Politics

Unfolding story: What we know about siege on home of Nigeria’s Senate President

A detachment of security operatives on Tuesday laid siege to the homes of President of the Nigerian Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu in Abuja

Published

6 years ago

July 24, 2018

Africa News Watch

A detachment of security operatives on Tuesday laid siege to the homes of President of the Nigerian Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu in Abuja.

There are very strong speculations that the move is intended to prevent the senior lawmakers from making it to the National Assembly today because of an alleged plan by many lawmakers to decamp en masse from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

SlamReportsAfrica had reported how the Chairman of the ruling party, Adams Oshiomhole, had made underground moves to persuade members of the breakaway faction, R-APC, not to carry out their threat. There had been strong indications that the initiative would meet a brick wall.

The planned cross carpeting, if allowed to take place, would render the APC a minority party, a fact attested to by the Peoples Democratic Party leader in the House of Representatives on Monday.

Saraki’s spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, confirming the siege to PREMIUM TIMES said:
“As I am talking to you, I cannot access the street. They have barricaded the road and I cannot say his whereabouts now.

“I hear they are doing the same thing at the Deputy Senate President’s house.”

Reacting to the developments, Kola Ologbondiyan, a spokesperson for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said Nigeria’s democracy was under assault.

“Democracy has been placed under a jackboot. We are now in a totalitarian government. You can not stop the National Assembly, which is a key element of a constitutional republic.

“We will resist this,” he said.

Saraki’s travails are legion. First, he has been accused of betraying the ruling party by conniving with the opposition PDP to install himself Senate President. He was also charged with falsifying his asset declaration papers, an allegation nullified by Nigeria’s Supreme Court.

The police are yet to provide reasons for the apparent siege. However, Saraki was summoned by the police and asked to report Tuesday at its office in the nation’s capital, Abuja, in connection to the Offa robbery incident in Kwara State for which the police said some suspects mentioned Saraki as a sponsor.

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Politics

Sudan’s RSF chief accuses Egypt of bombing troops

Published

24 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In a speech that was released on Wednesday, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the leader of the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), accused Egypt of carrying out airstrikes on the group’s soldiers.

The army of the nation, which has just gotten the upper hand in the fight that has devastated the nation for nearly eighteen months, was also accused by him of receiving drones and training from Cairo.

Later, in a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry refuted Hemedti’s claims that Egyptian aircraft was involved in the continuing conflict in Sudan.

“While Egypt denies those claims, it calls on the international community to ascertain the evidence that proves the truth of what the RSF militia leader said,” the foreign ministry added.

Egypt has joined Saudi Arabia and the United States’ efforts to resolve the situation, despite the perception that Egypt is close to the Sudanese army and its commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Earlier this year, Cairo played host to meetings between opposing political groupings. Hemedti said in his prerecorded video message that Egypt had attacked using American munitions.

“If the Americans were not in agreement these bombs would not reach Sudan,” he added.

In addition, he mentioned the presence of mercenaries from Tigray, Eritrea, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine in the nation and restated claims that Iranians fought with the army.

The army has recently advanced towards the southeast Sennar state and the capital Khartoum, Sudan; Hemedti said that his men were forced to retreat from the vital Jebel Moya region by purported Egyptian airstrikes.

The head of the RSF stated: “This war will not end in one or two, three, or four years,” seemingly shifting the tone from earlier remarks in favour of peace initiatives. We will soon exceed one million soldiers, as some have mentioned.

Since the conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023, about 10 million people have been pushed from their homes, famine and widespread hunger have been brought on, and waves of violence motivated by ethnic differences have been mostly attributed to the RSF.

Politics

Rwandan foreign minister claims Congo refused M23 peace offer

Published

5 days ago

October 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Rwandan Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has claimed that his Congolese colleague had refused to sign a pact to address the M23 rebel violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since 2022, the Tutsi-led M23 has been fighting in the violence-torn east of central Africa, displacing over 1.7 million people.

Congo, the UN, and others accuse Rwanda of providing troops and ammunition to the group. Rwanda denies aiding M23 and accuses Congo of fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has attacked Tutsis in both countries.

Both nations took part in peace talks in late August to reduce the hostilities, which have exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe in the area and occasionally stoked concerns about a wider war.

Nduhungirehe told Reuters that a strategy “for neutralising the FDLR and lifting Rwanda’s defence measures” had been agreed upon and signed by participants in the negotiations, including the head of military intelligence for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He made this statement on the fringes of a conference in France between leaders of French-speaking nations, saying that ministers were expected to sign this accord on September 14.

“We were ready to sign … but the Congolese minister refused. She first commented on the report and then later, after consultation, she came back. She told us she was opposed to adopting the report.”

According to Nduhungirehe, the plan called for Rwanda to ease its “defence measures” a few days after the activities against the FDLR, however, the Congolese minister objected to these not occurring at the same time.

An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a Congolese government representative.

Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi, the leaders of Rwanda and the Congo, were present at the meeting in France. Though a three-way meeting was suggested by French President Emmanuel Macron, the two ultimately had separate private encounters with Macron.

“The situation is still too tense (for a three-way meeting),” Macron told reporters later on Saturday. It “calls for efforts on both sides,” he said calling on the two countries to reach an agreement.