Nigeria's Zamfara state has been plagued by violent crime throughout 2018, with Amnesty International warning in July that people living in the impoverished state were "at the mercy" of armed bandits who take hostages and raid villages (AFP/File / Laurence CHU)
Nigerian police claimed on Friday that over 100 "bandits" had been killed in a crackdown targeting crime in the northwest state of Zamfara, following a surge in kidnappings for ransom and cattle rustling.
Zamfara has been plagued by violent crime over the past year, with Amnesty International warning in July that people living in the impoverished state were "at the mercy" of armed bandits who take hostages and raid villages.
A joint operation team on Thursday "repelled ambush attacks from armed bandits" at Mahanga Forest in Zamfara State and "in the process killed one hundred and four bandits," national police spokesman Jimoh Moshood said in a statement.
Confirming the death toll Moshood told AFP: "Yes, 104 bandits (were killed). Not people, armed bandits that had been terrorising and killing innocent people."
Over 1,000 policemen had been deployed to Zamfara at the beginning of the month, the statement said, adding that since then 85 people have been arrested in connection with kidnappings and cattle rustling.
Amnesty International Nigeria spokesman Isa Sanusi said it was difficult to assess the success of security operations in the remote region.
"In many cases, the pronouncements of security agencies are quite contrary to the situation on ground in Zamfara state," Sanusi said.
"Bringing the killers to justice is more important in taming the tide of impunity that allowed the security situation in Zamfara state to continue deteriorating."
The kidnappings are just one security concern putting pressure on Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari who is seeking a second, four-year term in closely contested February polls.
Facing criticism for an increase in Boko Haram jihadist attacks, among other security threats, Buhari is working to show that his government is able to tackle rising violence in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.
The problem has sparked the concern of neighbouring Niger.
In August, Niamey announced it was sending security reinforcements to the Maradi area on the south-central part of the border, which abuts Zamfara.
Nigeria's interior minister said in October that at least 30 bandits were killed in their troubled frontier.
In the last two years, kidnapping for ransom has reached unprecedented levels in the region, where entire villages have been deserted for fear of raids and kidnapping by criminal gangs.
Those abducted are often released within days if the ransom is paid but residents say they can be killed if no money is forthcoming, and their bodies dumped in the bush.
George Weah played for Monaco, Paris St-Germain and AC Milan - with brief spells at Chelsea and Manchester City
George Weah: Former World Player of the Year plays for Liberia, aged 51
Weah, the first African footballer to win Fifa's World Player of the Year award, featured for 79 minutes of a 2-1 home defeat by Nigeria in Monrovia.
Liberia arranged the friendly to retire their number 14 shirt, worn by Weah at his playing peak.
The former AC Milan striker, sworn in as president in January, received a standing ovation as he was substituted.
Nigeria fielded a reasonably strong team, including Leicester's Wilfred Ndidi and fellow midfielder Peter Etebo, of Stoke City. Ndidi's club-mate Kelechi Iheanacho featured as a second-half substitute.
Etebo took the corner from which Simeon Nwankwo headed Nigeria into a 2-0 lead after Henry Onyekuru - on loan at Galatasaray from Everton - had scored the opener. The home side pulled one back with a late Kpah Sherman penalty.
George Weah is the only serving world leader to have scored in three competitive fixtures against Gillingham
This year's campaign saw fierce attacks on Keita's perceived failure to dampen a wave of jihadist bloodshed and ethnic violence, as well as mounting accusations of fraud during July's first round vote (AFP / ISSOUF SANOGO)
A polling station chief was killed by suspected jihadists in northern Mali as security concerns disrupted a presidential runoff vote on Sunday.
Security had been drastically boosted ahead of the election's second round between President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse.
But over 100 stations had to be closed in the restive central and northern regions, according to local observer group POCIM.
"Jihadists came this Sunday around 13:30 (1330 GMT) to a polling station in Arkodia," in the northern Timbuktu region, a local official told AFP.
"They asked everyone to put their hands up. The polling station president tried to escape. The jihadists shot and killed him," the source said.
Counting was underway in some of the 23,000 polling stations across the country after voting ended at 1800 GMT.
The first round vote on July 29 was marred by violence and threats from armed groups that led to several hundred polling stations being closed -- but no casualties had been reported.
Authorities in the vast West African nation said Saturday they had disrupted a plot to carry out "targeted attacks" in the capital Bamako on the eve of the vote.
Sunday's ballot in Mali is a rerun of a 2013 faceoff between Keita, 73, and Cisse, 68, amid a wave of jihadist bloodshed and ethnic violence.
This year's campaign saw fierce attacks on Keita's perceived failure to halt the violence, as well as mounting accusations of vote fraud.
But public enthusiasm has been low and the opposition is fractured.
"We hope the new president does better and knows how to make up for past mistakes," voter El Hajd Aliou Sow, a retired civil servant, told AFP.
Mali, a landlocked nation home to at least 20 ethnic groups where the majority of people live on less than $2 a day, has battled jihadist attacks and intercommunal violence for years.
After the first-round vote the pool of candidates was reduced from 24 to two, as Keita was credited with 42 percent of the vote and Cisse picked up 18 percent.
- Fraud claims -
Keita cast his vote in Bamako shortly after 0900 GMT Sunday and warned against "staged" electoral fraud after accusations of ballot box stuffing and other irregularities.
"How could you stage fraud when you are assured of the support of your people?" Keita said.
Cisse's party told AFP in the early hours of Sunday that ballot papers were already circulating, several hours before polls opened.
In at least five stations in the capital of Bamako, voting reports -- which give the number of voters and votes cast for each candidate -- were signed before the numbers were filled in, an AFP journalist witnessed.
"It is like signing a blank cheque," a source close to the organisation of the poll said. "You can imagine what happens in the rest of the country."
The three main opposition candidates had mounted a last-ditch legal challenge to the first-round result, alleging ballot-box stuffing and other irregularities. But their petition was rejected by the Constitutional Court.
Cisse has failed to unite the opposition behind him, and first-round challengers have either backed the president or refused to give voting instructions.
Local observers said voter turnout was low amid heavy rains in several regions, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) said in a statement.
- Polling stations closed -
Results are expected within five days. Turnout was low in the first round at around 40 percent.
Security had been tightened for the second round, an aide in the prime minister's office said, with 20 percent more soldiers on duty.
But voting could not take place in several areas, including the northern village of Kiname, 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Timbuktu, where "armed men came and took all the voting material to the river bank and set it on fire," a resident told AFP.
"There was no voting in Toguerekotia in the Sossobe district (of the central Mopti region) because of insecurity," WANEP, which has 150 observers across the country, said in a statement.
Outside Mali, the hope is that the winner of the election will strengthen a 2015 accord that the fragile Sahel state sees as its foundation for peace.
The deal brought together the government, government-allied groups and former Tuareg rebels.
But a state of emergency heads into its fourth year in November.
Jihadist violence has spread from the north to the centre and south of the vast country and spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, often inflaming communal conflicts
Security operatives at the entrance of National Assembly Complex. Pic 2: Lawmakers denied entry into the National Assembly.
Security officials have stormed the premises of the National Assembly.
The masked security operatives and officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) arrived at the National Assembly very early on Tuesday morning and barricading the entrance to the complex.
Lawmakers and members of staff of the National Assembly were prevented from entering the premises.
Journalists were also barred from entering the complex as a result of what the DSS allegedly said is an order “from above.”
Drama is currently playing out at both chambers of the National Assembly as men of the Department of State Services, DSS, have currently taken over the assemblies’ and have prevented lawmakers as well as journalists from gaining access into their chambers. This is following the emergency meeting summoned by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki yesterday to discuss Issues which included the string of defections in the political space, rumoured plan to impeach the Senate President and the pending 2019 elections supplementary budget, among others. Recall however, that the presidency had raised the alarm yesterday over the scheduled emergency Senate meeting today which was to have in attendance, the House of Representatives’ Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara as well as other lawmakers. The presidency had claimed that the meeting was being aimed at shutting down the entire government of President Muhammadu Buhari. However, drama began this morning as men of DSS were said to have invaded the National Assembly Chambers in the early hours of Monday and taken over the complexes. In a series of tweets, one of Saraki’s aides, Omisore Bamikole, said “the Dss agents take over National Assembly entrance, prevent Senators, Staff and other aides from gaining entrance. They claim order from above.” “Here is a video of Senator @rafiuibrahim being prevented from entering the National Assembly complex this morning.”
The late Nelson Mandela meets with François Pienaar, captain of the Springboks at the 1995 Rugby World Cup 1995. The predominantly white squad played under the slogan ‘One Team, One Country.’
Once upon a time, Sport bared its fangs. It clearly demonstrated that it has the power to change the world’s dynamics.
I was there. In fact, I was a participant – a sacrificial lamb. Let me tell you the story.
In 1976 I was a young impressionist football player, the most unlikely person to be heading to the Olympic Games. Freshly minted by the Polytechnic Ibadan, and waiting for my call up to the National Youth Service Corps scheme, I received an invitation summoning me to join the Green Eagles, the national football team, on tour in Europe.
The entire contingent in several sports including track and field, boxing, table tennis and wrestling were already on tours to different parts of Europe in a final preparation for the summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
I was in a trance. It was like dream. Through some incredible circumstances akin to a miracle, at the very last ‘minute’ I replaced another player, whose name had already been sent and registered for the games. That’s the effect of being ‘mathematical’ on the field of play, I guess.
That’s how I found myself heading to Europe for the first time, and onward to the biggest multi-sports event in the world, where only gods on Mount Olympus in ancient Greek mythology went and competed amongst themselves.
So, In July of 1976, I was with the gods in Montreal, experiencing some of the most exciting times of any young person’s life, amongst thousands of athletes from all over the world congregated in one place, bound by the spirit of friendship and competition between equals.
After 400 years of slavery and some 200 years of colonization and de-colonisation, it is only in sport that the Black person has managed to find a medium to demonstrate some level of parity in the world.
The leader of the delegation, General Olutoye, summoned the Nigerian team to an emergency meeting on the eve of the opening ceremony of the games. We were given the bombshell directive.
We were to go pack our bags immediately from our rooms and leave the Olympic Games village. We were going back to Nigeria. The world ended, for most of us. 20 countries, 17 of them from Africa, led by Nigeria, were boycotting the games in protest against the presence of New Zealand.
As we were at the games, the country had shunned a global ban of any sports contact with South Africa, and gone ahead on a Rugby tour to the country, resulting to the death of some 300 Black protesters in Soweto, South Africa.
The Supreme Council for Sports in Africa and the International Olympic Committee had failed to resolve the matter because rugby was not even an Olympic sport and was outside the jurisdiction of the IOC.
For the first time in history, Black African governments united in one voice and decided to pull their teams out of the games.
That was how we athletes found ourselves being turned back on the eve of our greatest moment in sport, our hard work and dreams blown away in the gust of a struggle to emancipate our brothers and sisters in South Africa, as well as the entire Black race from mental slavery.
The departure of Black Africans hit the games and the world very badly. It accentuated the fight against Apartheid and many years later played the biggest role in its final abolition.
Montreal ’76 ended as the worst Olympic Games in history. No thanks to sport. Sport did what decades of United Nations meetings, sanctions and policies could not do. It gave Black people in Africa an effective muscle that they could not muster in any other way, and a window into new possibilities into the future.
Montreal ’76 led to further isolation of South Africa. It also accelerated the end of Apartheid. It brought an end to the White supremacist government. It facilitated the release of Nelson Mandela after spending 27 years of his life in prison, and his emergence as the first Black President of a new South Africa.
In summary, Montreal ‘76 was a turning point in the world.
It drew global attention to the scourges of inequality and segregation, and helped to bring an end to an oppressive system of government that was a carryover from the physical and mental enslavement of the Black race that had lasted close to 600 years and was still flourishing in South Africa.
I was there. I saw it happen even though I did not realise its magnitude at the time.
In 1995, it happened again. This time I understood what it meant. It was in the evening of August 26, 1995.
The Rugby World Cup had been awarded to South Africa. It was the opening ceremony.
New Zealand (again) was to play South Africa. Rugby was a mostly White man’s sport in South Africa.
The Blacks, who saw it as a symbol of racism and a vestige of Apartheid, hated the predominantly White Springboks, the national team of South Africa, with a passion.
Nelson Mandela was now the President and no one was sure if he would attend the ceremony and a match with ‘Hate’ written all over it, no matter how it was gleaned.
That day sport once again reared its fangs and impacted the world.
The atmosphere inside the Johannesburg Township Stadium was electric. White spectators packed the stadium like sardines in a can. Then it happened. The tall and frail figure of a Black man wearing the green jersey of the Springboks, walked onto the field with those unmistakable measured steps. He stopped and waited for a few seconds as the stadium went silent.
He then waved to the stunned White crowd. This was the man most hurt by what Rugby represented in the political history of South Africa.
There he was, clad in the official uniform of apartheid, a broad smile on his face, waving.
At the same time, millions of Blacks were watching on television all over the country, also riveted in unbelief.
The greatest symbol of their freedom was fraternizing with the greatest symbol of their oppression.
Then the ‘impossible’ happened. It started with one little applause from a corner of the stadium. Then it became louder as more White hands joined in the clapping. It became progressively louder and louder until it reached a crescendo that reverberated around the stadium, and in every home in the country.
The whole country became an orgy of ecstatic celebration of a moment in time when a people came together, set aside their differences, their hurt, their painful past, and united around a White rugby team endorsed by their greatest Black leader.
It was so significant, the world changed at that moment. That moment marked a turning point in the history of South Africa, brought about by the small act of one man using the power of sport to unite his people.
The words Nelson Mandela expressed on that day is today cast in marble, often quoted to inspire and to instill the spirit of unity in the world through sport.
‘Where the rules of the game are the same for everyone and behavior is guided by fair play and good sportsmanship, Sport has the power to change the world.
It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down (racial) barriers’. Nelson Mandela.
Sport is not just an instrument of unity.
Taken further down the lane of creative thinking it could be the greatest catalyst for the emancipation of the Black person on earth from the prison of mental enslavement that has held him back for 650 years.
Zimbabwe's ex-president Robert Mugabe has given a surprise press conference on the eve of the nation's elections.
Mr Mugabe said he would not support his successor in the Zanu-PF party, Emmerson Mnangagwa, after being forced from office by the "party I founded".
"I cannot vote for those who tormented me," he said. "I will make my choice among the other 22 [candidates]."
Zimbabweans go to the polls on Monday in the first vote since Mr Mugabe was ousted in November.
What did Mr Mugabe say?
Speaking from his home in the capital, Harare, on Sunday, the former president again said he had been "sacked" as part of a military coup and that he left office in order to "avoid conflict".
He said that he now wished the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Nelson Chamisa, well in Monday's vote.
"He seems to be doing well, and if he is elected I wish him well," he said.
When asked by the BBC's Fergal Keane if he would like to see Mr Chamisa gain power in Zimbabwe, Mr Mugabe, 94, indicated that he was the only viable candidate.
I press #Mugabe to say if he’d prefer #Chamisa to win than see #Mnangagwa returned to power. Ends up saying in essence they Chamisa the only viable candidate.
Mr Mugabe said: "I hope the choice of voting tomorrow will throw, thrust away the military government and bring us back to constitutionality.
"Let tomorrow be the voice of the people to say never again shall we experience a period where the army is used to thrust one person into power."
Grace Mugabe accompanied her husband for his address in Harare on Sunday
Mr Mugabe said that MDC leader Nelson Chamisa was the only viable candidate
Mr Mugabe also denied that, as president, he had planned to hand the leadership to his wife, Grace, saying it was "utter nonsense", and suggested that ex-defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi should have taken over.
Mr Mugabe added that, since he was forced from office last year, "the people of Zimbabwe have not been free".
Almost 40 Nigerian opposition parties have agreed to field a joint candidate to prevent the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari next year.
The alliance includes the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and a splinter group that broke away from Mr Buhari's governing All Progressives Congress (APC) last week.
President Buhari, who came to power in 2015, announced in April that he was seeking his party's approval for running for another term in office.
This has been one the biggest political developments in the run-up to elections in February.
The new coalition says their aim is to defeat the 75-year-old incumbent, whose first term has been beset by poor health, and rescue Nigeria from what they called ''darkness''.
Many serving senators, members of the lower house of parliament and some state governors are believed to be behind the new movement, our reporter says.
Mr Buhari has come in for criticism for his handling of Nigeria's economy, the largest in Africa.
His administration has pointed to the fight against corruption and the military operations against Islamist militant group Boko Haram as some of his achievements.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed by the parties at the end of an enlarged meeting at the Yar ‘Adua Centre, Abuja, resolved among others, to field a joint presidential candidate against President Buhari.
The coalition also resolved to agree on common candidates for governorship, National Assembly and state assembly elections across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The MoU, which was read by Chief Tom Ikimi, also resolved to promote core values for the restructuring of the country and sharing of political offices among persons and groups across the six geopolitical zones.
The coalition also promised a unity government in the event of winning the election with a joint manifesto that will usher in a well-structured economic and fiscal federalism.
Besides the PDP, other parties in the coalition include the Action Alliance (AA); Alliance for Democracy (AD); Africa Democratic Party (ADC); Action Democratic Party (ADP); All Grand Alliance Party (AGAP); Action People’s Party (APP); Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD); and Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP).
Others are the Democratic Alternative (DA); Democratic People’s Party (DPC); Grand Democratic Party of Nigeria (GDPN); Green Party of Nigeria (GPN); KOWA Party; Labour Party (LP); Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA); and Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN).
Also in the group are the National Conscience Party (NCP); New Generation Party (NGP); National Unity Party (NUP); Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM); People’s Alliance for National Development and Liberty (PANDEL); Peoples Progressive Party (PPP); People for Democratic Change (PDC); Providence People’s Congress (PPC); and the Reformed All Progressive Congress (RAPC).
Others are the Restoration Party of Nigeria (RPN); Social Democratic Party (SDP); Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN); All Grassroots Alliance (AGA); National Interest Party (NIP); Nigeria Democratic Congress Party (NDCP); Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA); and Young Democratic Party (YDP) among others.
Speaking at the event, the national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said the country has witnessed all forms of intimidation aimed at suffocating democracy in the land.
Secondus also cited what he described as frame-ups, arrest and total breakdown of law and order in some states like Zamfara where the governor had to relinquish his position as the chief security officer.
The PDP chairman said, “Just last week, the APC conquest regime came up with Executive Order which all political watchers, including civil society groups likened to Decree 2 of the military era.
Also speaking at the event, the national chairman of the SDP, Chief Olu Falae, said there was need for the coalition to produce overwhelming majority in the federal and state legislatures to form the required majority for the restructuring of the country.
Speaking as national chairman of the rAPC, Alhaji Buba Galadima said his presence at the event alone signified a lot.
Said he, “I am highly delighted and elated by the presence of the creme de la creme of the Nigerian society seated here. What we are about to do will send the shivers not only to those on the other side but to the entire world.
“We are witnessing a significant event, most diplomats and leaders of other countries of the world keep wondering whether there are men and women of courage and integrity in this country.
“Let me say that since we made a declaration of the formation of the Reformed All Progressives Congress, R-APC, we have received unprecedented messages of support, solidarity from all over the world.
“I am confident that if we put our acts together, should we talk together, if we are fair to ourselves, do things transparently and bring up one man or woman, we will provide future for our children and grandchildren.
“This is not going to be a tea party, there are demands we will be facing. He (Buhari) is a military General, but we know him and you know that I know him. If I were him and if I were his adviser, I would advise him not to attempt to contest.
“I have my reasons. If what I know, if what I have access to and I know, I assure you that General Buhari will not only will lose the election but will lose his deposit.
“I said it is not going to be a tea party because from the day we announced the formation of the Reformed APC, a lot of people received threats, a lot of people received gratification and a lot of people received the pressures from all quarters to persuade them to back out. But one person that most people could not approach I don’t want to mention names.
“Some of us are old soldiers and history said they never died. We are ready, prepared to take on this fight despite any deprivation, intimidation and even torture because this country belongs to all of us.
“They are thinking of setting aside public money which they accused others of using during elections for this purpose. They can use the big stick because you know a desperate person can do anything. He can kill, if he has power, he can arrest and detain but whichever one they choose to do, we are prepared to lay down our lives to save our nation.
“They can say anything, they say we are inconsequential, they said we don’t matter, they said we are inconsequential but when we were forming the party, the APC of which I was one of the nine signatories, those people that are making this noise, we did not see their faces neither did we see their signatures. So how could they say we are inconsequential?
“And if we are inconsequential, why would they run heater skelta, from pole to pole going to the National Assembly to persuade my people that they should not leave? So this is a challenge to them and I assure you seated here that if we put our acts together, talk together, discuss together, the sky is our limit and success is ours”.
Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu who also spoke at the event said signing the MoU would rescue Nigeria in 2019 and restore her to the path of democratic freedoms, joy, security, and development.
Ekweremadu added that the event was a gathering to witness the birth of a new Nigeria and to show that Nigerians have seen hope again. He urged the coalition not to disappoint the Nigerian people.
Ekweremadu said, “For three years, what I see on the faces of Nigerians is frustration and anguish. But for the first time, I tell you that I saw joy. I saw people laughing and smiling for the first time in three years.
“Those our brothers and sisters, and investors, who left Nigeria in the last three years are also rejoicing with you because by this time next year, they will all be back.
“Those factories that were closed are going to come back alive by this time next year and Nigerians will rejoice.
“The people of the South East whom the programmes and practices of this government are forcing them to have a rethink on their membership of this country, today will rejoice and be happy that a new country that will be fair to all is coming; a country that they will be proud to be part of and continue to contribute to her development.
“All our people in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, who have been wondering or believe that they will spend the rest of their lives in the IDP camps are happy today because their stay there is almost over; because next year, we will enthrone a government that will take them to their homes and protect them there.
“The media houses, all the instruments and institutions of democracy that have been trampled and muzzled in this country, they will be free again to do their work without fear of intimidation.
“Those, who are being persecuted on account of their political views or insisting that the right thing should be done, are also going to rejoice because a new dawn is here.”
Others who also spoke at the gathering include Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel; former National Secretary the PDP, Senator Ben Obi among others.
