Protests
Russia issues arrest warrant for Alexei Navalny ally
Russia has issued an arrest warrant for Leonid Volkov, a close ally of poisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to a media report. Mr Volkov had been organising protests from his base in Lithuania to demand the release of the opposition leader, who was detained last month as he entered Russia. A protest was planned for this Sunday, with Mr Volkov urging people to gather near their homes and light candles in heart shapes to flood social media. “You will raise your phone flashlights – and someone, maybe, will bring candles – and form a heart shape with them.. You will take a picture of it from above, from one of the apartments, and post it on Instagram,” he wrote in a Facebook post promoting the demonstration. His actions have angered Russian authorities, who have been granted an ar...
Sudan announces new cabinet with ex-rebels as ministers
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced Monday a new cabinet bringing in seven ex-rebel chiefs as ministers, following a peace deal in October aimed to end decades of war. Veteran rebel leader and economist Gibril Ibrahim, of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) – which played a major role in the Darfur conflict – was appointed as Sudan’s new finance minister. “We have reached consensus on over 25 ministries,” Hamdok said, during a press conference in Khartoum. “This line up aims to preserve this country from collapse… we know there will be challenges but we are certain that we will move forward.” Hamdok dissolved the previous cabinet on Sunday to make way for a more inclusive line up in government. Two ministers were selected from the military, with the remaining coming from th...
Poland puts into effect new restrictions on abortion
Poland’s government put into effect on Wednesday a constitutional court decision banning terminations of pregnancies with foetal defects, as conservative policies increasingly take root in one of Europe’s most devout Catholic countries. The Oct. 22 ruling had led to weeks of massive protests, forcing the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government to delay its implementation. Small protests gathered late on Wednesday following an announcement PiS would take the official step to enforce the decision imminently, and abortion rights activists announced more would take place on Thursday. Abortion has emerged as one of the most divisive issues since PiS took power in 2015, promising poorer, older and less educated Poles a return to a traditional society mixed with generous welfare policies. Th...
Ugandan government withdraws troops from Bobi Wine’s house
Ugandan soldiers stood down their positions around the residence of opposition leader Bobi Wine on Tuesday, a day after a court-ordered an end to the confinement of the presidential runner-up. Wine, a popstar-turned-MP whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, had been under de-facto house arrest at his home outside the capital Kampala since he returned from voting in January 14’s election. For 11 days heavily armed soldiers and police officers surrounding the property had prevented members of Wine’s household, including his wife Barbie, from leaving their compound, as well as denying access to visitors. But security forces withdrew from around Wine’s house on Tuesday, allowing the opposition leader to convene with newly-elected MPs from his National Unity Platform (NUP) for the first time sin...
Niger governor: Incompetent leaders took over from military in 1999
Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger state has attributed the failures recorded in governance since the coming of democracy in 1999 to incompetent leaders who took over leadership of the country from military. The Governor spoke just as former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, blamed the nation’s educational system for the failure being recorded in leadership in the country, saying the system was not designed to produce leaders. Both men spoke at a youth summit organized by a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman Board of Trustees of Lead Generation Initiative (LGI), Shina Peller, in Abuja. The Niger governor said the that when the military decided to hand over power to civilians, a lot of competent people never believed in the process and therefore stood ba...
Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni in commanding election lead, rival alleges fraud
Uganda’s long-time leader Yoweri Museveni held a commanding lead in a presidential election according to partial results on Saturday morning, with final results expected later in the day, though his main rival Bobi Wine alleged widespread fraud. With ballots from 86% of polling stations counted, Museveni had won 5.3 million, or 58.8%, while main opposition candidate Wine had 3.1 million votes (34.6%), the electoral commission said just after 9 a.m. (0600 GMT). The government ordered the internet to be shut down the day before voting on Thursday, and the blackout was still in place. Wine, 38, had galvanised young Ugandans with his calls for political change after 35 years of Museveni, 76, ruling the country. The run-up to the election was more violent than in previous polls. Security forces...
Uganda election: Will Bobi Wine derail Yoweri Museveni’s sixth term bid?
As millions of Ugandans prepare to pick the country’s president this week, the stakes could not be higher. The run-up to Thursday’s vote has been marred by restrictions on campaigning, arrests of opposition figures and deadly violence. At least 54 people were killed in November as security forces put down protests by opposition supporters. Longtime President Yoweri Museveni, 76, is facing a strong challenge from popular musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine in his bid to secure a sixth, five-year term in office. Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, was just four years old when Museveni, a former rebel leader, came to power in 1986. In 2005, Uganda’s ruling-party-dominated parliament removed presidential term limits. And in 2017, lawmakers scrapped the age limit of 75 fo...
Igbo group writes Nigerian government to request extradition of Nnamdi Kanu for ‘treasonable felony
YouTube An Igbo professional group, Coalition of South East Professionals’ Network in Nigeria and Diaspora (CSEPNND), has written an open letter to the Federal Government of Nigeria, urging it to immediately write the Government of the United Kingdom and Israel, requesting for extradition of leader of Indigenous People of Biafra,Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,to face the law over his involvement in alleged treasonable felony. The group whose request was contained in the open letter dated January 8th, 2021, and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, explained that its action was predicated on Kanu’s ceaseless treasonable activities in the country. Noting that Kanu possessed citizenship of the two foreign nations, the coalition, according to the letter signed by its National President, Prof. Madumere Ch...
#EndSARS: Eight arraigned in Ekiti over attack on police stations
Eight persons were on Friday arraigned before an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrates’ Court for alleged attacks on police stations and stealing during the recent #EndSARS protests. The defendants are Olatayo Abiodun, 25; Olaoye Toyin, 23; Fasoroti Ifedayo, 25; Ojo Idowu, 18; Adetayo Damola, 20; Owolabi Oluwaseun, 21; Ajewole Ojo, 21, and Moses Ifeanyi, 20. They are facing a four-count charge of conspiracy to commit felony, willful damage, arson and stealing. The defendants were those arrested in connection with the widespread national protests against police brutality which were later hijacked by hoodlums. Their actions resulted in the destruction of property and deaths across the country. Trial The prosecutor, Oriyomi Akinwale, a police inspector, told the court that the defendants committed the ...
US Democrat Senate wins push stocks higher despite Capitol chaos
Clean sweep by Democrats allows them to enact big-spending policies likely to benefit the economy, investors say. Global stock markets rose and bonds nursed losses on Thursday in anticipation of a big-borrowing and big-spending Democratic administration driving growth, following runoff elections that gave the party control of both houses of the United States Congress. On Wednesday, US Treasury bonds had suffered their steepest selloff in months after Democratic Party victories in two races in the state of Georgia handed them narrow control of the Senate and the power to pass their agenda. US S&P 500 futures rose 0.6 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.9 percent as markets seemed to shake off a late fade that pulled Wall Street indexes back from fresh record peaks when chaotic protest...
Ghana’s opposition NDC to petition against election results this week
Ghana’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), which has been crying foul about the results of the 7 December presidential and parliamentary elections, says it is ready to contest the outcome in court. A member of the party’s legal team, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, said on Saturday that the election petition against the results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) will be filed by Wednesday. “We’ll go to court. We’ve made that clear… Certainly, by Wednesday, all these matters would be placed before the court,” Dafeamekpor was quoted by the local media as saying. Under the electoral laws, the aggrieved party has 21 days to file its petition at the court. This will be the second time in the Fourth Republic, which started in 1992, that the outcome of a presidential election ...
Anti-coup protests ring out in Myanmar’s main city
The din of banging pots and honking car horns reverberated through Myanmar’s biggest city of Yangon late on Tuesday in the first widespread protest against the military coup that overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The party of the detained Nobel Peace laureate called for her release by the junta that seized power on Monday and is keeping her at an undisclosed location. It also demanded recognition of her victory in a November election. A senior official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) said he had learned she was in good health a day after her arrest in a military takeover that derailed Myanmar’s tentative progress towards full democracy. The U.N. Security Council was due to meet later on Tuesday amid calls for a strong global response to the military’s latest seizure o...