Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he will run for a fourth term in 2024 — a move that could extend his hold on power to nearly three decades.
Kagame confirmed his intentions in an interview with Jeune Afrique, a French magazine on Tuesday.
The president who began governing the East African country in 2000, is eligible to continue in office for another decade after a constitutional amendment in 2015 changed term limits that would have forced him to step down two years later.
Speaking with the French magazine, Kagame said he would serve as president as long as he can.
“I am happy with the confidence that Rwandans have in me,” he said.
“I will always serve them, as much when I can. Yes, I am indeed a candidate.”
Although Kagame has gathered international acclaim for presiding over peace and economic growth since the end of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, he has also faced criticism from rights groups.
He is accused of cracking down on the opposition and shushing independent media.
The president said he was not bothered about what foreign countries would think of his decision to run again.
“Personally, I no longer know what corresponds to Western values,” he said.
“What is democracy? The West dictating to others what they should do? But if they violate their own principles, how do we listen to them?”
“Seeking to transplant democracy to someone else is already a violation of democracy in itself.
“People are supposed to be independent and should be allowed to organise themselves as they wish.”
Shortly after the Gabon coup last month, Kagame reshuffled his military to solidify his power hold.
Meetings between Rwanda’s chief of defence staff, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Rwanda, and the defence attaché of Cameroon were also held to discuss ways “to enhance defence cooperation between their respective countries”.
[PRESS RELEASE] Arik Air Receivership – How Alhaji Ahmed Kuru, MD-AMCON Misinformed and Misled the Government
AdminThe attention of the Shareholders of Arik Air Limited has been drawn to press statements attributed to Alhaji Ahmed Kuru, the Managing Director of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON.
It is unfortunate that a senior government official, Alhaji Kuru, entrusted with the vital responsibility in the economic affairs of Nigeria will publicly make false and misleading statements in order to justify the monumental damage he led against Arik Air. This is a private airline that has proudly flown Nigeria’s flag around the world, while conducting its business constructively and contributing to the economic growth and development of Nigeria.
While we wish to refrain from media assaults and trials of persons as Alhaji Kuru/AMCON has done repeatedly in the past 6 years, we are beholden with the moral duty to set the records straight, in order to expose the desperate attempt to misinform Nigerians and distort the facts of the monumental destruction of Arik by AMCON and its receiver Manager(s). We wish to state as follows;
The Forceful Takeover of Arik
We state unequivocally that as at 9thFebruary 2017 when AMCON forced Arik Air into the receivership management of Mr. Oluseye Opasanya (SAN),the airline was not in default of any of its financial lease and operating loan obligations to any Bank, including the European Credit Agency(ECA)/HSBC facility. Suffice it to state that with the 2010 banking reforms, the CBN directed the conversion of all local bank guarantees of foreign loans from off-balance sheet to on-balance sheet. Thus, with this CBN directive, AMCON took over the European Credit Agency(ECA)/HSBC finance facility supported by the local guarantee of Union Bank plc. AMCON renegotiated the facility with Union Bank from single digit to double digit interest rate without involving Arik Air management.
This is a shareholder statement
President Bola Tinubu says investors can now confidently invest their funds in Nigeria without “fear”.
Tinubu spoke on Tuesday at the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) where he rang the closing bell.
On September 11, the president was invited by the United States Chamber of Commerce to perform the act at the stock exchange market, based in New York.
Speaking at the event, Tinubu said critical decisions and steps have been taken to ensure that foreign investors get their returns.
The president also asked investors to put their fears aside, assuring them that they are “free to take in your money and bring out your money”.
“It’s a great honour for me to be here. I am happy to bring Nigeria to your doorsteps and honoured that we’re here today with a bubbly market that will evolve [in] the West Africa sub-region,” he said.
“The greatest economy is Nigeria, there is an immense opportunity in Nigeria that you can invest your money without fear.
“We’ve removed a lot of bottlenecks and we’ve cleared subsidy that are corrupt. And we have also retooled the exchange rate to a reliable, dependable figure, floating up the exchange naira.
“You’re free to take in your money and bring out your money. I count on you to invest in Nigeria.”
On his part, Scott Eisner, president of the U.S-Africa Business Center, expressed confidence in the new trading links and partners at the chambers.
Eisner said the chambers look forward to the opportunity to share in the future of the US-Nigeria relationship.
“At the chamber, we stand for small and medium-sized enterprises, the actual pillar of what Nigeria is built on,” he said.
“With the president’s vision and his compassion for those that are investing in his community, I think we share in a very bright future to achieve everything that he and our country have in the future.”
Recently, the Nigerian president has made efforts to improve the investment climate for investors, sending a strong message to the global investing community that the country is open for business.
Media
Abba Yusuf, the governor of Kano, says he has instructed his legal team to file an appeal against the ruling of the election petition tribunal that nullified his electoral victory.
In a message posted on the platform X on Wednesday night, Yusuf described the tribunal ruling as a “temporary setback “.
In a judgment delivered on Wednesday via Zoom, the tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Yusuf.
The tribunal also affirmed Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the state.
Following the judgement, the Kano police command declared a 24-hour curfew in the state to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
However, the governor called on the residents to remain “calm and be law-abiding”, adding that people should not take the law into their hands.
He added that security agents have already been directed to ensure the full protection of “lives and property of innocent citizens across the state”.
“You would recall that on March 18, 2023, you came out en mass and voted for me as your Governor with a total votes of 1,019,602 and a margin of 128,897 votes between my humble self and second place,” he wrote.
“Subsequently, I was duly sworn in as your elected Governor on May 29, 2023. You may also recall that the party that lost the election took us to court.
“However, after almost six months of proceedings at the governorship election petition tribunal, today Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the judges of the tribunal have in their own wisdom delivered their ruling.
“As human beings, their judgement may not be absolutely perfect, there are errors and misapplication of the law as pointed out by our legal team.
“That is why our constitution provides for other stages to go on with such as the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
“On this note, we have already instructed our legal team to appeal this judgement as soon as possible to ensure that justice is done.
“I therefore call on all the good people of Kano State to be calm and remain law-abiding. People should not take the law into their hands, and security agents have already been directed to ensure the full protection of lives and property of innocent citizens across the State.
“We want to assure you that this will neither dampen our spirit nor slow us down, as this is a temporary setback for our State which we will overcome by the grace of Almighty Allah (SWT).”
The Ondo State House of Assembly has begun the process of removing the deputy governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
The House accused the embattled deputy governor of being involved in some acts of gross misconduct while in office as the acting governor.
To this end, at the plenary session on Wednesday, the directed the Clerk of the House, Mr Benjamin Jaiyeola, to communicate to Aiyedatiwa the allegations levelled against him.
The petition which has been signed by Nine out of 26 Members of the House was read during the plenary presided over by the Speaker, Mr Olamide Oladiji.
The Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has disclosed its plans to expel former Governor, Ayodele Fayose from the party.
The party stated that its resolutions and decisions, seeking Fayose’s expulsion, have been forwarded to the National Working Committee, NWC.
Chief Olalekan Amerijoye, the Publicity Secretary of the Caretaker Transition Committee, who disclosed this to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, on Tuesday, said the party would no longer put up with the unwholesome and anti party activities of Fayose and other leaders of the PDP in the state.
“Admittedly, challenges have emerged, as is commonplace within any substantial political entity, occasionally leading to momentary setbacks.
“Disagreements are a natural facet of political growth, yet it would have been incumbent upon us to realize that the greater good should forever eclipse our differences.
“We are expecting the response of the National Working Committee to the majority decision of stakeholders in Ekiti towards the suspension of former governor, Ayodele Fayose from the party.
“The genuine members of Ekiti PDP have resolved from our recent meeting on what should be the punitive measures for people that have turned the party into a commercial venture.
“ These resolutions have been communicated to headquarters in Abuja by some individuals who are ‘PDAPC’ and we are patiently waiting for their response in the interest of the PDP in Ekiti.”
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kano has declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress, APC, winner of the Kano governorship election.
The tribunal gave the final judgement after cancelling some votes recorded by the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, candidate and Kano Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadabey said the margin of votes scored by the NNPP was not enough to give Governor Yusuf victory.
It said some of the votes credited to Yusus were invalid.
APC’s Gawuna won all the three grounds presented before the tribunal which include over voting, invalid votes and not being a member of the party as at the time of the NNPP primary election.
The Tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to retrieve the Certificate of Return issued to Yusuf and give same to Gawuna as the original winner of the election.
She declared that the position of the law states that one most be a bonafide member of a political party before he was allowed to contest an elections, while in the case of Abba Kabir Yusuf he wasn’t a member of NNPP 30 stipulated dates before the conduct of the general elections.
After the deduction of votes, Gawuna was declared winner with 897,000 votes, while Abba got 850,000 votes.
Mr. Femi Adesina, who served as the Special Adviser on Media to ex-president, Muhammadu Buhari, has said his principal actually felt some things the administration did, could have been done better.
Adesina spoke in Osogbo on Wednesday at a programme tagged Media Dialogue with Femi Adesina organised by the Association of Veteran Journalists in Osun State.
The ex-presidential spokesperson said before Buhari left office, he had a two-hour chat with him, during which he asked all manners of questions.
According to him, during the interview session, he asked his principal what his regrets were, and Buhari expressed regret that certain things should have probably been done in another way.
Although Adesina did not state Buhari’s regret, he however said “There is no living human being that will not regret certain things. It is one of the questions I asked the president.
“Before we left office, I sat with him for about 2 hours and I asked him every question under the sun and when we finished, he asked what I gave to Chief of Protocol that he gave so long a time with him. There was no question I didn’t ask him. There were things he (Buhari) felt could have been done better.”
Defending some of the actions taken by the administration, Adesina, who said naira redesign policy, though exposed Nigerians to hardship was not totality a bad policy as it enabled the country to have reduction in crime, especially kidnapping and curbed manipulation in the 2023 polls.
He further said Buhari served the country diligently, but added that whatever inadequacies noticed in the manner his principal led the nation, could not be solely blamed on him.
“The policy (naira redesign) brought hardship to Nigerians. I had N20,000 which I stretched for almost two weeks. There was a day I had a full house and we wanted to cook breakfast but midway, the gas finished.
“When they came to tell me that the gas has finished, I didn’t know what to do because to fill that big cylinder, I needed N40,000 but I didn’t have it. I was special adviser to the president but I didn’t have the cash. One boy living with me had to bail me out to fill that gas which I refunded.
“So, it was everybody that bore that brunt. You will recall that even during that time, there was no kidnapping. I remember some people went to kidnap an APC chairman or is it secretary in Kano. After holding him for three days and nobody was calling to ask how much they will collect because there was no cash, they just slapped him three times and told him to go.
“Even kidnappers were out of business because there was no naira and do you know that we have a cleaner election because of that policy?
“Nine serving governors couldn’t go to the Senate. They contested but lost. Have you ever seen a governor who will contest an election and will not win? But because there was no money to spread around, they couldn’t win. The policy was not bad in its entirety. There were issues with it but it was not bad in its entirety,” Adesina concluded.
The Bauchi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has ruled that Bala Mohammed was duly elected as the governor of the North East state.
The tribunal on Wednesday affirmed the victory of Governor Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18th governorship election held in the state.
The tribunal dismissed the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
It held that there is no strong reason to annul the election as the election was conducted in compliance with the law.
The judgment was delivered by a three-man panel chaired by Justice P.T Kwahar.
INEC had in March declared that Mohammed polled 525,280 to beat his closest rival and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Air Marshal Abubakar who polled 432,272.
The Cross River State police command has uncovered an illegal arms factory producing guns and explosives in the Osomba community in Akamkpa Local Government of the state.
The command’s spokesperson, Irene Ugbo in a statement said a team of anti-cultism and kidnapping squad raided the factory and recovered a cache of arms on Monday.
The team led by Ogini Chukwuma also recovered remote-controlled improvised explosives devices (IEDs), detonators, and several automatic weapons.
Also recovered were dozens of locally-made double-barrel guns, and pistols at the illegal arms factory while nine gun runners were apprehended.
The police said, “This is a pure act of terrorism for them to be making explosives right inside a community with highly sophisticated remote donators, indicators, and so on.
“It’s a huge breakthrough for the command and we are not relenting in our quest to rid the state of crimes and criminalities, as a matter of fact, we have taken the war to the criminals.”
“This is a pure act of terrorism for them to be making explosives right inside a community with highly sophisticated remote donators, indicators, and so on.
“It’s a huge breakthrough for the command and we are not relenting in our quest to rid the state of crimes and criminalities, as a matter of fact, we have taken the war to the criminals.”
Irene said the suspects would be charged to court upon the conclusion of the investigation.
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I Won Presidential Election With 8.7 Million Votes, Peter Obi Insists In Appeal To Supreme Court
AdminThe presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has urged the Supreme Court to declare that the Presidential Election Petition Court’s five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani erred in law when it dismissed his evidence allegedly showing he won the February 25 polls with about 8.7 million votes.
Recall that INEC declared on March 1 that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu, polled 8,794,726 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Obi scored 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes, respectively.
Obi then petitioned the PEPC for redress while presenting, among over ten witnesses, a professor of Mathematics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra, Eric Uwaduegwu Ofoedu who submitted his expert report on the election.
The professor had told the panel that 18,088 polling unit results uploaded by INEC staff to the INEC Results Viewing Portal were blurred and allegedly shortchanged Obi’s score by
additional 2,565,269 accredited votes, aside the issue of overvoting.
According to the prof, overvoting checks on the 2023 presidential election showed that 4,457 polling units with a total of 2,317,129 PVCs collected were affected, adding that the figure exceeds the margin of lead of 1,807, 206 votes over the first runner declared by INEC, that is, Atiku Abubakar.
“From IREV portal, 18,088 polling units results were blurred. This number of PUs negatively impacted the votes of 2,565,269 accredited voters and 9,165,191 voters that collected their PVCS,” the witness had claimed.
But the panel, agreeing with the legal team of INEC and Tinubu, in its unanimous decision, dismissed Obi’s entire petition, holding particularly that the expert witness(es) from the Labour Party failed to specify the polling units in dispute as well as provide the copies of polling unit results given to LP agents as required by law.
The panel said the IREV portal was merely for public view and not a collation system.
Dissatisfied, Obi’s legal team led by Livy Uzoukwu SAN filed 51 grounds of appeal before the Apex court of the land.
Among other contentions, they said the panel refused to rely on the evidence of 18, 088 blurred polling units results uploaded by INEC staff to its public viewing portal.
Moreso, they maintained that the blurred results formed part of the certified copies issued to them by the electoral umpire, adding that the PEPC judgment affirming Tinubu’s election should be nullified for non-compliance to the Electoral Act and corrupt practices.
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The appeal partly read, “Take notice that the Appellants being dissatisfied with the decisions in PETITION NO: CA/PEPC/03/2023 MR. PETER GREGORY OBI & ANOR. v. INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION & ORS. (consolidated with Election Petition Nos: CA/PEPC/04/2023 and CA/PEPC/05/2023), contained in pages 3-327 of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting as the Presidential Election Petition Court, Holden at Abuja, Coram: H. S. Tsammani, Stephen Jonah Adah, Misitura Omodere Bolaji-Yusuff, Boloukuroma Moses Ugo and Abba Bello Mohammed, JJ.C.A. (“the Court below”) delivered on the 6th day of September 2023, and more particularly stated in paragraph 2 of this Notice of Appeal, do hereby appeal to the Supreme Court on the Grounds set out in Paragraph 3 and will at the hearing of the appeal seek the Reliefs sought in paragraph 4 herein.”
A date will be fixed by the apex court for hearing of the appeal.
as ex-govs, CSOs join fray
Reports of plots to impeach Senate President Godswill Akpabio assumed a new twist on Tuesday following indications that no fewer than 10 of the former governors in the upper chamber and a coalition of civic organizations are now calling for his impeachment.
Some pro-Akpabio senators were on Tuesday said to have embarked on a troubleshooting mission to their colleagues even as some of them were reportedly contemplating getting the Dr Abdullahi Ganduje-led All Progressives Congress APC National Working Committee NWC involved.
“The party is just reading a lot of things but we have heard that some of the senators are thinking of meeting with our NWC to help resolve the issue”, said an APC official who said the party had not been officially informed about Akpabio’s travails.
While the anti-Akpabio senators described the earlier reports of planned impeachment as “phantom”, parliamentary watchdog, the Coalition for Parliamentary Democracy CPD asked the Senate President to step down, having reportedly fallen out of favour with his colleagues in the Senate.
CPD, which was reacting to claims from Senator Akpabio’s office that “one South-South Governor” was behind the impeachment threat to remove him from office, counseled Senator Akpabio to stop pointing fingers of accusation and rather come clean on why his colleagues want him out.
In a statement by its National Coordinator, Dr. Menike Johnson, CPD on Tuesday accused Senator Akpabio of seeking to heat up the polity by pointing fingers whereas his colleagues had clearly adduced that his “failure to fit into the duties of a Presiding Officer and providing a transparent and credible leadership as reason for their decision to move against him”.
Insisting that the nation needs a very stable and united National Assembly at this critical time, CPD said Nigerians cannot afford to take a Senate that is plagued by an unstable leadership which does not command the loyalty of the lawmakers
According to the coalition, it is “disappointing” that instead of answering his colleagues, the embattled Senate President “is resorting to a face-saving measure of accusing a state governor; a very dangerous and unstatesmanlike venture that is capable of triggering crisis in the polity”.
“As Parliamentary watchers, we believe that Senator Akpabio should face the issues raised by his colleagues including allegations of lack of transparency, violation of elementary rudiments, conventions and processes of presiding over the Senate, diminishing the integrity of the Senate on financial matters and claims of preferentialism in the management of the Senate.
“The attempt to overheat the polity by blaming external individuals is therefore a self-indicting measure that does not provide the much-expected answers to very critical issue of leadership failure raised by senators against the embattled Senate President.
“Having admitted that he has lost favour with his colleagues; and having no answers to the very serious issues raised by the Senators which borders on leadership failure, we counsel Senator Akpabio to save the nation further trouble by stepping down as Senate President.
“Our nation is in a very critical moment and Nigerians cannot afford a Senate that is plagued by an unstable leadership which does not command the loyalty of the lawmakers”, CPD stated.
A message circulated among northern senators last Saturday by Senator Elisha Ishaku Abbo, had claimed that Akpabio’s loyalists, sponsored the news report about his rumoured planned impeachment in order to set Northern Senators against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Abbo had said! “I woke up today to see over 10 mainstream Nigerian newspapers, all carrying news of a plan to impeach Senator Akpabio by senators from Northern Nigeria. The Whistler Newspaper went ahead to mention Senator Yari, Senator Tambuwal, and Senator Onawo, among others, as the senators behind the move.
As a Northern Senator and an official of the Northern Senators Forum, I make it bold to say that this news is deliberately planted and syndicated by the ‘camp’ of Senator Akpabio just to set President Bola Tinubu against the North.”
‘Japa’: We’ll Stop Our Youths From Sweeping Floors Of Other Nations – Tinubu Assures In UNGA Debut
AdminPresident Bola Tinubu has assured the international community that African leaders are committed to strengthening their economies to dissuade their mostly young citizens from embarking on dangerous journeys across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea in search of better opportunities.
Tinubu said if African leaders make countries convenient, their citizens would have no business seeking livelihoods abroad as manual labourers.
He gave the assurance during his inaugural address at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78) under the theme “Rebuilding Trust and Reigniting Global Solidarity: Accelerating Action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards Peace, prosperity, progress, and Sustainability for all.”
In his address, the Nigerian leader said that economic improvement was also needed to curb the “inhumane commerce” that has flourished along migration routes, where men, women, and children are reduced to commodities.
Furthermore, he noted the detrimental impact of this dangerous migration on regional peace and stability, compounded by the influx of mercenaries and extremists from the north.
“Our entire region is locked in protracted battle against violent extremists. In the turmoil, a dark channel of inhumane commerce has formed. Along the route, everything is for sale. Men, woman and children are seen as chattel.
“Yet, thousands risk the Sahara’s hot sand and the Mediterranean’s cold depths in search of a better life. At the same time, mercenaries and extremists with their lethal weapons and vile ideologies invade our region from the north.
“This harmful traffic undermines the peace and stability of an entire region. African nations will improve our economies so that our people do not risk their lives to sweep the floors and streets of other nations. We also shall devote ourselves to disbanding extremist groups on our turf.
“Yet, to fully corral this threat, the international community must strengthen its commitment to arrest the flow of arms and violent people into West Africa,” he said.
Recently, the acting Deputy Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nandap, revealed alarming statistics from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Nandap said at least 1,200 Nigerians have lost their lives attempting the hazardous journey through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea as of July 2023.
Speaking during the 2023 Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Nationwide Sensitization and Enlightenment Campaign in Abuja, the Immigration chief lamented the “Japa syndrome” prevalent among Nigerian youths who in spite of dire consequences still embark on the journeys.
Abia State government has directed directors in the Abia State Civil Service who have served over eight years to immediately proceed for retirement in the next three months.
The state government said it is part of efforts at reforming the civil service in line with circular No. HSA/S.0074/11/91 of 1st August, 2011.
A statement by the Head of Service, Mrs. Joy Maduka dated September 19, 2023 said the government has approved that Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Service would only hold office for a term of four years, subject to renewal based on performance.
The statement however, maintained that directors must compulsorily retire after 8 years.
It added that the retirement approval is without prejudice to Rule 02809 of the Abia State Public Service which prescribes 60 years as pensionable service year.
The affected Permanent Secretaries and Directors were mandated to begin their retirement procedures in the next three months or forfeit their retirement benefits thereafter.