AFRICA

The Take it Back Movement (TiB), founded by rights activist Omoyele Sowore, has announced that it has been registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission as a socio-political organization. In a press release issued on Sunday, the Movement described the registration as “the latest milestone in our journey towards being the political anti-thesis of the unconscionable government of the day in …

While most African countries hold regular elections, the people are not satisfied with the performance of their elected leaders. According to opinion polls, most Africans feel that they are yet to enjoy the economic fruits of democracy. Why has democracy not delivered economic dividends? At an event in Berlin, a Nigerian economist and former federal minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili, addressed the …

On Christmas day, 11 Christian hostages were killed, 10 of whom beheaded, by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno State and the chilling video of the dastardly crime circulated by the Islamic fundamentalists. On 20 January, Reverend Lawan Andimi, a clergyman, was also beheaded by the same terrorists. The plight of Christians in northern Nigeria is very precarious. A …

The political temperature in the West African nation of The Gambia is rising as thousands of supporters of former President Yahya Jammeh took to the streets of Banjul on Thursday (16 January) to demand for the return of the ousted ruler. The protest action, organised by Jammeh’s party Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction party (APCR), is to send a …

Opposition parties slam electoral commission’s plan to compile a new electoral register before the December general elections, reports our correspondent Francis Sackitey from Accra The Electoral Commission of Ghana has come under criticisms from opposition parties, including the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), for its decision to compile a new electoral register. Coming under the umbrella of …

Gambia’s former president, Yahya Jammeh, is seeking to return home but the government say it could not guarantee his safety. Three years after he was forced to leave The Gambia, former President Yahya Jammeh is seeking to return home and his party, the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction, is backing him. However, the government of President Adama Barrow is …

Togo’s ruling party UNIR has chosen incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé as its candidate for the country’s next month’s presidential election  making it likely that his family’s decades-long rule will be extended. He was voted into power in a disputed election in 2005 – taking over from his late father Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who had been president for 38 years. A law …

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday (5 January) that Turkey had started the deployment of troops to Libya, after the country’s parliament gave its approval. Ankara is sending its soldiers to Libya to support the UN-backed Government of National Accord which is battling the troops of rebel general Khalifa Haftar for the control of the country. Since his coup …

When Ghana declared 2019 the Year of Return, marking the 400th year that the first slave ship arrived in America with African captives, it expected a positive response. However, the resonance of the initiative has far surpassed the country’s expectations as thousands of African-Americans, including celebrities, have made the pilgrimage to Ghana bringing various benefits to the country. Our correspondent …

The Nigerian federal government on Tuesday (24 December) ordered the release of the convener of #RevolutionNow protests, Omoyele Sowore, who has been in detention since August. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, announced the decision in a statement. The move followed mounting local and international pressure on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari …

Since the beginning of this year, Angola has recovered more than $5 billion stolen from state coffers by members of the former government, both at home and from abroad, Justice Minister Francisco Queiroz said on Monday (16 December), amid a two-year crackdown on corruption by the government of President Joao Lourenco. The money, including $3 billion stolen from the sovereign …

Nigeria has lost over $400 billion to foreign havens, Justice Minister and Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN) has said. The minister said the cash was stolen by corrupt leaders and their foreign accomplices including multinational companies. Malami spoke on Monday (16 December) at the eighth session of the Conference of the State Parties to the United Nations Convention …

Nigerian journalist Kayode Oladeji recounts his unforgettable encounter with Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, who died on 7 December, eighteen years ago. And how he and his colleagues who collaborated on the German-born Christian missioner’s crusade experienced an uncommon turn in their lives. I was heading for a social engagement, a wedding program to be specific, on Saturday, 7 December 2019, when …

The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards committee has unveiled the winners for different categories in the just concluded polls for the publication’s Persons of the Year Awards, with Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, a Nigerian and president of the African Development Bank, emerging African of the Year 2019. Adesina was also recently chosen as the African of the Year …

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday (10 December). Abiy described the award as “a source of great pride and inspiration for Ethiopia and the broader region”, assuring that it would give a significant boost to his “commitment to the twin goals of development in Ethiopia and the entire …

The re-arrest of rights activist and journalist Omoyele Sowore right inside a courtroom in session on Friday (6 December) in Abuja has confronted Nigerians with a sad reality. It’s the reality that after the spectacular peaceful change of political power in Nigeria in 2015 through an election, the first time in the nation’s history, democracy has suffered a serious setback …

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has condemned, what it described as “renewed attacks on Nigerian traders” in Ghana, describing it as unnecessary. A bloody clash between Ghanaian and Nigerian traders occurred at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on Monday morning. Three persons, according to the Ghanaian police, were injured during the clash, following the forcible closure of shops belonging …

Civil society groups on Wednesday protested against the proposed Hate Speech Bill currently being debated in the Senate and also demanded the immediate release of human rights activist Omoyele Sowore, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services despite having been granted bail by the court. Protesters stormed the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria, on Wednesday …

“Investments in gender equality are critical to realizing demographic dividend, but we need to ensure that women have the tools to overcome the barriers they face”

Rwanda’s envoy to Germany has described international critics of his government’s human rights records as “hypocrites”. “Where were these people when the genocide was perpetrated?” Ambassador Igor Cesar asked. “It took Rwanda to end the genocide. And that’s a human rights achievement,” he told his audience at the 2019 Global Partnership for Africa’s Development (G-PAD) Forum, which took place on …