Month: May 2023

A number of protesters stormed the appeal court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Monday to express their concern about the outcome of the election result but were restrained from gaining entrance to the court by security operatives.

“We are here calling on the judiciary to give Nigerians justice,” says protest leader Orngu Angwu. As the country grapples with widespread insecurity, economic woes and growing poverty, many Nigerians had hoped the presidential ballot would bring about change but many were disappointed by the way the election was conducted.

On Monday, a panel of five Nigerian judges sat for a pre-hearing session in the trial involving opposition leaders contesting the February election won by the ruling party.

Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of military rule, elections have always ended up in court, though no challenge has ever overturned results.

Petitions contesting the victory of Bola Tinubu were filed in March by several presidential candidates including the main opposition leader Atiku Abubakar who came second and outsider Peter Obi who was third.

The court has 180 days from when the petitions were filed to issue a judgment, which can then be appealed at the supreme court.

No major decision was expected on Monday.

Abubakar, who was on his sixth bid for the presidency, claimed in his petition that he won the February 25 election.

Both he and Obi claimed that results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were invalid due to “non-compliance” with electoral laws and “corrupt practices”.

Abubakar, known in Nigeria as “Atiku”, also claimed in his petition of 223 pages that Tinubu failed to score the legal threshold of 25 percent of votes in the Federal Capital Territory.

In his own petition, Obi, who had gained mass support from Nigeria’s youth, also claimed to have won the election.

In a 100-page petition, he also claimed that Tinubu was “not qualified to contest” due to his involvement in an alleged drug-related case in the US.

The president-elect has denied any wrongdoing during his time living in the US, and both he and his party have rejected claims from the opposition of electoral fraud, appealing for unity.

The INEC has recognised “glitches” during the February vote but has dismissed claims that the process was not free and fair.

The ongoing court battle is unlikely to disrupt the swearing-in of Tinubu on May 29, who will succeed Muhammadu Buhari after two terms in office.

Mining agreements have long been plagued by accusations of unfair terms, where one party – usually investors- wins at the expense of host countries.

Now armed with critical minerals such as cobalt and lithium, African countries are out to rewrite their mining contracts.

They are demanding more in taxes, royalties and profits.

Endowed with the world’s largest cobalt reserves, the Democratic Republic Congo is renegotiating a $6 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal signed in 2008 with Chinese miners. Through the state auditor, Kinshasa has demanded that the infrastructure investment increase to $20 billion.

The country had already signaled that it was no longer business as usual for miners when it introduced a new mining code in 2018 that rattled Swiss giant Glencore.

In Botswana, President Mokgwetsi Masisi has threatened to sever ties with diamond miner De Beers over profit sharing.

Under the current agreement, the government sells 25% of diamonds mined by Debswana – their joint venture – with the remaining 75% sold by De Beers.

Other mining economies such as South Africa, Zambia, Guinea and Angola have reviewed or looking to renegotiate the terms of their mining agreements with investors.

While the World Bank and IMF advocated liberal mining codes favorable to investors in the 1990s, African countries are now pushing back, demanding more from their resources.

Marisa Lourenco is a political and economic risk analyst with a focus on mining, technology and energy. She joins the show with insights on whether an African-led mining order is possible.

Nigeria’s creative economy booms

With Nigeria’s economy battling headwinds, the creative sector has emerged as a beacon of hope. It is projected to add nearly 3 million jobs by 2025, and to top $100 million by 20230.

However, a lack of access to cheap credit is holding back entrepreneurs.

Mobile Money surges in Africa

After crossing the $1 trillion mark in 2021, mobile money transaction values set a new record in 2022, growing by 22% year on year to approximately $1.26 trillion.

836 billion of that was processed in Africa, where users also jumped to 781 million.

A new state of industry report by GSMA argues that mobile payments not only help people with their day-to-day needs, but also have a lasting socio-economic impact.

For example, partnerships between mobile money providers and pay-as-you-go solar dealers have made asset financing for solar home systems, smartphones and clean cooking stoves possible for previously unbanked, low-income consumers.

Election registration centres opened on Saturday and within hours long queues had formed with people who want to vote in local and legislative elections that are due to be held sometime this year.

And whilst some have been registered successfully, others have been told that there’s no paper left to register them or that the computers aren’t working.

“It’s a bit difficult, frankly, because things are not improving. They say that the reams of paper are finished, the machines are not working. Nothing but arguments. You see, it’s not moving,” Sarath Sidibe, who is a chef, said from a centre in the capital Lomé.

On his second attempt Komlan Edoh, a carpenter, was more more successful. “Yesterday, I was there, but as there were many people, and I have other things to worry about, that’s why I left. But today I came at six o’clock and it went well. I received my card,” he said.

Evariste Toganou, who works in a supermarket, sounded impatient. “I will take my voter’s card regardless of the hassles. Because this time, I have to vote.”

Like many would-be voters in 2018 Toganou refused to vote after the main opposition parties urged people to boycott the legislative elections.

But this time, they’ve been encouraging their supporters to cone out in force.

But whether everyone who wants to vote will be able to register is not certain as election officials admit they are struggling.

“We’re really overwhelmed, but okay. We’re trying to deal with it, we’ve got to do everything we can to try and manage everyone who’s here,” Kokouvi Paul Dobe from the Independent National Electoral Commission said.

In 2018, President Faure Gnassingbé’s party got a majority of 59 seats out of the 91 of the National Assembly, whilst the leaders of the main coalition of 14 opposition parties boycotted the election.

They’d grown angry after more than a year of serious political crisis and dozens of protest marches, which were severely repressed, against a reform allowing the president to stand for re-election in 2020 and 2025.

It’s clear many of Togo’s eight million or so people want change.

Not only does their country remain poor, like much of the Sahel region it’s also now suffering from attacks by Islamic extremists.

And the same family has been in power for 56 years.

Gnassingbé has been president since 2005 and before him it was his father Gnassingbé Eyadéma who seized power in 1967.

At least 176 villagers were killed in flooding and landslides brought on by torrential overnight rains in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, a local official said Friday.

Thomas Bakenge, a regional government official, gave the estimate after overseeing recovery efforts. He described the scale of destruction as “enormous, beyond words … whole houses were carried away.”

He said bodies were still being collected from the shores of the nearby Lake Kivu and called for immediate assistance.

“There is absolutely nothing left here. We urgently need help.”

Two rivers broke their banks after the heavy rains which began on Thursday evening and there have been multiple landslides with scores of homes destroyed, according to Delphin Birimbi, a community leader in the region.

As bodies were pulled from the mud, some residents estimated that more three quarters of homes in the village of Nyamukubi were carried away by the floods, along with school buildings and a health centre.

Rescuers worked to find and save anyone who may be trapped under the debris from their destroyed homes.

In a statement published Friday, the provincial government of South Kivu offered its sympathies to the families affected and said it was sending a group of officials to the area.

Heavy rains have brought misery to thousands in East Africa, with parts of Uganda and Kenya also seeing heavy rainfall.

Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, left 129 people dead earlier this week.

UN officials returning from a border town in Central African Republic say around 9,700 people have crossed over from Sudan so far and that they expect more to come.

About a third of them were Central Africans returning home.

Some have been taken in by local families whilst other have had to form makeshift camps around the town of Am Dafok.

“We are currently discussing with the minister who will decide on behalf of the government where this population will be settled,” said Mohamed Ag Ayoya, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country.

Conditions in Am Dafok town are far from ideal as the rainy season started this month and the region is prone to flooding.

Outbreaks of disease, in particular malaria are worrying the World Health Organisation (WHO). And malnutrition is a concern too, if people get weak from it they will be all the more prone to getting sick.

“We are already starting to take care of the sick, at least in relation to this. We are trying to see if we can provide mosquito nets so that people can at least protect themselves against malaria,” Gervais Tengomo, an emergencies officer with the WHO said.

“We are also intensifying surveillance to be able to quickly detect a possible epidemic and to be able to control it as quickly as possible,” he added.

Central African Republic has many troubles of its own. The UN say more than half the population is “in need of assistance and protection.”

It’s been enduring its own civil war for several years which has kept it amongst the ten poorest countries in the world.

The UN says around 120,000 people also need food assistance there.

Napoli finally ended their long wait to win Serie A on Thursday, joining late club icon Diego Maradona in the history books by being crowned Italian champions with a record-equalling five matches to play.

A 1-1 draw at Udinese gave Napoli the point they needed to end 33 years of waiting and spark wild celebrations among the thousands of fans in Udine, at the Stadio Maradona in Naples and all around southern Italy’s biggest city.

Supporters streamed onto the pitch at the Dacia Arena to celebrate after a season dominated by Luciano Spalletti’s side, creating moments of tension with home fans not happy at such open partying on their ground.

Victor Osimhen scored the decisive goal in the second half as Napoli’s current stars came back from trailing to Sandi Lovric’s opener at half-time and emulated the teams led by Maradona which won the league in 1987 and 1990.

“To be compared to him, to be the captain after Maradona to lift the Scudetto, I just have no words,” said skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

“This isn’t my title, it belongs to every player and the people who worked to make our dream come true.”

Spalletti and his squad will receive an emotional welcome when they return to Naples, where the city-wide partying is set to continue to until at least their next home fixture against Fiorentina on Sunday evening.

“Seeing Neapolitans happy is enough to give you a sense of that joy they are feeling,” Spalletti told DAZN on the verge of tears.

“These people will look to this moment when life gets hard, they have every right to celebrate like this. You feel a bit more relaxed knowing that you’ve given them this moment of happiness.”

It was appropriate that Osimhen was the man to take Napoli over the line as the Nigeria striker has had the best season of his career and been key to Napoli’s historic charge to glory.

Osimhen’s title-deciding strike was his 22nd goal in 28 league appearances and rightly caused bedlam among the massed ranks of away fans who took over Udine.

Napoli’s 16-point lead over second-placed Lazio leaves them with a month-long parade between now and the end of the season which will allow their long-suffering supporters to fully unload more than a generation of frustration.

Osimhen seals deal

Napoli were straight on the front foot but looked worryingly bereft of ideas in the final third, and the away side were stunned in the 13th minute following the first spell of play in Udinese’s favour.

Lovric was given the freedom of the penalty area after being fed by Destiny Udogie, and the Slovenia midfielder took advantage by placing a lovely shot in the top corner.

Lovric stung the fingers of former Udine youth product Alex Meret in the Napoli goal just after the half-hour mark, by which point Napoli hadn’t created a single goalscoring opportunity.

Seconds later Osimhen, who looked like Napoli’s only hope of scoring in the opening period, headed a deep cross just the wrong side of the post.

However, in the 52nd minute the 24-year-old stepped up as so often he has this season to unleash a wave of relief and blue smoke from the stands with his 27th goal in all competitions.

Osimhen was on hand to ram home the leveller when, after a corner, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s low shot was blocked and fell to the clinical striker.

He had the ball in the net again in the 67th minute but was denied by referee Rosario Abisso who rightly whistled for a foul by Eljif Elmas.

But by that point the fans grew ever more sure that Thursday night would be the night, chanting victory songs in Udine while flares billowed and fireworks were set off at the other end of the country.

While fans had to be cleared from the pitch in Udine to avoid clashes with home supporters the Stadio Maradona was lit up by phones held by teary-eyed Neapolitans singing along to songs by late local singer-songwriter Pino Daniele