Politics

2023: Nigeria’s President Buhari orders cabinet members with political ambitions to resign

Published

2 years ago

May 11, 2022

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has directed all members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) with the ambition of contesting for elective offices in the 2023 elections should submit their letters of resignation on or before Monday, May 16, 2022.

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made the disclosure after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.

The president’s directive is in line with the provision of the new electoral law recently passed in Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari signed a reworked Electoral Amendment bill into law in February. Before signing the bill, the president sought an amendment to the bill by asking the National Assembly to delete Clause 84(12) of the bill.

The clause reads, “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the Convention or Congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”

By that clause, political aspirants in the APC are not expected to be holding political offices by the time of party primary elections.

In accordance with the clause, the ruling APC had asked all its members presently holding political appointments and seeking participation in its forthcoming primaries must quit their positions in line with the controversial provisions of the Electoral Act.

But some appointees like the Minister of Labour and employment, Chris Ngige, and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who both appointees in President Buhari’s cabinet hold a different position on the party position regarding the resignation of political appointees.

The new directive according to Lai Mohammed excludes Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo because he is an elected member of the cabinet.

Some of those who will be affected by the presidential order include the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio; Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; who have all declared interest to run for president under the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Others are the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, who declared her ambition to contest for the senatorial seat in Plateau State and the Minister of State Mines and Steel, Uche Ogar, who is running for governorship position in Abia State.

Related Topics:#2023 Buhari Featured Nigeria

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

12 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.