AU Meeting in Johannesburg

At the AU’s summit in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, last year then newly elected Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the big draw, receiving rapturous applause as Egypt returned to the continental fold following its suspension a year earlier.

Sisi had just kicked off a storm of international controversy with the jailing of Al-Jazeera journalists a week back. And after the 2013 coup he engineered, Egypt’s first democratically elected Mohamed Morsi had been thrown in prison.

But Sisi had also started a crackdown against extremist violence that threatened to tear Egypt apart; won an election that was marred by an opposition boycott; and looked like the iron-fisted enforcer the AU so loves. Despite all that, there still was a palpable sense that someone who could re-impose order in Egypt had taken the reins. The summit just loved him.

Buhari’s moment

This week’s summit was to be Nigerian president Muhammud Buhari’s debut party. Buhari, who was sworn-in just over two weeks ago, had just returned from the G7 meeting in Berlin with US president Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British prime minister Tony Blair & Co. to push his vision of how Africa might defeat terror.

The kind of former general beloved by the AU, Buhari won a resounding victory in March elections, becoming the first Nigerian opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president.

Defying cynicism about Nigeria, incumbent Goodluck Jonathan graciously conceded defeat, and the country pulled off a transition many probably hoped they would never live to see it do.

On both sides of the African leadership aisle, the militarists on one side, and the democrats on the other, Buhari offered something.

But Buhari didn’t really get his moment, as this summit  was overshadowed by the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) case against a sitting African president, in this case Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir.

Wanted by ICC

The ICC asked South Africa to arrest Bashir as he arrived in the country for the summit on June 13. The Sudanese president is wanted by the court over charges of war crimes against humanity and genocide during the conflict in the western Darfur region of his country.

But the drama hit a high point when a South African judge on Sunday ordered authorities to stop Bashir from leaving the country, pending a decision on whether to detain him as the ICC had requested.

From then on, the summit became a big international story, not for its deliberations, but over whether South Africa would hold Bashir or let him go.

Omar al-Bashir

In the end, Bashir left Monday before a final ruling by the South High Court. In Khartoum, crowds gathered to give him a hero’s welcome.

The Bashir episode was an unwelcome distraction, helping feed the view that African leaders are a gang of outlaws who close ranks and don’t respect international law when its goes against one of them.

Alleged N8b currency fraud: Court returns eight accused persons to prison

A confident desire of an early bail for the eight bankers accused of an N8 billion fraud was dashed yesterday for the second time. The judge ordered that they should be returned to prison following failure by counsel to complete service of processes on one another before arguments for their bail could be taken.

Justice Adeyinka Faaj  of the Federal High Court, Ibadan took the action because prosecution and defence lawyers were yet to receive all counter and further affidavits in the two cases to set the stage for arguments for their bail applications.

They are to return to court on Thursday to argue applications for bail after all processes are expected to have been served on the counsel in the two cases heard yesterday.

Though the majority of defence counsel indicated their willingness to proceed with pending applications as well as to abandon their counter-affidavits to pave the way for argument for bail, Justice Faaj insisted that arguments for all applications for bail must be taken together.

He noted that hearing of some before others could be prejudicial to the rest since the charges emanated from the same transactions.

After the accused were arraigned last Wednesday, affidavits and counter affidavits were prepared and sent on Thursday and Friday. Consequently, the prosecution lawyers were only able to file their replies in court on Friday and could not reach all the defence counsel the same day. Some were only served in the courtroom yesterday.

The eight accused persons are among the 22 bankers being arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). They include six officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks.

They were arraigned on a 28-count charge bordering on forgery, misrepresentation and self-enrichment as part of the N8 billion mutilated currency fraud at the CBN.

The others are concealing of property, fraudulently acquiring assets in excess of their legitimate and provable income and causing economic adversity to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The accused, the court heard, acquired assets in Nigeria and Pretoria, South Africa.

The CBN employees are Kolawole Babalola, Olaniran Adeola and Togun Kayode Phillips. Their alleged accomplices are Isiaq Akano, Ayodele Festus Adeyemi, Oyebamiji Hakeem, Ayodeji Alese and Ajiwe Adegoke.

The EFCC, in the charge, claimed that the CBN workers conspired with the First Bank employees to recycle N10 billion mutilated currency notes meant to be destroyed.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge. Request for bail for the eight persons was brought to the court yesterday.

Bukola Saraki elected Senate President

Bukola Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State, backed by minority senators of the All Progressives Congress and those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been elected the president of the eighth Senate.

Mr. Saraki of the All Progressives Congress, APC, defeated his party’s preferred candidate, Ahmed Lawan, to emerge the Senate president.

The election was presided over by the Clerk of the National Assembly. The election held while majority of his party members were meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the International Conference Center in Abuja, a meeting Saraki shunned.

He was nominated by Sani Yerima and seconded by Dino Melaye.

Mr. Saraki has been sworn into office.

Buhari and Vice set to declare assets

Bowing to public demand for the full disclosure of the contents of their asset declaration forms, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have indicated that they would release the details of their declarations after verification by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), the Presidency has said.

Buhari said the release would be in fulfillment of one of their campaign promises, in which his declared assets and those of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will be released to the public upon the completion of their verification by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

The private declarations of assets by the two leaders has drawn flaks from across sections of Nigerians who demanded full disclosure of the contents of the asset forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

Their position was hinged on the principles of zero tolerance for corruption as espoused by Buhari before his election on March 28.

The Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), Mal. Garba Shehu, who announced this in a statement on behalf of the President, yesterday, said: “The duly completed forms by both the President and the Vice President were submitted to the CCB on March 28, a clear day ahead of their inauguration.”

He said this statement was warranted by the need to clarify some suggestions that the President and the Vice-President may not, after all, declare their assets publicly.

He said: “While such public display of concern is appreciated and valued, it must be said that it is a little precipitate.

“As required by law, the declaration and submission of documents to the CCB have been made, but there still remains the aspect of verification, which the Bureau will have to conduct to authenticate the submissions made to it.

It is hoped that this process will be completed before the expiry of the 100-day deadline within which they said they would do this.

“In the circumstances, it is only after this verification exercise, and not before, that the declaration can be said to have been made and validated; and only after this, will the details be released to the public.

“There is no question at all that the President and the Vice President are committed to public declaration of their assets within the 100 days that they pledged during the presidential campaign.

“The President and the Vice President wish to thank Nigerians for their show of concern, and for the confidence they have shown in their leaders’ integrity, as evidenced by the high pedestal of uprightness and expectations on which they have placed them.”

Buhari Meets Obama Tomorrow over Insurgence

Leaders of top world economies, including US President, Barack Obama, are already looking forward to sitting down with President Muhammadu Buhari for talks tomorrow in Germany at the G-7 summit.

This would mark the first meeting between Buhari and leaders of mostly Western nations since he took office. The invitation from the G-7 leaders of the US, UK, Germany, France, Russia, Canada, Italy and Japan is indicative of the current international goodwill the nation attracted after the successful conduct of the 2015 presidential polls and the smooth handover of power by immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan.

White House officials have now released details of the forthcoming meeting between the G-7 leaders and Buhari, including the main focus of the talks being the issue of terrorism. While the G-7 summit opens today, the leaders will be meeting Buhari tomorrow. 

Mauritius inaugurates new president

Gurib-Fakim (Mauritius's incoming president)

On June 1, the government of Mauritius named Ameenah Gurib-Fakim as the Indian Ocean Island Nation’s New President. Her appointment was approved by Parliament on Thursday and her inauguration is expected to take place on Friday.

Gurib-Fakim becomes Mauritius’s first female president, the third on the African continent.

The incoming president was contacted via LinkedIn. 

Asked about her priorities, she said that she aims to create a high-income economy and create opportunities for her people.

“I strongly believe that science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship are the ingredients that will help advance this vision. Through the presidency, we can engage with the people, the public and private sector and realise this vision.”

Gurib-Fakim will become the only current African president who did not dabble in politics beforehand. She is an internationally renowned scientist and biologist, describing herself on Twitter as a “Professor, Managing Director at Cephyr, Chemist, Gardener, Photographer and Writer of books on the flora of the tropics, medicinal plants.”

Gurib-Fakim was the chair in organic chemistry at the University of Mauritius and served successively as dean of the faculty of science and pro vice-chancellor with the university.

Gurib-Fakim has co-authored more than 20 books and contributed to nearly 80 publications on the use of African medicinal plants.

She has led a number of projects supported by international agencies such as the United Nations, the European Union and the Canadian Development Agency. She is an adviser to the International Science Foundation of Sweden and a member of the scientific committee of the international programme in chemical sciences at the University of Uppsala. She is an expert consultant on infectious diseases for Unicef, the United Nations Development Programme, World Bank and the World Health Organisation.

Asked how she became involved in politics, she said: “I did not choose politics but politics chose me.” She went on to explain that “the party (Lepep) wanted someone who had never dealt in the political arena, who had credibility locally and internationally to occupy a post which is meant to be apolitical. So I presume I fit the profile.

“Mauritius operates in an increasingly globalised world and faces the same challenges that many other countries face. However, we have some good experiences and practices of living together that we can ‘export’ to the world. We have also shown that even without natural resources, we can still make it.”

Buhari urges corps members on fight against corruption

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, charged National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, members to join hands with his administration in the fight against corruption in the country.

Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of 2015 Batch ‘A’ (Stream II) corps members deployed to Lagos State, at the NYSC Orientation Camp, in Iyana-Ipaja, Buhari who spoke through Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, who was also represented by Dr. Aderemi Desalu, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Duties, affirmed that the true desired change that Nigerians yearned for must begin with the youths.

Earlier, Mr. Cyril Akhanemhe, Lagos State Coordinator of NYSC, said 2,500 corps members, comprising 825 males and 1,675 females, were participating in the programme in Lagos, even as he appealed to Governor Ambode to assist the NYSC in renovating the temporary camp in Iyana Ipaja as well as providing a state-of-the-art permanent orientation camp in Lagos.

Stating, however, that the occasion was special to him, as the corps members are the first set to be sworn in for the one-year mandatory national service under his administration, Buhari said: “My dear compatriots, the time has come for us as responsible citizens to come to terms with the prevailing realities in our national life. Without doubt, the current situation in our country calls for unity, commitment and hardwork to help its development. “As we have promised Nigerians, my administration will soon unveil a comprehensive National Youths Empowerment Programme, anchored on the model provided by the NYSC scheme, Our goal is to comprehensively address youth unemployment, insecurity and other social vices prevalent among our youths.”

“Let me assure you all that change for us is not just a political slogan, it is the dawn of new order, sough for by majority of our people. The true change we desire must start with everyone of us, especially you, the Nigerian youths.

“Corps members must be ready to participate fully and join hands with all Nigerians to fight the scourge of corruption. I call on you to cultivate the spirit of hardwork and selfless service.”