Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Ex-President Jonathan enlists colleagues to mitigate electoral crises in West Africa
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has enlisted the support of other ex-presidents and Prime Ministers in West Africa to mitigate elections-related conflicts to promote peace in the region. Mrs Ann Iyonu, Executive Director, Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) announced this at a news conference in Yenagoa on Friday. Iyonu said that the former leaders’ group christened West African Elders Forum (WAEF) was inaugurated by Jonathan at a virtual meeting held on Thursday. She said that WAEF was an initiative of the GJF aimed at harnessing the goodwill, expertise and experiences of former leaders to promote peaceful elections and deepen democracy in West Africa. According to her, the forum comprises three former leaders of Nigeria, Ex-President Jonathan, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Retired Gen. A...
Nigerian doctor named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world
TIME named Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Mr Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here. The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Funsho, a cardiologist based in Lagos, Nigeria, is the first Rotary member to receive this honour for the organisation’s work to eradicate polio, having played an essential role in ensuring Africa’s certification as wild polio-free in August of 2020. “I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabl...
Liberia withdraws corruption charges against ex-president’s son
Liberia has dropped charges against four former central bank bosses, including an ex-president’s son, in a highly publicised graft scandal over the mishandling of banknotes worth millions of dollars. Five people were indicted last year for “economic sabotage” and other crimes after a probe found that an order for cash worth some 16 billion Liberian dollars ($80.6 million, 74.6 million euros) could not be traced. Charles Sirleaf, the son of former Liberian president and Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was among the five originally indicted, as an ex-deputy governor at the central bank. But on Thursday evening, Liberia’s Justice Minister Musa Dean told a court in the capital Monrovia that he was dropping charges against Sirleaf, as well as four others. The government did not respond to...
