Politics

Finally, Nigeria’s highest court affirms President Tinubu’s election

Published

6 months ago

October 26, 2023

Nigeria’s Supreme Court has affirmed the decision of the tribunal, dismissing the appeals of opposition candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, and upholding the election of President Bola Tinubu.

In a final attempt to overturn the election result, Abubakar and Obi urged the Supreme Court to dismiss a tribunal ruling on September 6 that upheld Tinubu’s victory. Their attorneys argued before the Supreme Court that the lower court erred in holding that the electoral agency’s pre-election guideline to electronically transmit polling place results was not a mandatory requirement.

The court, in its lead ruling, which was delivered by Justice John Okoro, rejected the Peoples Democratic Party’s (Abubakar’s) appeal contesting the ruling of the presidential election petition tribunal. The panel also concurred with Okoro’s decision to deny Atiku’s application to tender Tinubu’s CSU credentials as fresh evidence.

Other justices on the panel were Adamu Jauro, Emmanuel Agim, Mohammed Garba, Ibrahim Saulawa, Uwani Aji, and Abubakar Tijjani.

Salawa Ibrahim said, “The application by Atiku is frivolous and vexatious and deserves to be dismissed. I find no merit in the appeal and dismissal, and I affirm the decision of the lower court.”

Agim said, “I agree with the reasoning if the fresh evidence is not authentic as stated by the authority before it was presented. It was not sealed or had a signature. It cannot be used in Nigeria without authentication.

“I agree with why. It was obvious to all, including those who brought it. The FCT violates the fundamental principle of the interpretation of the Constitution, and it must be interpreted in a way that provides equality. The parties should bear their own costs.”

The court also stated that the topics brought up by Obi had already been addressed in Atiku’s appeal and further declared that the double nomination matter of Vice President Kashim Shetimma should not have been brought before the court.

Since the beginning of the current Fourth Republic in 1999, after years of military dictatorship, elections in Nigeria have been marred by controversy and violence, generating legal petitions. All presidential elections between the 1999 and 2023 exercises have ended up at the apex court except in 2015, in which immediate former president Mohammadu Buhari defeated then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.

The verdict puts a legal conclusion to the cloud of controversies surrounding Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, which many observers adjudged to be flawed.

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

13 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.

Politics

S’Africa lengthens troop deployment in Mozambique, Congo DR

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech that South Africa’s military would keep sending troops to Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are both in the middle of wars.

The extension will leave 1,198 members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo for an unknown amount of time. They are there as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups.

The statement also said that 1,495 members of the SANDF would keep working in Mozambique, where they have been since 2021 helping the government fight dangerous extremism in the north.

After two SANDF troops were killed and three were hurt by a mortar bomb in Congo in February, South Africa’s military operations abroad have been looked at more closely at home this year.

Meanwhile, the major opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, said that Ramaphosa sent troops into a war zone without being ready.
Under the supervision of the UN, the SANDF has taken on many dangerous and difficult peacekeeping tasks over the years to help war-torn African countries stay stable and peaceful.

In 2003, South Africa was one of the first countries to send troops to Burundi to help the peace process. During the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission in 2000, the SANDF led attempts to stabilize the country’s politics, rebuild and improve infrastructure, and train DRC troops.