ARIWO !

Nigerians out in force for vote, Jonathan ahead

ABUJA (Reuters) - Tens of millions of Nigerians voted on Saturday in the most credible presidential election for decades, with very early results from a handful of polling stations showing President Goodluck Jonathan ahead.
From the tin-roofed shacks of the Niger Delta, where Jonathan cast his vote, to the dusty alleyways of Daura, the northern home village of his main rival, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, voters came out en masse.
In the sprawling commercial hub of Lagos, where many polling stations finished early, voters stayed on to watch the count, shouting out the total as polling agents tallied the ballots.
"The politicians should know if they don't perform they are going to be voted out," said businessman Ahibuogwu Brian among the populous lagoon-side shanties of Makoko. "The electorate now know we have the power to chose our leaders."
The polls pit Jonathan, the first head of state from the oil-producing Niger Delta, against Buhari, a northern Muslim with a reputation as a disciplinarian.
Results from around a dozen polling units gave Jonathan a comfortable lead in Lagos, where his ruling party performed weakly in parliamentary elections last week. It was a similar story in the Niger Delta and parts of the southeast….

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Benin journalists protest attacks

A march against the beating of Journalists covering events. (Benoit Koffi)

Six associations of media professionals in Benin rallied Tuesday in Cotonou, the capital, in a protest march against what they called "the barbarity of security forces" against journalists.

This West African country is considered a showcase of democracy, but developments in recent weeks have tarnished a tradition of tolerance and respect for human rights, especially freedom of the press. President Thomas Yayi Boni was sworn in for a second five-year term last week in a ceremony boycotted by his challenger Adrien Houngbedji who has refused to recognize him on the grounds that the results of last month's contested presidential elections were rigged.

"In recent political protests, journalists were chased, beaten, injured, and treated just like protesters," said Jérôme Carlos, director of private station Capp FM and one of the leaders of the march Tuesday. "Security forces demonstrated incomprehensible zeal. We must protest against all these abuses." 

Carlos was referring to the March 24 police beating of reporter Séïdou Choubadé of the daily Le Nokoué. Choubadé was caught up in a demonstration as the opposition protested results of the presidential elections declaring Yayi the winner. Despite showing his press card to police, Choubadé was attacked. He was left with his face puffed-up, his upper lip cut, his hands injured,  and his motorbike taken by officers.

An estimated 400 members of the press marched. (M. Polycarpe Toviho)

Brice Houssou, the chairman of the Benin Union of Media Professionals, known as UPMB, denounced "the indiscriminate and gratuitous violence" against Moustapha Sèmiou Bashola, editorial secretary of the daily Les Scoops du Jour by security guards of the speaker of the National Assembly on February 18. "Security guards of the speaker and those of other politicians chased, beat up and roughed him up, as if he were a criminal," Houssou said. Bashola was covering a public meeting of the ruling majority in the Assembly. UPMB reported that two of the speaker's security guards later admitted to attacking the journalist after allegedly overhearing Bashola criticize the speaker outside the meeting.   

Journalists also denounced the continuing "violence and battery" against journalists of state-run national media at public events they are supposed to cover, as well as the "bullying and discrimination of reporters by security officers and the central administration."  For instance, local media reported a March 11 assault on journalist Claude Adigbli of state news agency Agence Bénin-presse by a plainclothes member of the presidential guard after he approached the man to ask questions. The attack occurred on the last day of campaigning at a rally in support of Yayi….

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Opposition candidates appeal presidential election results in Benin

March 26, 2011

COTONOU, March 26, 2011 (AFP) – The main challengers in Benin’s disputed presidential vote have filed appeals over results showing incumbent Boni Yayi won with 53 percent, the constitutional court said Saturday. Tension has risen in the small west African country since the vote, with police firing tear gas to disperse opposition protesters in the economic capital Cotonou on Thursday. ”We have received a total of eight appeals, including three from citizens and five from candidates who competed in the presidential elections,” Sylvain Nouwatin, secretary general of the constitutional court, told AFP. The deadline to file appeals expired late Friday. The five candidates to appeal include Yayi — arguing that his victory margin was greater — as well as his main challenger Adrien Houngbedji, who has dismissed the results showing he had 36 percent and claimed victory for himself.

Abdoulaye Bio Tchane, who had been seen as a third major candidate but finished far behind with six percent, also filed an appeal. Both Houngbedji and Bio Tchane allege that Yayi benefited from illegal voting stations. They have already alleged fraud in the March 13 ballot, which had previously been postponed twice because preparations were not complete. ”More than 140,000 votes were credited to candidate Boni Yayi through these fraudulent practices,” Houngbedji told AFP on Saturday of the alleged illegal voting stations. Bio Tchane’s campaign has made similar allegations in its appeal, his spokesman Raymond Dossa said. He cited dozens of alleged examples from the country’s north, where Yayi is from. The court now has 10 days to rule on the appeals. A new president is due to be sworn in on April 6. UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for west Africa, Said Djinnit, expressed concern over the post-electoral situation on Friday….

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Benin police end protest with teargas

March 25 2011 at 12:21am

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cotonou - Benin authorities on Thursday fired teargas to disperse youths protesting against the re-election of President Boni Yayi in recent polls after they refused to clear roadways, police said.

“We could not accept that their presence in the roads obstruct others' freedom,” national police chief Anki Dosso Maiga told reporters.

“After having asked them in vain to leave the area, we fired teargas to disperse them.”

Several hundred youths gathered at two locations in the economic capital Cotonou in support of opposition candidate Adrien Houngbedji, who has claimed he won the March 13 election and alleged fraud in the ballot.

Tyres were burnt in the roadway and protesters held signs labelling Yayi a “thief”. Teargas was fired at both locations, police said.

Benin's constitutional court announced early on Monday that it had approved results showing Yayi had won the vote in the first round with 53 percent, compared to Houngbedji's 36 percent.

Houngbedji immediately rejected the results, claimed victory for himself and alleged widespread fraud in the ballot.

Candidates were given five days to file appeals with the court over the results. Sylvain Nouwatin, the court's secretary-general, said Thursday that four appeals had been filed, though not in the name of any of the candidates.

Voting day passed calmly despite chaotic preparations that had caused two earlier postponements of the ballot.

The first-time use of an electronic voter register had led to opposition allegations that more than a million people had been left off it - a figure others said was exaggerated.

A mop-up voter registration was to be held on Wednesday and Thursday before the election, but was extended into Saturday when crowds mobbed sign-up centres and equipment broke down.

Other issues had also led to the two earlier poll delays, including failure to distribute electoral cards on time and designate and train polling station agents.

A string of protests involving several hundred people took place over the electoral roll controversy in the run-up to the vote, and authorities fired teargas to break up another demonstration last month.

Houngbedji, 69, and running in his fifth presidential election, had pushed for a third postponement of the ballot, arguing that voter registration should continue.

Yayi, a 58-year-old economist, was seen as a symbol of change when he took office in 2006 in the country, which is dependent on cotton cultivation and its port, but has since been weighed down by corruption scandals.

Houngbedji was supported by many of the country's traditional political elites.

Sapa-AFP

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Ex-dictator calls for calm in upcoming presidential elections in Benin

COTONOU, March 9, 2011 (AFP) – Benin’s former dictator Mathieu Kerekou has urged candidates in Sunday’s presidential ballot to ensure a calm vote after controversy over the electoral list led to two postponements. Kerekou, who came to power after a 1972 coup, was later elected president and led the country for a total of some three decades, issued the appeal in a rare public statement late Tuesday. ”I would like to humbly invite the candidates for the highest public office in our country to show restraint so that presidential elections are held peacefully and with respect for republican values,” he said in the televised statement. He said all political parties should adhere to a consensus reached to resolve problems with the electoral list. President Boni Yayi will be seeking a second term in Sunday’s vote, which has been postponed twice.

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Benin opposition candidates demand another poll delay

- A group of candidates vying in Benin's presidential poll due this weekend, demanded on Thursday that the poll be delayed for another week so that more voters omitted from the voters roll may be registered.
If accepted, it would be the third delay in the election initially planned for February 27.
The country's top legal body last Friday authorized a one-week delay so that complaints over voter cards and election lists could be resolved.
"The law that had allowed the second postponement was not properly applied since the same problems remain to this day," the group made up of 11 of the 13 presidential candidates said in a statement.
The group said an international audit of voters registers should be carried out and voters roll be published in all polling stations before any election is held.
"We demand a postponement of at least a week so as to include all those who are not in the electoral register," Victor Tokpanou, a candidate and spokesman for the group said.
Marcel de Souza, spokesman for incumbent President Boni Yayi had said on Tuesday that no further postponement was possible.

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The Root Interview: The Former President of Ghana Speaks Bluntly

Jerry Rawlings says he’s disappointed in many African leaders and in the failure of African countries to work together more closely. When The Root interviewed the former president, he was blunt and forthcoming about the evolution of African countries since independence and about his disappointment with his fellow Africans and their former colonial rulers.
The Root is a daily online magazine that provides thought-provoking commentary on today's news from a variety of black perspectives. Read the interview below.
Jerry John Rawlings is addicted to politics. Son of a Scotsman and a Ghanaian, he twice led coups against what he saw as corrupt governments and he acknowledges that his regime committed "a few punishments here and there," during 19 years as head of state of Ghana. Yet, he gave up power in 2001, after losing an election in 2000, and made way for multiparty democracy. Now 62, the former Ghanaian Air Force captain, who stepped down nine years ago, still has a lot to say about his small West African country, which celebrated its 53rd year of independence on March 6.
NB: The Root (TR), Jerry Rawlings (JR)
The Root: Many African countries celebrate their 50th anniversary of independence in 2010. How do you assess their progress?
Jerry Rawlings: Well, I would have wished that we had made a lot more progress--social, economic and our political sense of purpose--in line with the aspirations of our forefathers, what they were fighting for. But it appears the colonial battle was not as atrocious as the new colonial battle. It has proven to be a lot more difficult, and more and more we are losing ownership of the resources of our continent. And not many of our leaders have a decolonized mind.
TR: The link between France and its former African colonies is very strong. Do you see the same linkage between England and its former African colonies?
JR: I don't know. Some may be close in one respect and weak in others, while others may be close and strong in another respect. But don't forget that Britain does not come alone: She comes along with the English-speaking--the U.S., Germany and all. Whereas France, I think, has attempted to maintain a stronger monopoly or grip on the resources of its colonies. I may be wrong, but that's what it looks like to us.
And it appears that there is a lot more assimilation between francophone Africans and France. On the one hand, you could easily get the impression that they enjoy a higher quality of relationship than Africans and the British. But when you look deeper, and go deeper into the history, you're running to some very atrocious and very sordid historical experiences that really put you off.
TR: Is it too soon to implement the "United States of Africa" strongly proposed by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana?
JR: It's not too soon. It's long overdue, but Africa has been so badly disintegrated in spite of the regional groupings we created to create markets for our own products. Our colonial relationship was so strong that it was undermining our attempts to unify.
TR: Some say that the Western form of democracy is a poison for Africa. What do you think?
JR: It would not have been a poison for Africa if we could adapt it to our own indigenous form of democracy. Our form of democracy listens to all parties, and out of it we distill what is best for all of us. Western democracy is "winner take all," ... which is not healthy. They end up silencing the opposition, treating opposition like enemies; everything is for them, and they deny everything to the opposition. And this is what makes it tough for us.
TR: What did you think of President Barack Obama's speech to Africa in Accra on July 11, 2009?
JR: He just said what anybody else would have said.
TR: Nothing new?
JR: It's not fair to say nothing new, but even if it was nothing new, it was coming from the right person. He was a man with a sense of dignity; he was a man who has restored international morality back into politics; he has restored the international morality that Tony Blair and Bush destroyed. He managed to bring it back by virtue of his stature, ... his beliefs, his sense of ethics and things like that. He believed in the might of right, while the other people believed in the right of might.
TR: You came to power twice through coups. Today, would you have done things differently?
JR: No. I would have done things exactly the way I did.
TR: So you think that sometimes coups are necessary when there are no other means to get change?
JR: So it seemed in those days. As to whether it's still applied today, this is what I cannot say. But in those days, I know it was a necessity.
TR: Do you miss being president?
JR: It was a very tiring job for me.
TR: You did it twice...
JR: Yes, I had to come back again because if I hadn't, there would have had another explosion. I stood for elections because when I heard the messages from those multiparty characters [I thought] they would wind the clock back. So for me it was a very tiring job, really. Some people enjoy it, I did not.
TR: You did not, but you don't really seem to have retired...
JR: How can I retire? In Africa, it's difficult to retire! Because what I fought for has not changed. I mean, Jesus Christ taught us a lesson some 2,000 years ago, and we're still teaching the same thing. So it is with politics in Africa, I guess. So long as the nonsense continues, I will continue to speak out.
TR: Aren't you afraid of interfering with the action of your former vice-president and current Ghana President John Atta-Mills? That you might create confusion about who is the head of state?
JR: They may or they may not [be confused]. But I will because I did not come for my party or my president, I came for a principle. And so long as you step aside or you want to keep up with that principle, you will hear me. I will talk.
TR: Some report tensions between [current Ghana president] John Atta-Mills and you.
JR: Yes. To some extent, it's true because I keep telling him he has surrounded himself with people who shouldn't be there. He has surrounded himself with people who keep stabbing the party, and some of us, in the back. I keep warning him that if he does not change, if he does not improve, he will be a one-term president. He's not listening now, and by the time he starts listening, I think it's almost too late. People are disillusioned with him and the people around him.

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Ghana President Says Government Not Taking Sides in Ivory Coast Crisis

 
John Evans Atta Mills was sworn-in as Ghana's president in Ghana

Ghana president says not taking sides in Ivory Coast crisis .
Friday, 07 January 2011 17:46
ACCRA- Ghana President John Atta Mills said Friday his country was not taking sides in Ivory Coast's crisis and opposed the use of force in the neighbouring country to remove strongman Laurent Gbagbo.
"Ghana is not taking sides in the crisis in Ivory Coast nor exporting arms to Ivory Coast as being alleged by a cross-section of the international media, but will support any government in Ivory Coast," he told reporters.
He also said he had "been in touch with the two personalities involved to find ways to solving the problem peacefully. Some of us believe in diplomacy in solving problems rather than military intervention."
West African bloc ECOWAS has demanded Gbagbo step down following disputed November elections in favour of his internationally recognised rival Alassane Ouattara and threatened the use of force if he does not. Ghana is a member of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)….

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Nigeria : A Season of Bomb Blasts

A NEW dimension was brought into the lingering bloodbath in Jos, Plateau State, when on December 24, as people were busy with last minute shopping for Christmas celebrations, some unknown persons detonated a series of bombs that ripped through an evening market close to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the Kada-Biu and Angwan Rukuba areas of Jos North Local Government killing over 80 people with scores maimed or badly injured. The casualty figure is far more than the initial seven people reported. The injured were rushed to various hospitals in town for treatment.
The unprovoked attack, which occurred around 7.30 p.m. was clearly targeted at innocent people with the sole aim of causing mayhem and disrupting the Christmas celebrations in the state. Scores of residential houses and vehicles were damaged in the vicinity of the explosions. The ensuing pandemonium caused people to scamper for safety. Men, women and children were caught in the maze. Eyewitnesses said the blasts occurred simultaneously in three different parts of the area, indicating this was a well-planned and coordinated vicious attack

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GHANA : PRESIDENT MILLS CANCELS 375 DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS

By Emmanuel Akli

President Mills

Barely a week after the Wikileaks website exposed both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its predecessor, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) governments on the way they handled the fight against narcotic drugs in the country, information filtering in indicates that the Atta Mills government has revoked as many as 375 diplomatic passports.

Among those who have been affected are Pastors, Imams, businessmen and chiefs, who by virtue of the diplomatic passport use the Very Very Important People (VVIP) Lounge at the Kotoka International Airport anytime they travel outside the country.

So far, there has not been any official comment as to whether these passports were revoked because their holders were suspected to be dealing in drugs.

But Deputy Minister of information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told The Chronicle in a telephone interview at the weekend that the revocation had nothing to do with the Wikileaks report, and that the decision was taken in 2009 as part of efforts by the Atta Mills government to fight against the drug menace in the country.

In the Wikileaks publication, President Mills was quoted as having told the American Ambassador in Ghana, during a private conversation that elements of his government had already been compromised, and that officials at the airport tipped off drug traffickers about operations there.

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