Politics

Nigeria’s ruling party splits but will that cost Buhari the Presidency?

Nigeria’s political landscape was shaken Wednesday when a splinter group emerged from the cold to claim that the country’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), no longer served its interest, alleging a reign of impunity by the party leadership

Published

6 years ago

July 5, 2018

Africa News Watch

The splinter group is peopled mostly by the aggrieved members of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) bloc of the party and have since branded themselves as Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC).

Buba Galadima, a former ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, announced the formation of the new group at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

Leader of the nPDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje was present at the press conference where the announcement was made.

Accusing the party leadership of impunity, Galadima said that the local and state congresses as well as the national convention of the APC were a sham and largely undemocratic.

“The nPDP, a group that has made a major contribution to the emergence of the APC administration, has made strenuous efforts to invite attention to inequities, injustice and poor management in our party without any success.

“The nPDP had shown good faith and commitment to the party, but it has been rewarded with indifference and even contempt. It is obvious that the leadership of the APC has decided to shut out members of the APC, as well as other members who have raised genuine grievances and a desire to improve the responsiveness of the APC to the desire of members for a party founded on democratic principles.

“Under the circumstances, patriotic elements and most of the original founders of the APC have found themselves in the opposing side of this charade.

“Most of the delegates who bought and paid for forms for the congresses and convention and were elected as delegates have come together to take control and give legitimacy to APC to be now known as and called Reformed – APC (R – APC),” Galadima said.

Influential members of the ruling APC who have, directly or indirectly, been associated with R-APC include Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, former governors of Kano and Adamawa states, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Murtala Nyako.

In his initial reaction, the newly elected National Chairman of the ruling party, Adams Oshiomhole, pleaded for patience in dealing with the insurrection in the party.

Opposition has continued to mount against the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari who has been severally accused of nepotism, and mal-administration. Prominent voices against his reign include former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, and Ibrahim Babangida.

How much damage the fresh upheaval will wreak on Buhari’s 2019 aspirations remains a subject of permutations. In spite of seeming waning influence, largely a result of insecurity issues, Buhari continues to maintain a stronghold in the northern half of the country, a political asset that could be deployed to full advantage in 2019.

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

16 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.