Beyond The Seizure Of Presidential Aircraft

 By Ugo Onuoha

Gracious and humane creditors? Or how else can we describe the gesture of Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited who are on the winning side, at least for now, of an arbitration dispute with Nigeria. The company has a standing Paris court order with which it impounded three of Nigeria’s presidential jets.

 

They were grounded in France where two of the aircraft had gone for servicing. The third, a recently acquired Airbus, Nigerian president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s latest luxury toy, was reportedly flown to France for retrofitting and sundry luxury upgrades to suit the status and taste of the ruler of the country which since 2019 has been designated as the global capital for the abject poor.

Macron Plays The Outlaw In Niger Republic

 By Owei Lakemfa

French President Emmanuel Macron loves acting on the world stage. In the on-going drama about the West and some West African leaders threatening to use force against the military regime that came to power in Niger Republic on July 26, 2023, he chose to play the outlaw.

*Macron 

Exactly a month after they came to power, the new authorities in Niger declared French Ambassador Sylvain Itte persona non grata saying he “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy”. He was given 48 hours to leave the country. The deadline expired on August 28. The Nigeriens also withdrew the diplomatic cards and cancelled the visas of his family.

The Comedy In The Tragedy Of Ali Bongo’s Ouster

 By Rotimi Fasan

It has never stopped raining for some of Africa’s fragile governments and reconditioned democracies. It’s been pouring. There’s a big scramble by some of the continent’s sit-tight leaders to protect their autocratic stools. Panic as well as unease is also spreading to other parts of the continent where election outcomes are either in dispute or the winners are yet to consolidate their position. From Uganda to Rwanda, Zambia to Nigeria, the story is the same. Yet the realities may not exactly be the same – at least that is the case with Nigeria where the presidential election tribunal for the February 2023 presidential election is getting set to deliver judgement.  

*Bongo 

Only days after television images showed him with smug imperturbability casting his vote in the flawed election that returned him to power after 14 years in the saddle, President Ali Bongo emerged, in a room in his presidential palace-turned-prison, asking for help and a way out of the dungeon in which he had suddenly found himself trapped by the very people he hired to protect him.

2023: Muslim-Muslim Ticket Is Worse Than Another Northern President

 By Olu Fasan

Unless there’s a miracle and a third force succeeds next year, Nigeria faces two disastrous choices. One is another president from the North succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari. The other is a Muslim-Muslim presidency, with a Muslim president and a Muslim vice-president. Nigeria would either have a President Atiku Abubakar, a Northerner, or a President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim, with a Vice President Kashim Shettima, also a Muslim. Either outcome would severely undermine the unity and stability of Nigeria, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. 

*Atiku and Tinubu

Truth be told, the best outcome for Nigeria is neither success for Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, nor success for Atiku, the candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Rather, the best outcome is victory for Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, and his respected technocratic running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, founder and pro-chancellor of Baze University, Abuja.

If Nigeria Makes The mistake Of Bringing Back Buhari In 2019!

By Femi Fani-Kayode
In both 2008 and 2012 I warned the world and particularly Africa and the Middle East about the evil of Barack Obama. No-one listened. In 2011 I warned the world about the consequences of removing Muammar Gadaffi for Africa and the Middle East. No-one listened. In 2015 I warned the world and Nigeria about supporting and electing Muhammadu Buhari as President of our country. No-one listened. 

*Femi Fani-Kayode

In 2016 I warned Nigeria and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) about making Ali Modu Sheriff National Chairman of our party. No-one listened. In 2015 I told the world that Donald Trump would win the nomination as flag-bearer for the Republican party and that he would go on to win the American presidential election in 2016. No-one listened.

In 2016 I warned Nigeria and the world that Buhari’s health would present a major challenge for the rest of his tenure. No-one listened. In each of these cases I have been proved right. Now I shall give two more warnings and whether anyone listens to me or not takes absolutely nothing away from me. Mine is to pass on the message and it is left for those that hear it to accept it or not. 

The first is that if Nigeria makes the mistake of bringing back Muhammadu Buhari as president in 2019 that will be the end of our country as a viable, cohesive, tolerant, medium-power democratic nation-state where the rule of law, the principle of equality and the most fundamental civil liberties, human rights and basic freedoms for the individual are guaranteed and respected. Worse still she may NEVER recover.