Author: Jideofor Elumogo

Hundreds of Muslim worshippers in Nigeria on Wednesday gathered to hold prayers for Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of Ramadan.

The holiday is celebrated by Muslims around the world following the month-long period of fasting which is scheduled each year according to the lunar calendar.

Eid al-Fitr takes place the day after the new moon is seen at the end of the month of Ramadan.

25-year-old Baraka Imam said she could not contain her excitement following the end of the Holy month.

“This day is very-very important to me because it comes once in every year. So, it’s very-very important to me, am so excited like I can’t even express my feeling, am just so excited about it”, said Baraka Imam.

Muslims believe that fasting during Ramadan teaches self-discipline, self-control, and empathy for those who are less fortunate.

For Muslims, increased prayer, recitation of the Quran and acts of charity are also important during the month.

“The time you fast in the month of Ramadan, is expected that all those good deeds that you have been practicing in the one month, you should be able to continue with those good deeds in subsequent months”, said public servant Saliu Aminu-Shafi.

Between 80 to 85 million Nigerians identify as Muslim, accounting for about 50 per cent of the population.

Over 50 per cent of Nigerians identify as Muslim, out of a population of around 220 million people.

Togo’s government said a planned three-day protest this week over the arrest of opposition figures and new legislation scrapping president elections was illegal, a move that heightened tensions in the West African nation that has been ruled by the same family for almost 60 years.

The interior and security ministries said the protests set to begin Thursday (Apr. 11) would seriously disturb public order. In a separate notice, the government also delayed parliamentary elections until April 29, pushing the vote back by just over a week.

A spokesman for the opposition behind the planned protest said the coalition was considering whether to move forward with the rallies anyway.

“Whenever they’re in a panic, they’re ready to use any kind of tricks against the opposition,” spokesman Eric Dupuy told The Press. “It doesn’t move us.”

The government last week arrested nine opposition activists for engaging in political activities at a market. All nine were released on Tuesday (Apr. 9) evening.

“Disturbing public order”

A statement from the public prosecutor’s office said they were arrested for disturbing public order. A spokesman for those arrested, Thomas Kokou Nsoukpoe, called the arrests arbitrary and abusive.

The proposed constitution, which was passed by lawmakers in late March, grants parliament the power to choose the president, doing away with direct elections. The oppostion fears this makes it likely that President Faure Gnassingbe would be reelected when his mandate expires in 2025.

Previous opposition protests over the past two decades, especially in 2005 and 2017, have been deadly, with hundreds of people killed, displaced and exiled.

“The government’s responses to the opposition’s past protests have been firm, forceful and heavy-handed,” said Aimé Adi, who leads the Togo branch of Amnesty International. “People are much more fearful and distrustful given the bitter experiences of the past, and it’s hard to predict whether they will respond en masse to the opposition’s call for protests.”

Togo, a nation of around 8 million people, has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, initially by Eyadema Gnassingbe and subsequently by his son. Faure Gnassingbe has been in office since 2005 after winning elections that the opposition described as a sham.

Some legal experts say the constitution could actually restrict the power of future presidents as it introduces a one-term limit and hands over greater power to a new figure similar to a prime minister. But opposition fears the creation of a new role officially, the president of the council of ministers  could become another way for Gnassingbe to stay in power since the individuals who will hold this position will either be “the leader of the party which secures the majority during the legislative elections”; or the leader of the winning coalition of parties.

Haiti’s National Police agency says it has recovered a hijacked cargo ship laden with rice following a gunbattle with gangs on Saturday off the coast of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Two police officers were injured and an undetermined number of gang members were killed in the five-hour shootout, authorities said in a statement.

Police added that those responsible for the hijacking were members of two gangs, named the 5 Seconds and the Taliban gang, who seized the transport ship Magalie on Thursday as it departed the port of Varreux.

Local media Radio Télé Métronome reported that the gangs kidnapped everyone aboard the ship and stole some 10,000 sacks of rice out of the 60,000 sacks it was carrying.

Gang violence in Haiti has escalated since late February, with the underfunded police department struggling to quell attacks.

Gunmen also began targeting key government infrastructure.

The gangs have made several attempts to take over the National Palace in a final push to gain complete control of the capital.

On Monday, police ordered the evacuation of the Champ de Mars area near the National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince as heavy gunfire erupted nearby.

The country’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry on March 12 agreed to resign once a transitional presidential council is established.

Fifty-one passengers were rescued after the bus they were traveling in was swept away by floodwaters on a river bridge in northern Kenya, authorities said Tuesday (Apr.9).

The bus is still stuck in the river some 30 meters away from the bridge, although the waters are continuing to subside,Tana River county commander Ali Ndiema told The Associated Press.

Ndiema said the road has now been closed indefinitely. He said anyone found violating the order will be arrested and charged.

He said all passengers are accounted-for. Police are looking for the driver of the bus who ignored passengers’ concerns and insisted on driving through the water.

Police said some of the passengers managed to escape just before the bus was submerged, while others climbed onto the roof.

The incident happened just hours after Kenya’s roads agency announced the closure of another section of the same road that was flooded after the Tana River swelled due to continuing heavy rains.

The government had on Monday issued a flood alert to residents of Tana River and Lamu counties after a dam upstream was breached by flooding.

The Cuban boxing team defeated their French opponents in all eight bouts, gaining “mental strength” and “preparation” in a friendly bout on the road to the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

All winners were by 5-0 unanimous decision.

“The French team won, mentally they won,” Dominique Nato, president of the French boxing federation, told to SNTV, who is very clear that the goal is preparation. “We came here to look for mental, technical and tactical strength” he added.

“Both teams worked, one won and the other lost but neither lost because we came here to prepare.” Said Luis Mariano Gonzalez, coach of the island’s boxing team since 2007.

The string of victories was led by Olympic champions Julio Cesar La Cruz (92 kg) and Arlen Lopez (80 kg), against Soheb Bouafia and Cesar Yojerlin respectively, in the friendly match held Friday night at the Varadero resort.

“Today we fought in Cuba, they (the Cuban team) were in front of their public and that gave them a lot of strength, said to SNTV the twice French champion Soheb Bouafia (92kg). “When we are in France we will be with our French public and so we can win,” he said.

Sofiane Oumiha (63.5 kg), two-time Olympic silver medalist and three-time World Champion, was a last-minute withdrawal from the line-up because he was not feeling well, and was replaced by twice national champion Hugo Robert Grau.

Cuba’s economic crisis and the migration of athletes has hit boxing hard , a sport that historically filled the medal table of the island in Olympic events and other international competitions.

The Caribbean country has accumulated 41 Olympic titles since the first gold medal won in this sport by Téofilo Stevenson in Munich 1972.

“To have fought with the French team, almost all of them already qualified for the Olympic Games, and to have beaten them here, apart from fighting in our home ground , it is a good sign for us.” La Cruz said.

The last Olympic qualifying tournament will be held in Thailand from May 25 to June 3.