Politics

The Takfiri Boko Haram militants have killed 44 people, including a legislator, and prevented hundreds of eligible voters from turning up at polling stations and casting their ballots in Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections for fear of reprisal. The Boko Haram extremists stormed the town of Miringa in the northeastern state of Borno before dawn on Saturday, setting houses ablaze and shooting indiscriminately the residents as they tried to escape the thick smoke covering the area. Twenty-five people died in the attack. “They had sent messages earlier warning us not to encourage democracy by participating in today's election,” said Mallam Garba Buratai, a Miringa resident who witnessed the act of violence. Later in the day, another 14 people were killed in attacks against the towns of Biri and Dukku in Gombe State. A legislator from the violence-wracked northeastern Nigerian state, identified as Umaru Ali, was among the dead. Moreover, two voters were shot dead when yelling Boko Haram militants opened fire at polling stations in the twin Gombe towns of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani. 

The terrorists also invaded four towns in the northeastern state of Yobe, and fired shots into the air to scare people from voting, according to police. Also on Saturday, three people, including a soldier, were fatally shot in Nigeria’s southern state of Rivers. Two car bomb explosions also ripped through polling stations in the southeast, but there were no reports of casualties. Meanwhile, Nigerian authorities have extended the elections until Sunday, on account that ballot papers arrived late or imported card readers failed to recognize the fingerprints of the voters.

The front-runners for Nigeria’s presidential election are incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the former military chief, Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term, while Buhari, who has lost the last three elections, has a realistic chance of winning.  This is while 739 candidates are also vying for a place in Nigeria’s 109-seat Senate and 1,780 seeking election to the 360-seat National Assembly during Saturday’s parliamentary elections. All this comes at a time when Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” and controls parts of northeastern Nigeria, has vowed to disrupt the polls by violent attacks. The Takfiris have claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of their activities in 2009, which have so far left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced.

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Mar.2015

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After 27 days out of the country, President Biya and Chantal Biya returned to the nation’s capital Yaoundé on March 27, 2015, under strong military presence. Cameroon's presidential couple arrived in Yaoundé early in the evening of yesterday from Europe.

Despite the untimely water shortages and electricity and giant traffic jams which residents of Yaoundé are subject to, CPDM militants were mobilized by the hierarchy to greet their leader. The city was crisscrossed by elements of the Presidential Guard, deployed for the security of the presidential couple.

It should be recalled President Biya and Chantal Biya left Yaoundé on March 1 for a private stay in Europe- a trip that caused a lot of controversy both in the foreign press and local media. French media announced that the Cameroon presidential couple were hospitalized. Yaoundé published a denial.

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Ngwa Bertrand

28.Mar.2015

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Nigerians are preparing to go to the ballots shortly to elect the West African nation’s president and parliament amid security threats from the Boko Haram Takfiri militant group.  Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its preparedness for Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary polls, and has already distributed ballot boxes as well as other related material at polling stations across the country.  Nigerian authorities have beefed up security as part of efforts to impose strict measures during and after the voting time, and have ordered land and sea borders sealed off. Both local and foreign observers will be monitoring Nigeria's polls. Past elections have been marred by violence and allegations of vote-rigging.  Since campaigning began in mid-November last year, both the ruling and opposition camps have reported violent attacks, which have killed a number of their supporters. 

Meantime, Ibrahim Zikirullah, a member of the Transition Monitoring Group, has told Press TV that the governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has dominated Nigeria’s politics since 1999, would do everything possible not to let the leadership slip from its fingers, as it faces tough election challenge from the opposition.  The front-runners for Nigeria’s presidential election are incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and former military chief Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term, while Buhari, who has lost the last three elections, has a realistic chance of winning. 

This is while 739 candidates are also vying for a place in Nigeria's 109-seat Senate and 1,780 seeking election to the 360-seat National Assembly during Saturday’s parliamentary elections. All this comes at a time when Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” and controls parts of northeastern Nigeria, has vowed to disrupt the polls by violent attacks.  The Takfiris have claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of their activities in 2009, which have so far left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced. 

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Ngwa Bertrand

28.Mar.2015

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A feeling of misunderstanding has developed in Cameroon between President Biya and the Cameroonian people. This time around is over the publication of a condolence message from President Biya to the families of the victims of the Airbus A320 crash operated by Germanwings. President Biya published on his official face book page that,   "I sent my condolences following the crash of the Airbus A320”

In response to this message of condolence, Cameroonian face book users reacted angrily demanding that their president addressed his condolences to the victims of Boko Haram atrocities in Fotokol and other parts of the country. "Our brothers and sisters who die in the Far North, really deserve sympathy," wrote one of them. "You're laughing at us Mr. CPDM Chairman. We want more job creation for young people that we are. So stop informing us about unnecessary things, "says another visitor.”Have you sent your condolences to the Cameroonians who died in an accident on the Ebolowa highway? "Asks another. However, some moderate users observed that the president has always sent condolences to all the unfortunate situations that occur in the world. To them, it is positive and real diplomacy.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Mar.2015

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The Chadian president has lamented the lack of cooperation with the Nigerian authorities in the fight against the Nigerian Islamist sect, Boko Haram. In an interview with the newspaper Le Point, Chadian President Idriss Deby complained that Abuja has so far offered little cooperation in dealing with the Islamic militants, wondering over the absence of the Nigerian military at key points.

"We would have liked to have at least a Nigerian regiment fighting alongside the Chadian army”. Idriss Deby observed. The Chadian leader noted that Chad joined the anti-Boko Haram coalition following a specific request from the Nigerian government, “but for reasons unknown to us, so far we have not been able to work together. Some cities, we had to take them twice. We are forced to give up and Boko Haram returns, we must return ... This has a human and material cost, "he said. N'Djamena had deployed thousands of soldiers to fight in Nigeria. The republic of Chad is a chartered member in the anti-Boko Haram coalition.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Mar.2015

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Around 100 bodies have been found near a town in Nigeria recently freed from Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists, says a Chadian army spokesman. Colonel Azem Bermandoa Agouna told AFP on Friday that soldiers discovered the bodies under a bridge on the edge of the town of Damasak, liberated by forces from Chad and Niger on March 9. Agouna, who said he himself visited the scene, stated that there were “about 100 bodies spread around under the bridge just outside the town", adding, "This is the work of Boko Haram."

The colonel said some of the victims had been beheaded and some others shot. "There are heads here and bodies there, the mass grave has become like a termite mound." Damasak fell to Boko Haram on November 24, when the terrorists killed around 50 people and forced another 3,000 to escape. The town was retaken one day after Chad and Niger launched "Operation Mai Dounama,” a vast air and ground offensive in an effort to destroy the Takfiri group’s bases near the two countries.

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Ngwa Bertrand

21.Mar.2015

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