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Hats in, cards out as Nigeria’s ex-vice president, Atiku Abubakar, declares interest in 2023 race

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Former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has asked members of the Board of Trustees of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to support his ambition to become Nigeria’s next president.

Atiku made the appeal when he hosted the BoT members during a Consultative meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, asking the elders of the party to work with him to clinch the presidency in 2023 or “we all retire together.”

He stressed that his vision was to build bridges across the country and called on the BoT members to join him in building bridges so that every part of this country will have a sense of belonging.

Since his entry into politics in 1993, Atiku Abubakar has unsuccessfully contested to be Nigeria’s president five times. In 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

In 1993, he contested the Social Democratic Party presidential primaries losing to Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe. He was a presidential candidate of the Action Congress in the 2007 presidential election coming in third to Umaru Yar’Adua of the PDP and Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP.

He contested the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party during the 2011 presidential election losing out to incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. In 2014, he joined the All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2015 presidential election and contested the presidential primaries losing to Muhammadu Buhari. In 2017, he returned to the Peoples Democratic Party and was the party presidential candidate during the 2019 presidential election, again losing to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

With Nigeria’s current president being from the Northern part of the country, there have been calls for Nigeria’s major parties to reserve the role of presidential aspirants in an arrangement known as “zoning” for candidates from the South Eastern part of Nigeria. The region has yet to produce a president since a military coup ousted Nigeria’s first president – Nnamdi Azikiwe since her political independence in 1960.

In the last presidential elections, Atiku Abubakar had a running mate from the  Eastern region of Nigeria in Peter Obi who has hinted that he would contest for Nigeria’s top job if his party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zones  the position in his region.

Speaking on the vexed issue of zoning, Atiku asked members of the PDP not to be asking for zoning just because the APC has zoned their positions, adding that “we invented and formulated this zoning policy simply because we wanted every part of this country to have a sense of belonging and I personally have paid my dues on the issue of zoning.

“Therefore, you cannot come and try to imply that the PDP has not been following the zoning policy. The many years of PDP government eight years and six years all of them were from the south. So we should not be stampeded by the opposition party. They have a moral obligation.”

The presidential hopeful also warned that the party might not survive another eight years as an opposition party.

“I am worried and you should be worried too that if we do not win, it means we will be in opposition again for the next eight years. By the next eight years, I don’t know how many of us will be left in politics and it may even ultimately lead to the death of the party because people gravitate, particularly in developing countries, towards governments. So this is a very crucial and historical moment in history, for our survival.”

Politics

Rwanda wants to hold presidential, parliamentary elections on same day

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East African country, Rwanda wants to hold presidential and parliamentary elections to be held at the same time.

According to a statement outlining cabinet resolutions, a proposal presented by Paul Kagame was approved on Friday to amend the country’s constitution to allow “harmonisation of parliamentary and presidential elections calendars.”

Parliamentary elections are currently scheduled for August this year, but they may be pushed back to next year if the constitutional change is implemented.
 
During the last amendment to its constitution in 2015, Kagame was granted a seven-year term that began in 2017, followed by two five-year terms. The lawmakers’ term is five years.
Parliamentary elections in September 2018 saw women fill 61% of seats, the Rwandan Patriotic Front maintain an absolute majority, and two opposition parties, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and Social Party, Imberakuri, win two seats each.
Harmonization of election dates is not a common practice in African politics. In Nigeria, West Africa where elections were recently held, Presidential and Federal Legislative elections were held on the same day while State (national sub-units) held on a later date.

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Sudan’s Fattah al-Burhan says military will be under civilian powers under new regime

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Ahead of the planned transition into civilian administration, Sudan’s leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has revealed that the country’s army will be subject to the reign of civil government.

al-Burhan made the position known before a session for security and army reforms in Khartoum Burhan while noting that his country will build a military force that will not intervene in politics and will be trusted by the Sudanese people in building a modern and democratic state.

A year after the military took power in a coup, the military and its former civilian partners and other political forces have agreed on a framework for a new transitional government and constitution, which will be announced next month.

The Northeast African country has a long history of military coups that dates back to 1957. More recently, the country experienced a coup in 2019 that ousted the military junta of Omar-al-Bashir which had been in power for over 30 years.

There was also a report of an aborted coup in September 2021 and a “self-coup” later in October of the same year that brought in the Head Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.

Since independence, Many Africa has grappled with contentious and contradictory roles of armed forces whether they be part of or against the state. Currently, there has been a wave of the military across the continent, particularly in Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali.

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