Factions
Rivals say Boko Haram chief dead as jihadists battle for control
When Nigeria’s military claimed Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had been badly wounded in an air strike 2016, the jihadist chief soon appeared in a video to deny another of the many reports of his impending death. Over the weekend, it was an audio from a rival jihadist group finally claiming Shekau had died, detonating explosives to kill himself rather than surrender after a raid on his forest stronghold by his Islamic State-allied enemies. The Boko Haram warlord’s death marks a major shift in Nigeria’s conflict, potentially allowing ISIS jihadists to consolidate and further challenge an already stretched army in their long war. In the audio obtained by AFP, a voice apparently of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) commander Abu Musab Al-Barnawi confirmed Shekau killed himself whi...
Somalia invites state leaders to crucial election talks
Somalia’s prime minister on Sunday invited regional leaders to a fresh round of negotiations in the hope of resolving a protracted feud over elections that sparked violence in the capital. The troubled Horn of Africa country is experiencing its worst political crisis in years, with fighting erupting in Mogadishu last week after the president extended his mandate by two years without going to elections. Opposition fighters remain in the capital even after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed backed away from the mandate extension at the weekend and agreed to hold a fresh vote. The president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, tasked his prime minister with reaching out to rivals and overseeing the negotiations, a key opposition demand. A government spokesman said Prime Minister Mohamed Hu...
Bayelsa government wades into communal crisis, warns against gunrunning
The Bayelsa State Government has read the riot act to those engaged in gunrunning in the state and warned such persons to desist from the unwholesome activity or they would face the full wrath of the law. Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo gave the warning while addressing the chiefs and people of Peretoru community in the Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state during a resumed meeting in the Government House, Yenagoa, on Saturday. Among those also present at the meeting were the representatives of the state Command of Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and Joint Task Force (JTF). A statement on Sunday by the deputy governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, said the meeting was part of ongoing efforts by the state government to resolve the leade...
Forces opposed to Somali president control parts of Mogadishu
Gunmen opposed to Somalia’s Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed had control of strategic parts of the capital Mogadishu on Monday, Reuters journalists saw, after factions in the security forces clashed at the weekend over his term extension. Mohamed signed a law earlier this month extending his mandate for two years after elections were cancelled, setting off a political furore that threatens to distract Somalia’s armed forces from fighting al Qaeda-linked insurgents. The presidential term extension has also irked foreign donors, who have backed his fragile government in the hope of bringing long-needed stability to the Horn of Africa nation largely in turmoil since a 1991 civil war. After exchanges of gunfire rocked Mogadishu on Sunday and some forces came from outside the capital, anti-Mohamed fac...
South-West PDP congress: Seyi Makinde, Ayo Fayose’s groups fight over 756 delegates
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, are to test their popularity with 756 delegates that will elect officials of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West on Monday. While Makinde is backing a former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Taofeek Arapaja, for the position of chairman, Fayose is mobilising for Dr Eddy Olafeso. Olafeso, who is from Ondo State, is a former occupant of the office. He resigned to contest the party’s governorship ticket in the last Ondo State election, which he lost to Eyitayo Jegede (SAN). Makinde had wanted the congress to hold in Ibadan, but the Fayose faction wanted it in another venue, saying the Oyo State capital was not safe for it and its supporters. However, two days ago, the National Working Committee of...
Amaju Pinnick faults Ayiri Emami’s position on emergence of new Warri monarch
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Amaju Pinnick, yesterday faulted the position of the Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom, Chief Ayiri Emami, on the emergence of new Olu of Warri, who succeeded the late monarch, Ogiame Ikenwoli. Some kingmakers had a few days ago selected Prince Tsola Emiko as the Olu of Warri-designate, a development that did not go down well with the rival group led by Emami, who insisted that picking him was a breach of the rules. The announcement made by the Iyatsere of Warri Kingdom and acting Chairman of Olu’s Advisory Council, Chief Johnson Atserunleghe, at a traditional ceremony in Ode Itsekiri, had since divided the kingdom into factions. Pinnick insisted that the 1979 edict which purportedly states that whoever must be the king must either be full...
Senator Marafa moves to end Zamfara APC crisis
The APC crisis in Zamfara state might have been over as the Senator Kabiru Marafa faction meet in Kaduna to finalize moves of reconciling with the Abdulaziz Yari faction. This development followed the meeting convened by the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, where virtually all the APC stakeholders in Zamfara attended. Senator Kabiru Marafa, who addressed hundreds of his supporters on Saturday in Kaduna, said their resolve to reconcile was in the general interest of Zamfara state. He said “we are meeting with critical stakeholders of our faction (APC Mai Jama’a, which literally means APC of the grassroot) today in Kaduna.” “You will recall that the chairman of the caretaker committee of our party, His Excellency, Governor...
Nigerian youth union settles NANS factions
Nigerian Youth Union (NYU) has successfully intervened in the crisis that followed the National Delegates’ Conference of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) which led to the emergence of Sunday Asefon as NANS President. NYU hosted the two factions in NANS Zone B, Jeremiah Friday Ohomah of Federal University of Petroleum Resource Effurun and Friday Offongekpe Etinyene of the University of Uyo, at the NYU National Secretariat Abuja, to possibly resolve the issues that might have arisen from the election. NYU President, Comrade Chinonso Obasi, in a statement released in Abuja, on Thursday, confirmed that the meeting was successful as aggrieved parties agreed to suggestions that would herald peace and unity in NANS. Obasi reiterated that one of the core mandates of the NYU is ...
APC chieftain alleges plan to destabilize party using courts in Rivers
Chris Finebone, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, claims he has uncovered plans by a group working in cohort with the Rivers government to use the state judiciary to destabilize the party. Finebone, a former spokesperson for the party in Rivers made the allegation in a statement on Tuesday. He alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike and the Rivers chapter of PDP hatched the plot to destabilize the APC nationwide by making available Rivers State courts to enemies of the party (within and from outside the State) to file all manner of cases against it with a view to destabilizing the party as politics of 2023 approaches. Finebone further claimed that he learned from sources he did not disclose that the decision to use Rivers Courts was hatched at the highest level of government directl...
Governor Buni-led APC caretaker committee promises true reconciliation
As part of measure to make progress on its mandate in reconciling all factions in the ruling All Progressives Congress, the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led committee has promised to embark on genuine reconciliation of all party leaders and members ahead of the planned convention. Chairman, Caretaker/Extra-ordinary Convention Committee of the All Progressives Congress party and Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, said this during the formal inauguration of the committee at the party’s national Secretariat. The ruling APC had been enmeshed in protracted leadership crisis which lasted for months, culminating in the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole led National Working Committee (NWC). Buni, while swearing-in other members of the committee at the party Secretariat, said that the committee believ...
