Burkina Faso now looks to rescue election as president retakes office following coup deal

Michel Kafando (Burkina Faso's Interim Leader)

Burkina Faso’s interim President Michel Kafando said Wednesday he has resumed his duties a week after being overthrown in a coup by the West African country’s presidential guard.

“Thus the transition has been restored and this very minute I am resuming the exercise of power,” Kafando told reporters.

Earlier, the coup’s leaders had agreed to return to their barracks and restore the deposed president to power, signing a deal with the army that apparently defuses a tense standoff sparked by last week’s putsch.

The breakthrough came late Tuesday after marathon talks in Abuja, Nigeria, where West African heads of state had sought to break the impasse fuelled by angry threats on both sides.

The deal was signed a day after troops entered Burkina’s capital Ouagadougou, turning up the pressure on the elite presidential guards (RSP) who staged the coup.

Under its terms, the RSP agreed to stand down from the positions they had taken up in Ouagadougou, while the army also agreed to withdraw its troops and guarantee the safety of the RSP members as well as their families.

The deal was presented to the Mogho Naba, “king” of Burkina Faso’s leading Mossi tribe, in front of the media early Wednesday.

Nigerian military replies Boko Haram leader, Shekau

The Nigerian military said it was not considering the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, or any other particular person in the terror group to be relevant in the ongoing onslaught against insurgency in the North East.  

“Shekau or any of his cohorts would not deter the spate of the military operations to rid the country of criminals hiding under strange religious ideology to kill innocent Nigerians,” the military said in a statement Tuesday.

The statement came days after the release of an audio clip online dismissing recent gains by the military in the war against the insurgents. The speaker claimed to be Shekau, whom the Nigerian military claimed it killed months ago.

The military said it viewed the new audio as “irrelevant and fruitless”.

“The Armed Forces is using this medium to appeal to the good citizens of Nigeria not to lose sleep over the concocted audio rhetoric of the waning terrorist sect which is a usual antic of a drowning person struggling to hold on to anything to remain afloat,” the statement signed by spokesperson for the armed forces, Rabe Abubakar, a Colonel.

Bukola Saraki Docked at the Code Of Conduct Tribunal

The President of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, has been docked at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for false declaration of assets.

After arriving the tribunal in the company of some 50 Nigerian senators, Mr. Saraki initially refused to enter the accused person’s box at the tribunal. It took a prolonged argument between the chairperson of the tribunal Danladi Umar and Saraki’s lawyers before he eventually agreed to enter the accused box.

As Mr. Saraki sat in the box, 13 counts of corruption charges were read to him by the lead prosecutor, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs. Saraki took a no-guilty plea as the charges was read.

WHO welcomes appointment of Chair-elect of Gavi Board, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

WHO welcomes the appointment of the Chair-elect of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She will take up the position of Chair from January 2016.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is a renowned development economist and former Nigerian Finance Minister. She brings more than 33 years of development and financial expertise to the Gavi Board at a critical period for immunization in developing countries.

Earlier this year, WHO warned that vaccines are not being delivered equitably or reliably and that only 1 out of the 6 key vaccination targets for 2015 is currently on track – the introduction of under-utilized vaccines, a target to which Gavi has contributed significantly.

In taking up the position of Board Chair, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will succeed Dagfinn Høybråten, a former Norwegian Minister of Health and current Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers. She will also work closely with Dr. Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health, who is Vice Chair of Gavi.

Since 2000, Gavi has supported the immunization of more than half a billion additional children, leading to 7 million future deaths being averted.

WHO is one of the founding members of Gavi, a public-private partnership formed in 2000, to address global inequities in access to and coverage of available lifesaving vaccines. Over the next 5 years, WHO will continue to lead collective efforts to achieve and sustain universal vaccination coverage as outlined in the Decade of Vaccines Global Vaccine Action Plan. WHO plays a critical role providing global recommendations on immunization, ensuring that vaccines are safe and of assured quality, and providing support to countries to implement immunization programmes.

Tukur Bows out of Politics; urges support for Buhari

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur

The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has quit active partisan politics.

At a special birthday lecture organised to mark his attainment of 80 years in Abuja, Tukur urged Nigerians to support the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that dividends of democracy trickles down to the common man.

In the same vein, the Adamawa-born politician also had kind words for former President Goodluck Jonathan, crediting him with efforts at fashioning credible electoral system and for his statesman-like concession of victory at the last presidential election.

Incongruously, the  leadership of the PDP, which was expected to use the occasion to felicitate their former boss, failed to show-up as Tukur bowed out of partisan politics on Monday.

South Sudan president slams peace deal as ‘divisive, unprecedented’; but still bent on implementing it

Salva Kiir (South Sudanese President) said his government will implement an agreement aimed at ending almost two years of civil war ravaging the region, despite it being one of the most divisive accords in the nation’s history.

President Kiir signed the accord, mediated by Intergovernmental Authority on Development, on August 26 after the US proposed imposing sanctions if he failed to meet a September 1 deadline to end violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.

“The IGAD-prescribed peace document is the most divisive and unprecedented document seen in the history of our country,” Kiir said Tuesday in a speech in the capital, Juba. “I am now ready to implement this agreement in order to overcome the humanitarian challenges facing our country.”

Fighting erupted in the oil-producing nation in December 2013 between government forces and rebels after Kiir accused Riek Machar, his former deputy, of plotting to topple him. Machar signed the peace accord the week before Kiir.

But the deal has shown signs of creaking, despite having been signed under the keen eye of an international community that had grown weary of the lack of movement.

Osinbajo blames northern leaders on the region’s backwardness

Vice President Yemi  Osinbajo says the present crop of northern leaders is responsible for the backwardness of the region, saying they have abandoned diligence and selfless service and resorted to personal aggrandizement.

Osinbajo made the remark at the opening ceremony of Northern Reawakening Forum (NRF) Summit, held under the theme “Building a Safe, Secure and Economically Inclusive Northern Nigeria” at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, on Saturday.

He regretted that the elite had jettisoned the foundation set by the founding fathers, leading to the challenges confronting the country.

“Our history reminds us of the visionary leaders in Nigeria, who fired our imagination through their vision, diligence and selfless service, who did not live or fight to enrich themselves; they did not leave vast personal estates behind, but their names and legacies live in the hearts of the people," he said.

“Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mallam Aminu Kano, J. S. Tarka and countless others clearly understood the varied issues afflicting the region, thought through them, laid the plans and worked selflessly to realize them”.

He explained that in the 19 northern states of Nigeria, the human development indices “are by far poorer than the rest of the country”.

Osinbajo said the Northern Nigerian Economic Summit of 2012 was the first forum to draw attention to some of the depressing statistics about the condition of the North.

How the Islamist Sect sneaked bombs into Yola IDP camp

Recently, fresh facts emerged yesterday, on how members of the Jama’atu Ahlus Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad (Western education is evil), otherwise known as Boko Haram, were able to perpetrate Friday’s dastardly bombing that claimed about 12 lives and injuring many more at the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camp in  Malkohi, Yola, Adamawa State.

In separate interviews, eye witnesses and returnees, resident in the camp, said some Boko Haram members masquerading as IDPs were inadvertently brought into the camp on Thursday, some 24 hours before the camp bombing.

They revealed that some of the persons, brought into the camp from Sambisa Forest, were the prime suspects in the  bombing.

One of the eye witnesses, Mr. Sunday Musa, told Sunday Vanguard that camp inmates were preparing to have breakfast when the blast occurred.

Musa explained that he and other inmates who had stayed long enough in Malkohi camp, had not been comfortable whenever new inmates were, brought in, confirming that there was a protest in the camp, sometime in March, when some IDPs were brought from Sambisa Forest. “Our fears were that we in camp know one another; we know where we came from; and for the military to just bring unknown faces to join us, especially from Sambisa Forest, has always been very disturbing to us.”

Abducted Vanguard columnist Kogbara freed after 11 days – Nigerian Police

An abducted columnist working for the Nigerian newspaper, Vanguard was freed on Saturday after being taken from her home in Port Harcourt by unknown gunmen and held for 11 days, police said.

 “Donu Kogbara has been freed by her abductors in the early hours of today, 4:00 a.m.,” said Rivers state police spokesman Ahmad Muhammad, without saying if a ransom had been paid. 

“We can confirm she has been reunited with her family.” Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria’s southern oil producing regions, where many criminal gangs operate.

The Vanguard columnist, looked calm as she spoke to journalists who rushed to her residence as news of her release by kidnappers filtered into Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, yesterday morning.

Operators Plan Campaign to Blackmail Regulatory Agencies

Some dishonest operators within the manufacturing, trade and service segments of the economy have perfected plans to roll out a stage-managed protest and public campaign against major regulatory agencies of the federal government.

It was learnt Friday that the main actors sponsoring the orchestrated campaign are intent on blackmailing agencies such as the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in order to cast aspersion on them and possibly get President Muhammadu Buhari to replace the leadership on these agencies, providing the leeway for them to resume their criminal business activities which the agencies have checked.

It was gathered that the present leadership of the CPC and SON have refused to bend the rules in their regulatory activities, leading to the impounding and destruction of fake and substandard goods worth billions of naira in the past few years and also, many operators who have refused to operate their businesses within approved regulatory guidelines have had their fraudulent outfits sealed up by government.

It was discovered that the owners of these unwholesome businesses and others who support their mission have held the chief executive officers of CPC and SON responsible for the losses they suffered as a result of the activities of their agencies.

Some of the actions of the regulatory agencies that have seriously irked the underground dealers and aggrieved operators include recent CPC's audit of the production and service processes of companies for which complains have been made by consumers which has led to serious sanctions from the regulatory watchdogs.

Court refuses ex-Mint boss’ request for freedom

Detained former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPM), Emmanuel Okoyomon, yesterday lost his bid to regain freedom as a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Apo dismissed his application.

Justice Valentine Ashi, in a ruling, upheld argument by respondents’ lawyer, Muslim Hassan, to the effect that Okoyomon’s application filed after the Court of Appeal ordered his remand in Kuje prison, Abuja pending the determination of his appeal, was misplaced and without merit.

The judge, who held that his court was without jurisdiction to hear Okoyomon’s application,  agreed with the position canvassed by the Deputy Comptroller in Charge of Medium Security Prison, Kuje  and the Attorney General of the Federation (who are the respondents) that the Federal High Court has exclusive jurisdiction over extradition proceedings.

Justice Ashi further held that since Okoyomon’s detention at the Kuje prison arose from an extradition proceedings, and on the strength of a judgment by a Federal High Court in Abuja, his fate is tied to the extradition proceedings.

Crane collapse kills at least 107 in Mecca Grand Mosque

At least 107 people have been killed and 238 others injured after a crane collapsed in Mecca's Grand Mosque, Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority says.

Pictures posted online showed queues of Saudi men volunteering to donate blood for those injured in Friday's crash.

Saudi authorities began a major expansion of the site last year to increase the area of the mosque by 400,000 square metres (4.3 million square feet), to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

The crane that collapsed yesterday was one of a number dotted around the site as part of the construction project.

Major General Suleiman Al-Amro, director-general of Saudi's civil defence authority, told Saudi TV that a storm with severe rain and wind speeds as high as 83kmh caused the tower crane to collapse.

"The crane collapsed near Al-Salam gate on the upper side of Al-Masaa area and that caused the collapse of a small part of Al-Masaa and another section of Al-Mataf, the bridge area around the holy Kaaba,” Amro said.