Headlines

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking fresh treatment in London for an undisclosed illness.

His health has been a major cause of concern in a country where there are fears that a power vacuum could affect its recovery from recession.

In a brief message, the president said "there is no cause for worry".

Mr Buhari, 74, has left Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in charge, just as he did when he left for London in January for seven weeks of medical leave.

Mr Osinbajo was widely praised at the time for his performance as acting president.

The exact length of the president's stay in London "will be determined by the doctors", a statement from the presidency said.

But, it added, "government will continue to function normally under the able leadership of the vice-president".

His last official act before leaving for London was to meet the 82 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok in 2014 after they were released by Boko Haram Islamist militants.

The girls were handed over on Saturday in exchange for Boko Haram suspects after negotiations.

They were from a group of 276 abducted from their school in north-eastern Nigeria. About 113 of the girls are still missing.

Nigerians are particularly sensitive to the health of their president after then President Umaru Yar'Adua sought medical treatment in Saudi Arabia in 2009.

His failure to hand power to the vice-president and the lack of information about his condition led to widespread anxiety. He died in office in 2010.

When Mr Buhari returned from London in March, he said he had never felt "so sick" as he had when he was being treated and warned that he may have to undergo further medical checks.

Concerns over his health were rekindled after he missed the last three cabinet meetings, prompting civil society activists to urge him to return to London for further treatment.

His appearance at Friday prayers last week was the first time he had been seen in public for two weeks.

His aides said he had been resting and working from home and the president's wife Aisha Buhari said he was not as sick as people thought.

BBC

Details

Rita Akana

08.May.2017

Hits: 1372

Write comment (0 Comments)

Emmanuel Macron who won the French Presidency yesterday in a decisive victory over the far-right National Leader, Marine Le Pen is said to be France’s youngest president. Many Cameroonians are now raising the question as to whether his age and dispensations within the context of modern politics and democracy will spark a win of change in Cameroon.

Macron’s election into office is coming at the time when Cameroon has been plagued within the past 5 months by social unrests; the teachers/lawyers led protest that led to civil disobedience within the Anglophone community, the many debates that arose from the protest including calls for federalism, cessation, inclusion etc. from various fractional bodies and individuals affected by the crisis, and the failure of the government to effectively ensure schools reopening within the Anglophone region. Macron is also making his debut when the bulk of Cameroon ministers are ageing people while the young are almost completely left out of the Cameroon political scene.

Many Cameroonians as they are, seem to be clutching at anything they believe can bring change in the struggle. Many say Macron age could be a determining factor.

“Macron is barely 39 years and I think he will reason differently. He may be more interested in reuniting a divided and fractured France and boosting with dignity his country’s productivity than letting his country to continue feeding from the tables of its former colonies” says an observer. “Also, Macron is very young and may find difficulties dealing with an old and stereotype government like that of Cameroon” he adds with confidence.

Critics differ; they say that Macron may be young and full of new ideas but France as it has always been, has a system in place which is a legacy left for posterity; a system that every President has to follow in order to milk its former colonies for survival.

Nevertheless the election of Emmanuel Le Pen was hailed by many cramping the wave of populism after the controversial Trump win in the US elections and the Brexit outcome.

Details

Ndi Derek Giyoh

08.May.2017

Hits: 1365

Write comment (0 Comments)

A Prosecutor at the Yaounde Military Tribunal, Zie Pierot Narcisse, has revealed that 19 witnesses are ready to testify against the Anglophone detainees being tried on charges of terrorism.

He made the revelation as the court began entertaining the matter, once more, on April 27. No sooner did the court session begin, than the prosecution said it was ready for the substantive matter.

The Post learnt that the prosecution witnesses are mostly army, gendarmerie and police officers. The lone Anglophone who is in the list is said to be an official of the Bamenda Regional Hospital.

The court session ran into a storm of arguments when some three lawyers said they were presenting an application to appear for the civil party in the case. This demand ignited heated debates from the defence lawyers who argued that, by virtue of Article 40 of the Law governing the Cameron Bar Association, no lawyer is supposed to appear against a colleague in court.

The article, however, states that a lawyer can only appear against his colleague in court if he is given due authorisation by the President of the Bar Council.

The Law also provides that if a lawyer files such a demand to President of the Bar and does not get a reply within 15 days, it is presumed that he or she has been given a go-ahead.

The lawyers who are bidding to hold briefs for the civil party told the court that they submitted their application to the President of the Bar since March 23.

To them, they consider that the President of the Bar has given them the go-ahead by virtue of his silence. When the prosecution said it was ready to go on with the substantive issue of the case, the lawyers of the civil party craved for an adjournment.

Such an adjournment, they argued, would enable them to study the case file in order to be at the same level of information with other parties in the matter. The court rejected the submission, saying the plea of the lawyers was not based on any law.

However, the court could not go on with the substantive matter, given that the lawyers defending Agbor Balla, Fontem Neba and Mancho Bibixy, had applied for bail for their clients since March 24. The lawyers defending the other 25 detainees said they also filed a bail application for their clients recently.

But, the court said it could not entertain the application for bail for the Anglophone leaders, while leaving out that of the 25 other detainees in the same case.

It was on these grounds that the court adjourned the matter to May 24. It is on this day that the court will examine the application for bail for the Anglophone leaders and the rest of the 25 detainees.

A battery of over 30 defence lawyers was led by the former Bar Council President, Barrister Ben Muna.

Other former Bar Council Presidents like Barristers Patrice Monthé, Charles Tchoungang, Eta-Besong Jr. and Francis Sama, were all in court. A prominent lawyer from the United Kingdom, Barrister Karim Khan, an expert in International Criminal Law, was also in court.

The court session that commenced belatedly at about 12.15 pm ended at 5.30pm.

Before last Thursday’s session, the court had another session on April 7 and ruled that the Anglophone leaders and the 25 detainees will be tried in one case. The detainees, who were arrested in the Northwest and Southwest Regions and ferried to Yaounde like war captives, are facing charges of terrorism, secession and rebellion against the State.

They will be slammed a death penalty if found guilty. Such a development will be the fall-out of the on-going crisis in which English-speaking Cameroonians are asking for more rights.

Cameroonpostline

 

Details

Rita Akana

08.May.2017

Hits: 1683

Write comment (0 Comments)

The 82 rescued Chibok schoolgirls have arrived Abuja to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential Villa, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, who confirmed this development on his twitter handle, said the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, received the girls at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The girls, who regained their freedom on Saturday from Boko Haram captivity, would be meeting President Buhari at about 4.00 p.m. today.

The 82 girls were released to international negotiators who have been working in collaboration with the federal government for their safe return since they were kidnapped in April 2014.

Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesman on Saturday in a statement issued in Abuja also confirmed that the girls were release by their captors in exchange for some Boko Haram suspects held by the Federal Government.

Details

Rita Akana

07.May.2017

Hits: 1039

Write comment (0 Comments)

PENTAGON / WASHINGTON — 

Al-Shabab militants in Somalia killed a member of U.S. special forces Friday and wounded three other members of an American team assisting Somali soldiers, U.S. officials said.

The Navy SEAL who died in the operation against al-Shabab was the first American service member killed in combat in the war-torn country since a deadly battle in 1993 — the clash that inspired the movie Black Hawk Down.

White House officials said President Donald Trump sent his deepest condolences to the family of the victim, along with his appreciation for the efforts of all men and women in the U.S. military.

Small-arms fire killed the Navy SEAL in a small village 65 kilometers west of Mogadishu. A U.S. military official told VOA at least two other Navy SEALs and an interpreter were wounded in the attack in the village of Barire, west of Afgoye.

U.S. Africa Command, responsible for all American military operations on the continent, said the U.S. forces came under attack during an advise-and-assist mission alongside members of the Somali National Army.

"This was a Somali mission," Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Friday. American forces were "operating in support of" the Somali units, in an attack targeting a compound associated with attacks on nearby facilities used by both U.S. and Somali forces, he added.

A senior official in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region said soldiers raided a building that houses Radio Andalus, al-Shabab's official radio station. The attack killed eight al-Shabab fighters, the official said, adding that radio-station equipment reportedly was seized.

"We helped bring [the Somali soldiers] in with our aircraft, and we were there maintaining a distance back as they conducted the operation," Davis said at the Pentagon. "That's when our forces came under fire."

VOA

Details

Rita Akana

06.May.2017

Hits: 1606

Write comment (0 Comments)

Journalists across Cameroon used the 2017 World Press freedom Day to demand  for the release of The Sun’s political editor,  Atia Tilarious , The Guardian Post’s Buea correspondent, Amos Fofung and eight others presently detained in Yaounde. In Buea, colleagues carried placards with various messages down the streets  showing discontent for the arbitrary arrest and keeping behind bars of these colleagues.

The President of the Cameroon Journalists Trade union, Denis Nkwebo in Douala described their arrest as “illegal” which hinges on their fundermental rights to inform the public. He called on the government to stop the constant harassment of journalists and creat adequate conditions for journalists to have access to information. The Anti Terrorism Law which was recently used to slam a 10 year jail term on Ahmed Abba, RFI Hausa service correspondent has been described as a deliberate act by the government to take the press hostage and prevent journalists from carrying out their duties.

On his part, Abdulwaheed Odusile,  president of the Federation of African journalists  who is in Cameroon on a working visit also called on the Cameroon government to release all journalists arrested and dismantle laws which make journalists prone to victimization. The Editor in Chief of Nigeria’s daily, The Nation newspaper and President of the Nigerian Union of Jiurnalists challenged the state of Cameroon to throw more light on the Ahmed Abba affair and establish the truth. In the face of the Anti Terrorism law, he has encouraged Cameroonian journalists to press for reforms that will make their job easier. The Freedom of information Act, he insist is a vital instrument that will enable journalists hold power to account and be the mirror of the society.

However, the country's  Government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma has continuously refuted claims that the journalists are in prison for professional reasons. As he maintains that they were linked to acts of terrorism at the heart of the Anglophone crisis.

Details

Rita Akana

04.May.2017

Hits: 1560

Write comment (0 Comments)