Headlines
Reps Condemn Coup in Burkina Faso, Seek UN Sanction
The House of Representatives has condemned “in the strongest terms possible” the incessant coups in Africa, especially in the sub-Saharan region, urging the Federal Government to “strongly condemn the coups, impose strong sanctions and mobilise other nations and stakeholders to impose very extensive sanctions.”
The House also urged civil society organisations across the sub-region and the world to condemn coups, support the civil society, political parties and parliaments to work for the immediate restoration of democratic governance in the affected nations.
The House also called on the United Nations and its agencies as well as the international community to “impose total sanctions” on those countries, where coups d’état had taken place in West Africa.
Soldiers in Burkina Faso had on Monday announced on state television that they had seized power in the West African country following a mutiny over the civilian President’s failure to contain an Islamist insurgency.
A junior officer announced the suspension of the constitution, the dissolution of the government and parliament, and the closure of the country’s borders from midnight on Monday, reading from a statement signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
He said the new Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration would re-establish constitutional order within a reasonable time, adding that a nationwide nightly curfew would be enforced.
African and Western powers denounced what they called an “attempted coup” and the EU demanded the immediate release of President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
The United States also called for Kabore’s release and urged “members of the security forces to respect Burkina Faso’s constitution and civilian leadership.”
UN chief, Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that he “strongly condemns any attempted takeover of government by the force of arms.”
A member of the House, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, at the plenary on Wednesday, moved a motion of urgent public importance titled, ‘motion on the creeping resurgence of military coups in the West African sub-region’.
Ihonvbere noted with high apprehension the frightening emerging trend of military coups in the West African sub-region, with the most recent coup in Burkina Faso being part of “a resurgence of a coup culture in West Africa.”
The lawmaker noted that for the fourth time in six months, violence had facilitated the transfer of power in West Africa with Guinea, Mali (twice in the past 17 months) and Chad seeing new leaders emerge from their respective militaries, while Burkina Faso, a few days ago, witnessed the overthrow of President Kabore.
He stated that the illegal takeover of power from democratically elected governments violated several national constitutions, international conventions and protocols established by multilateral organisations, donors and development partners.
Ihonvbere recalled that since Nigeria, the traditional powerhouse in the sub-region, transited from military to civilian rule in 1999, “there has been a strong sense that the days of military coups are effectively over.”
The lawmaker, however, said with this emerging trend, “positive trajectory is now being reversed with the rather quick successive coups in the aforementioned countries.”
He said, “The House is alarmed that coups subvert political processes, promote tensions and violence, suffocate democratic spaces, suppress basic freedoms, contain civil society and promote corrupt undemocratic governance.
“The House is convinced that if the trend is not immediately and firmly checked, it could erode the democratic achievements made thus far, distort the emerging culture of constitutionalism, and promote opportunistic and undemocratic actors in the region, and by extension the continent.”
The Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, pointed out that the lesson in the coups was that African democratically-elected leaders must wake up and deliver good governance to their people.
Elumelu noted that bad governance would lead to frustration and resentment among the citizenry, allowing them to fall to the temptation of supporting undemocratic change of government.
On his part, the Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno, observed that the worst democratic government would always be better than the best dictatorship as the freedom enjoyed in the former remained unequalled.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
