as the “North Korea of Africa”.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, veteran President of Equatorial Guinea

Cameroon: The world’s oldest elected leader is 90-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, who has ruled with an iron fist since November 1982.

Nicknamed “the Sphinx” for his inscrutable nature, leader, he won a seventh consecutive term in 2018 after elections marred by allegations of fraud.

30 years plus

Republic of Congo (also known as Congo-Brazzaville): Denis Sassou Nguesso, 78, has spent 38 years at the helm of the country in central Africa. He was president from 1979 to 1992, then returned in 1997 after a civil war and has remained in power ever since.

Uganda: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 78, has led the central African country for 37 years. He was re-elected to a contested sixth term in 2021.

Iran: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been supreme leader of the Islamic republic since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

Tajikistan: Emomali Rakhmon, a former collective farm boss who came to power shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has had a firm grip on his poor, mountainous country for 30 years.

Tajikistan's Emomali Rakhmon has been in power for 30 years — Tajikistan’s Emomali Rakhmon has been in power for 30 years

Eritrea: Former rebel leader Isaias Afwerki has been president of the reclusive Horn of Africa nation of Eritrea since it won independence from Ethiopia in May 1993.

– 20 years plus –

Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has used Soviet-style repression to remain in power in Ukraine’s neighbour for 29 years.

Djibouti: President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who was re-elected to a fifth term in 2021, has been leader of the country that styles itself the “Dubai of Africa”, for 24 years.

Russia: Putin became prime minister in August 1999, then president the following year, and served two terms before swapping jobs with prime minister Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 only to reclaim the role of Kremlin leader in 2012.

Twenty-three years in power: Russian President Vladimir Putin

Rwanda: Paul Kagame, a former Tutsi rebel leader who put an end to the Rwandan genocide of 1994, has been president of the small mountainous nation since 2000.

Syria: President Bashar al-Assad, who has clung onto power through a 12-year civil war, has also been in power for 23 years.

Longest ever: Castro

The longest-serving leader in history was Cuba’s revolutionary hero Fidel Castro, who spent 49 years in power. When he handed over in 2008 in his early 80s, it was to his brother Raul.

Source: AFP

24, July 2023

Gabon: Ali Bongo to face 18 other presidential candidates in August election ⁰

Gabon’s leader Ali Bongo Ondimba will face 18 other candidates in next month’s presidential election, authorities announced Monday.

Bongo is favourite to win a third term at the head of the oil-rich West African state ruled by his family for 55 years.

The 64-year-old, who took over from his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba in 2009, officially announced in July that he would run again.

His leading rivals include Alexandre Barro Chambrier of the opposition Rally for the Fatherland and Modernity (RPM) party and the National Union’s head Paulette Missambo.

The opposition failed to agree on a single candidate to challenge Bongo in the August 26 poll, but candidates are former ministers and part of the Alternance 2023 coalition.

Bongo’s powerful Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) holds strong majorities in both houses of parliament.

The president was narrowly re-elected in 2016, with just 5,500 more votes than rival Jean Ping who claimed the election had been fixed.

Announcement of the results sparked violence in the capital Libreville that left five dead, according to the government. The opposition says 30 people were shot dead by the security forces.

Bongo suffered a stroke in 2018 and spent months on the sidelines recovering, leaving the opposition to question his fitness to run the nation.

In April, the Gabonese parliament voted to amend the constitution and reduce the president’s term from seven to five years.

The presidential ballot will coincide with elections for the National Assembly and regional and local councils.

Gabon is one of the richest countries in Africa in terms of per capita GDP due largely to its oil revenue and relatively small population of 2.3 million.

A third of the population live below the poverty threshold, according to the World Bank.

Source: AFP

12, July 2023

World leaders deliver closing press conference at NATO summit ⁰

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed new security commitments from the G7 powers on Wednesday, but warned that these could not be a substitute for eventual NATO membership.

Speaking after talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Zelensky said the G7 promises should be seen “not instead of NATO, but as security guarantees on our way to integration”.

“We can state that the results of this summit are good, but should we receive an invitation, then that would be the optimum,” he said at NATO’s summit in Vilnius.

The G7 announcement will provide a framework under which individual nations will later agree bilateral deals with Kyiv detailing the weapons they will give.

The West wants to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he cannot keep the war grinding in the hope that international backing for Ukraine will eventually falter.

“This multilateral declaration will send a significant signal to Russia that time is not on its side,” White House advisor for European affairs Amanda Sloat said.

US President Joe Biden has previously suggested a model for Ukraine similar to one under which Washington has committed to giving Israel $3.8 billion in military aid per year over a decade.

Russia launched drone strikes on Kyiv for the second night in a row, the head of the city’s military administration said early Wednesday.

All of the Iran-made Shahed explosive drones launched at Kyiv were were “detected and destroyed”, Sergiy Popko said on Telegram, adding “there was no information about victims or destruction as of now”.

‘Absurd’

Western backers have already sent weapons worth tens of billions to Ukraine to help it fight back against Russia’s invasion.

Germany on Tuesday said it would provide more tanks, Patriot missile defences and armour vehicles worth another 700 million euros ($772 million).

France said it was sending long-range missiles and a coalition of 11 nations announced they will start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 jets from next month.

But the pledges, while desperately needed by Ukraine’s troops, fall short of Zelensky’s aspirations of putting Kyiv under NATO’s collective defence umbrella.

NATO leaders vowed after the first day of their summit that “Ukraine’s future is in NATO” and shortened the eventual process Kyiv would have to go through to enter the alliance.

“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,” a statement said.

But that didn’t go much beyond a 2008 vow on future membership, and reflects the concerns of dominant power the United States about being dragged into a potentially nuclear conflict with Russia.

Zelensky had earlier fired a broadside saying that failure to issue Ukraine a timeframe for joining was “absurd”. “Uncertainty is weakness,” he thundered.

Frustration

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said she understood Ukraine’s “frustration” as it desperately seeks to get into NATO’s protective embrace.

She said she hoped written security commitments would show Ukraine that Western arms will keep flowing even if leaders are voted out in key countries supporting Kyiv.

As part of their attempt to convince Zelensky that Kyiv is moving closer to the alliance, NATO organised an inaugural meeting of a Ukraine-NATO council with him in Vilnius.

That gives him more of a seat around the table to set the agenda in talks with the alliance, but is still far from being in the club.

On the sidelines of the sit-down, Zelensky held meetings with key allies, including Biden, to press for more support.

Biden will later also give a keynote speech at Vilnius university laying out Washington’s commitment to defending every inch of NATO territory.

Source: AFP

10, July 2023

“Biya regime in worst situation ever” ⁰

The Chairman and Editor-In-Chief of the Cameroon Concord News Group has affirmed that the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé is living in its worst situation ever, enumerating the reasons for the unprecedented decline deep within the ruling CPDM party.

Soter Agbaw-Ebai made the remarks during a talk in Dublin over the weekend in which he also presented a fair and balance state of the Anglophone uprising.

He referred to the recent sacking of General Ngambou Esaïe over comments the general made aimed at Minister Paul Atanga Nji as a very disturbing development in Yaoundé.

The Right Hon. Soter Agbaw-Ebai went on to cite three indications of the uniquely dire situation that was being experienced by the 90-year-old President Biya and his ruling Beti clique.

Firstly, Agbaw-Ebai pointed to the unhealthy rivalry and division that is presently manifesting itself within the government and warned that there were signs of a domestic war in the nation’s capital Yaoundé.

“Army generals were untouchable until Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and Atanga Nji came to the lime light. We didn’t use to hear such things as firing of an army general or sending an army general on retirement,”

Secondly, Cameroon as a nation had come to be surrounded by hydra headed armed conflicts, ranging from the never ending Boko Haram incursions to the war in Southern Cameroons.

“The third one, there are concerns from the native populations in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé about crime and the massive wave of movement from the Far North region and Southern Cameroons to Douala and Yaoundé.

Soter Agbaw-Ebai said support had waned for the 90-year-old President Biya across all Cameroon state institutions including the military and that the West now considers Biya as an X-Factor.

“Europeans and American politicians have actually become tired of the CPDM crimes and practices.”

By Chi Prudence Asong in Dublin

30, June 2023

Yaoundé: Minister accused of corruption wants Biya to stand for re-election ⁰

Health minister Manaouda Malachie currently under investigation by the Special Criminal Court over alleged involvement in a huge Covid-19 corruption scandal has organized a meeting calling on the 90-year-old President Paul Biya to stand for re-election, two years before the next polls are due.

The move interpreted by many political commentators as a cunning manoeuvre by the politician from the Far North has also generated a lot of under-the-table talk in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé.

Investigators have been sending out new summons as part of a probe into the alleged embezzlement of IMF funds given to Cameroon to help with its Covid-19 response. Health minister Manaouda Malachie is among those on the list.

As part of the inquiry into the management of Covid-19 funds, judges at the Special Criminal Court have also issued Minister Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh with a summons. However, his high-level contacts within the security apparatus are currently offering him protection.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana in Yaoundé

28, June 2023

Sierra Leone: Calm despite contested election outcome ⁰

The streets of Sierra Leone’s capital were quiet on Wednesday, a day after President Julius Maada Bio was sworn in for a second term following an election his main rival slammed as “not credible.”

Many people in central Freetown said they were relieved at the peaceful atmosphere as they went about their business at the start of Muslim festival of Eid, a public holiday.

Some women were selling food at market and commercial drivers of motorcycles and tuk-tuks were out in rain-soaked streets scouting for customers.

“I’m happy, not even because of the result, but I’m happy with the way everything came and went, because our expectations were really high that it was going to be like a catastrophe”, said Amanda, 40, a hotel employee who did not want to give her last name.

“(…) We can have the votes but if we don’t have the peace it doesn’t make a difference.”

“Everyone is cool, everyone is doing well, everyone is happy. Everyone is going on with its normal business,” said Abu Kailesie, a 24-year-old student and Bio supporter. “We are OK.”

But Alpha Kaloko, a 20-year-old bike rider, said, “I’m not happy about these results, because I think this election is not right. It’s not fair… We need changes.”

Bio, 59, who leads the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), was sworn in at State House on Tuesday immediately after the Electoral Commission announced he had narrowly won outright victory in the first round of voting, with 56.17 percent of the ballot.

Presidential candidates need 55 percent of the vote in the first round to avoid a run-off.

Since the end of Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war, no incumbent has failed to secure a victory in the first round.

Sierra Leone has a two-term presidential limit.

Tense rematch

The vote on Saturday was a rematch of a 2018 race that saw Bio, a former coup leader who campaigned on progressive policies, edge out Samura Kamara of the All People’s Congress (APC).

But he took the helm just before the West African state was pummelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by crippling levels of inflation.

EU observers denounced violence by security forces at the APC headquarters in Freetown on Sunday night, in what the police said was an effort to disperse opposition supporters, which left one woman dead.

Kamara, an ex-minister and economist, does not appear to have conceded defeat.

“I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission,” the candidate — who won 41.16 percent of the vote, according to the Electoral Commission — said on Twitter on Tuesday evening.

He has not given a speech since the results were announced. But shortly before the announcement of results, he denounced a “total lack of transparency and accountability” by the election overseer.

National Election Watch, a coalition of civil society organisations, issued a statement late Tuesday pointing to alleged irregularities in the electoral commission’s data.

It said that, based on its own calculations, turnout was between 75.4 and 79 percent, not 83 percent as the electoral commission announced.

It also said that Bio should have received between 47.7 and 53.1 percent of the vote, while Kamara should have received between 43.8 and 49.2 percent.

Cameron Hume, a former US ambassador who headed an observation mission by the Carter Center, told AFP on Wednesday that there had been some flaws in the process.

“The voting seemed to take place in a credible manner,” Hume said.

“But when it came to the delivery of ballots and the opening of ballot boxes at tabulation centres, there were numerous incidents where we saw a break in the chain of credibility.”

Source: AFP

7, June 2023

US: Former Vice President Pence announces presidential run ⁰

Mike Pence announced Wednesday his entry into the 2024 United States presidential election, as the former vice president goes up against his ex-boss Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

The evangelical Christian is scheduled to appear at a campaign launch event the same day in the early-voting state of Iowa — joining an already crowded field that includes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s closest competition.

“Today, before God and my family, I’m announcing I’m running for president of the United States,” he said in an online campaign video.

Pence’s announcement comes two days after papers filed with the US Federal Election Commission showed he had formally entered the race.

“I believe in the American people, and I have faith God is not done with America yet,” the 64-year-old wrote in a tweet accompanying the video.

“Together, we can bring this Country back, and the best days for the Greatest Nation on Earth are yet to come!”

Pence honed his reputation as an unstintingly loyal vice president who stuck with Trump throughout a scandal-plagued four years in the White House, and brought the religious right into the tent.

But he became a pariah in Trumpworld after rejecting the Republican leader’s demands that he overturn the 2020 election in his role as president of the Senate.

Berated constantly by Trump after Joe Biden’s election victory — and even heckled at a conservative conference with chants of “traitor!” — Pence continued to praise the tycoon in public.

That changed after Trump’s torrent of false claims of election fraud led to a mob chanting for Pence to be hanged at the US Capitol.

Pence announced his presidential run a day after former New Jersey governor Chris Christie joined the contest.

Former governors Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson are also in the race, while North Dakota’s chief executive Doug Burgum is also due to announce on Wednesday.

Polls show Trump as the overwhelming early front runner, regularly posting leads on DeSantis in excess of 30 points. None of the other candidates is achieving double figures.

But the former president is facing multiple criminal investigations into his personal and professional conduct that have already yielded dozens of felony charges in New York.

Source: AFP

6, June 2023

Yaoundé: Biya receives six new ambassadors ⁰

90-year-old President Biya has received six new ambassadors at the Unity Palace in Yaoundé. The Monday 5th June 2023 ceremony involved heads of diplomatic missions who came to present their credentials to the Cameroonian dictator.

Among the six who performed the diplomatic ritual were Corinna Fricke, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Cameroon, the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Christian Dennys-Mcclure, Martin Strub, the Ambassador of Switzerland, Filipo Scammacca Del Murgo, the Ambassador of Italy, Nozomu Takaoka, the Ambassador of Japan and Anindya Banerjee, the High Commissioner of India to Cameroon.

The six diplomats presented their credentials to Mr. Biya, in a solemn diplomatic ceremony that sealed their appointment as representatives of their countries to Cameroon.

By Rita Akana with files

31, May 2023

Criticizing Biya or the CPDM online or offline calls for trouble ⁰

The plantation town of Mbanga in the Littoral region, 310 km from the capital Yaoundé, is known for its banana plantations. But that’s not why it was in the spotlight on June 10, 2020. A video with plantation worker Clement Ytembe Bonda had gone viral, and it was going to haunt him forever.

It all started when news spread about how government ministries had mismanaged COVID-19 funds to the tune of XCF 180 billion (USD 226 million). When the pandemic hit in 2020, the IMF gave Cameroon this money to help deal with the pandemic.

In June 2020, civil society organizations, opposition party members sounded an alert on the mismanagement of the COVID-19 fund. Jean Michel Nintcheu, opposition Member of Parliament from the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, observed that there were no beds and toilets in one of the COVID-19 treatment centres in the Littoral region of Cameroon, even though XCF 100 million (about USD 165,000) was earmarked to hire mobile toilets. On orders from the presidency, the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court investigated the management of the funds later released a summary of investigation.

The summary indicated that the Ministry of Scientific Research had been importing hydroxychloroquine, and azithromycin, labeling them as their products instead of producing chloroquine. The XCF 15 million (about USD 25,000) meant for renovating the production unit was therefore allegedly not spent. The Ministry of Public Health was involved in overbilling and the mismanagement of funds.

In 2021, Cameroon was ranked 144/188 on the Transparency International corruption index. A report from the National Anti-corruption Commission highlights the most corrupt entities in Cameroon, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of State Property and Land Tenure, and the police and gendarmerie. Former Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono is in jail for the mismanagement of HIV/AIDS funds. This is why rights groups and opposition sounded an alert over the alleged embezzlement.

Clement Ytembe Bonda could not digest the news of the mismanagement of COVID-19 funds. On that fateful morning he took his phone and asked his friends Wameni André Boris and Flavy Kamou Wouwe to film him as he poured out his anger. “We have to get up at 4:00 am for XCF 32,000, while another [the ministers] will wake up at 8:00 am, and go to an air-conditioned office to steal XCF 180,000 billion. See bananas everywhere but you cannot touch even one.” Bonda used explicit language to talk about the head of state and government ministers responsible for the alleged embezzlement.

Through the video, Bonda exposed the employment situation in Cameroon, where a university graduate, for the lack of employment, is forced to work in a plantation. He also revealed the living conditions of plantation workers in Cameroon who toil the whole day without food to produce bananas for the owners. The minimum wage in Cameroon in 2022 is XAF 36,270, (USD 60.05) but Bonda and his friends were paid XAF 32,000 (USD 52.94), which is less than the minimum wage.

The video went viral on social media and Bonda soon became a wanted man, because speaking this way about the president and ministers provokes a strong response in Cameroon. The police accused him of insulting president Biya. He was tracked down and arrested, with his friends Andre Boris Wameni and Flavy Kamou Wouwe, at the Plantation des Haut Penja, an affiliate of a French agro-industrial company.

Arrested on June 11, 2021, Bonda and his friends first appeared in court on June 14, 2021. On June 17, 2021, they were tried at the Njombe Court for outrage against the head of state and for spreading false information on social media under article 78 of the cybercrime law. It states that “Whoever uses electronic communications or an information system to design, to publish or propagate a piece of information without being able to attest its veracity or prove that the said piece of information was true shall be punished with imprisonment for from 06 (six) months to 02 (two) years or a fine of from 5,000,000 (five million) to 10,000,000 (ten million) CFA francs or both of such fine and imprisonment.”

Article 113 of the Criminal Procedure Code punishes with imprisonment from three months to three years anyone who issues or spreads false news when such news is likely to harm the public authorities or national cohesion.

A year later, Andre Boris Wameni and Flavy Kamou Wouwe were freed, but Bonda remained in jail.

There were divergent opinions as some have argued that the young man deserves to be jailed because it is impolite to insult President Biya using vulgar language. Some have linked the arrest with the state of freedom of expression in the country — Cameroonians are free as long as they don’t criticize president Biya on or offline.

This is not the only case of cracking down on free expression. In 2009, journalist Jean Bosco Talla was jailed for insulting President Biya, but he said he had only published passages from a book in his newspaper.

The case of a TV program presenter Serge Alain Ottou and his guest Engelbert Le Bon Datchoua, a member of the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM party on Equinoxe TV, a local online broadcast channel, is also still fresh in the minds of Cameroonians. The guest said President Biya “is the worst thing that happened to Cameroon,” and the Minister of Territorial Administration ordered an interrogation. The Ottou and Datchoua were questioned at the Littoral regional delegation of police. The Communication Council summoned the proprietor of Equinoxe TV and the presenter Ottou in November 2022 for questioning. The issue has not been mentioned again.

Freedom after expression

The 1996 Cameroon constitution guarantees freedom of expression. “The freedom of communication, of expression, of the press, of assembly, of association and of trade unionism as well as the right to strike shall be guaranteed under conditions fixed by the law.”

But it is an open secret that criticizing the head of state and his government online or offline calls for trouble. The police, armed forces, the ministries of territorial administration, and communication, and the courts are state apparatuses used to keep firm control on the people to prevent criticism and dissent. The state brandishes its traditional role of safeguarding public security and peace but tramples on freedom of expression.

Culled from advox.globalvoices.org

29, May 2023

Nigeria’s political ‘godfather’ Bola Tinubu sworn in as president ⁰

The 71-year-old southerner took over from a 80-year-old northerner as Africa’s most populous nation faces a sea of economic troubles and security challenges.

“As president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria I will discharge my duties and perform my functions honestly to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the constitution,” Tinubu said in a live broadcast from the capital Abuja’s Eagle Square.

Foreign leaders and representatives present at the ceremony included presidents Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana as well as delegations from the US, Britain and China.

Kashim Shettima was sworn in as vice president, taking over from Yemi Osinbajo.

The ruling party duo were declared winners of the February 25 election, gaining the highest number of votes — 8.8 million — and picking up the required number of ballots across two-thirds of Nigeria’s states.

But Tinubu only garnered just over a third of the total vote, leaving him with a weak mandate, some analysts say.

The poor showing reflects “widespread disenchantment with his party’s record… along with misgivings about his personal eligibility for the office,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said in a note.

Dubbed a political “godfather,” Tinubu campaigned on the slogan “it’s my turn” to govern the country, Africa’s biggest economy.

He has touted his experience as Lagos governor from 1999 to 2007 — a period that, supporters say, modernised Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.

But the new president also faces corruption allegations, which he denies, and questions over his health.

Opposition leaders Atiku Abubakar, who came second, and Peter Obi, who was third, are contesting election results in court, claiming fraud.

The electoral commission acknowledged “glitches” during the vote but dismissed claims that the process was not free and fair.

Continuation

Buhari had promised to tackle graft and insecurity but disappointed many.

He bequeaths his successor mounting debt and inflation, as well as deepening concern over attacks and kidnappings by armed groups.

His presidency showed “it is possible for an individual believed by many to be personally incorruptible to preside over an administration that is nonetheless defined by corruption and rank incompetence,” said Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank.

“Nigerians will soon find out whether a leader widely seen as corrupt can preside over a relatively malfeasance-free and reasonably competent administration,” Obadare wrote in a blog.

Buhari is expected to leave Abuja on Monday to spend time at his farm in Daura, in Katsina State, near the border with Niger.

The two men might be different in style and reputation, but they also have key similarities.

They both adhere to Islam and are of an advanced age, in a country divided between Christians and Muslims and where the median age is 18.

Buhari made repeated medical trips to the UK when he was president, while Tinubu spent time abroad during the campaign and between the election and inauguration.

Speculation about Tinubu’s health is widespread, prompting attention to turn to his deputy Shettima, a 56-year-old former governor of the northern state of Borno.

Debt, insecurity

The new government faces a mountain of urgent work, starting with the economy.

One of the main challenges for oil-rich Nigeria is that it swaps crude worth billions of dollars for gasoline that it then subsidises for its domestic market.

This has caused a huge drain on revenue and foreign exchange, contributing to ballooning debt.

More than 80 million of the country’s estimated 210 million people live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank, and the UN has warned that over of a quarter of those are facing acute hunger this year.

Despite thriving tech and entertainment sectors, many middle-class Nigerians are moving abroad hoping for a brighter future.

Another priority for the incoming government will be to address insecurity, which has spread like wildfire in recent years.

Troops are battling gangs of heavily armed criminals and kidnappers in central and northwestern states, oil thieves, pirates and separatists in the southeast, and a 14-year-old jihadist insurgency in the northeast.

Complicating matters, national assembly elections produced greater political plurality this year, with seven parties represented in the incoming senate and eight in the next house of representatives.

“The next administration will need to work overtime to garner consensus on the legislative agenda,” said Afolabi Adekaiyaoja in a report for the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development.

Governors, who also wield substantial power in Nigeria, were also being sworn in on Monday.

Source: AFP with additional reporting by Engelis Okesack Besong