Foreign
Fear of coups grips Africa, Rwanda retire generals, 1,000 soldiers
•Niger junta orders forceful eviction of French ambassador, cancels envoy, family’s visas
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council on Thursday suspended Gabon following the Wednesday overthrow of President Ondimba Ali Bongo by soldiers led by the head of the Republican guards, Gen Brice Nguema.
The continental body in a post on X, formerly Twitter, condemned the military takeover of power in the Central African country.
This came as Rwanda and Cameroon hurriedly retired 1, 029 senior officers in a surprise move against their respective militaries.
The Rwandan authorities approved the retirement of 12 generals, including two four-star generals, James Kabarebe and Fred Ibingira, two three-star generals, Charles Kayonga and Frank Mushyo Kamanzi, and several officers.
According to a Rwandan national newspaper, News Times, the government approved the retirement of 12 generals and many officers. The publication stated that the retirements were announced on Wednesday, in a statement issued by Rwanda Defence Force.
Among those retired are two four-star generals, James Kabarebe and Fred Ibingira, two three-star generals, Charles Kayonga and Frank Mushyo Kamanzi.
Kabarebe and Kayonga have previously served as Chief of Defence Staff of RDF, while the other two have been service chiefs previously
The statement partly reads, “The President has also approved the retirement of 83 senior officers, six junior officers and 86 senior non-commissioned officers, 678 whose contracts ended and 160 medical discharges.”
In Cameroon, President Paul Biya has also reshuffled the military with new appointments to the Controle Generale des Armees.
The new controllers are Capt Ajeagah Njei Félix Colonel and Colonel Nguema Ondo Bertin Bourger.
Appointments were also made to the positions of Technical Advisers, Bureau Commissariat, and Air Force Technical Inspector.
Disclosing its decision after a meeting of its Peace and Security Council, the AU said it “decides to immediately suspend the participation of Gabon in all activities of the AU, its organs and institutions.”
It said the meeting was chaired by the AU commissioner for political affairs, Bankole Adeoye of Nigeria, and the current holder of the council’s rotating chair, Burundi’s Willy Nyamitwe.
Nguema for inauguration
In a new development, the junta in Gabon has said Gen Nguema will be sworn in on Monday as the transitional president as the opposition called for its candidate to be recognised as the winner of weekend elections.
The military in a statement on Thursday sought to reassure international donors they would “respect all commitments” at home and abroad and “phase in” transitional institutions.
The spokesman for the new regime, Col Ulrich Manfoumbi, said on state television that the swearing-in of Nguema would take place at the constitutional court.
Gabon’s opposition Alternance 2023 alliance had remained silent since the coup, but on Thursday called on the military leaders to acknowledge its victory in the election.
The alliance “invited the defence and security forces to the discussion so as to work out the best solution,” following the vote.
Led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, Alternance had earlier accused President Ali Bongo of “fraud” and demanded he hand over power “without bloodshed”.
Ossa claimed the Bongo clan remained in control and there had not been a coup but a “palace revolution”. “Oligui Nguema is Ali Bongo’s cousin,” he told France’s TV5 Monde.
He stated, “The Bongos found that Ali Bongo had to be put aside to be able to properly pursue the Bongo system. Oligui Nguema is an underling. Behind him, it’s the Bongo clan keeping hold of power,” he said, urging international help to restore order.
Meanwhile, a serious humanitarian crisis is looming in Niger Republic as the vulnerable population, particularly, women and children, are facing hunger and other hardships in the aftermath of the sanctions imposed on the country by the Economic Community of West African States over the July 26 overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum by the military.
This came to light as the Niger junta ordered the police to forcefully evict the French ambassador, Sylvain Itte, from the country.
Niger’s foreign ministry announced that Itte had 48 hours to leave, saying he had refused to meet with the new rulers and citing French government actions that were “contrary to the interests of Niger.”
The visas of the French ambassador to Niamey, Sylvain Itte, and his family had been cancelled and police were instructed to expel the envoy, the junta said in a statement dated Aug. 29 and confirmed as authentic on Thursday by its communications head, according to Reuters.
The latest communique sent by Niger’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Itte “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy. The police have been instructed to carry out his expulsion.”
Humanitarian crisis
That said, the closure of the borders of Nigeria and other neighbouring countries has starved the francophone nation of food and other critical supplies, putting the beleaguered country on the edge of a humanitarian crisis.
To compel the junta led by Gen Tchiani Abdourahmane to restore the ousted president to power, the 15-member regional bloc imposed stringent sanctions on the Sahel nation and also threatened military intervention to restore constitutional order.
It suspended all commercial transactions with Niger, froze its assets in the regional central bank, including the assets of the state and state enterprises in commercial banks, and suspended all financial assistance with regional development banks.
A planned $51m bond issuance by Niger in the West African regional debt market was cancelled by the regional central bank following the imposition of sanctions. Niger had planned to raise $834 million from the regional debt market in 2023.
Nigeria also cut the power supply to the country on the 80mw Birnin-Kebbi line, while Ivory Coast suspended imports and exports of Nigerien goods.
West Africa’s regional central bank, the BCEAO, shut down its branches in Niger, citing risks to operations.
However, the Niger Country Director of the International Rescue Committee, Paolo Cernuschi, said these decisions were having disastrous humanitarian impacts on the most economically vulnerable people in the Niger Republic.
He disclosed in an opinion published by Euronews on Thursday that aid organisations cannot get critical supplies into the country.
The border closures, he noted, had further compounded the political crisis, preventing life-saving humanitarian supplies and essential aid from reaching the communities that needed them most, creating a barrier that separates people from the assistance they require to survive.
Cernuschi explained, “We have en route shipments of life-saving nutritional supplements for 2,300 children that we don’t know when we’ll receive. While we have contingency stocks in place, those will eventually run out.
“If border closures and sanctions persist, aid supplies running out will be all but a certainty, and the capacity of humanitarian actors to continue delivering will be jeopardised.
“By some estimates, supplies in the country at the time of the coup were sufficient for two to three months of humanitarian response. With supply chains requiring from a few weeks to a couple of months to replenish stocks, we are fast approaching the point where shortages will be inevitable.”
The country director said the sanctions had unintended adverse impacts on the lives of ordinary citizens who are already struggling to meet their basic needs.
He advised that humanitarian exemptions must be guaranteed to ensure continuity of humanitarian work in Niger.
He advised that “The international community and regional organisations must prioritise a ‘do no harm’ approach in dealing with this situation. Diplomatic efforts should focus on finding peaceful solutions that prioritise the well-being of all Nigerien citizens, regardless of their socio-economic status.
In response to the situation, the United Nations on Tuesday filed an exemption request for relief supplies to the Niger Republic to the ECOWAS.
The global organisation said sanctions on Niger were blocking vital humanitarian aid such as food and medicine.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative for Niger, Emmanuel Gignac, stated this at a press briefing during a visit to Geneva.
Reuters reported that trucks with food and humanitarian aid have been piling up at Niger’s land borders since the military coup on July 26, driving up food prices, in a sign of the impact of the sanctions.
Gignac noted, “There is no way to bring humanitarian aid into the country. The immediate goods (affected) are going to be food and then it’s going to be access to medicine, to drugs.”
He added that a formal letter from UN aid chief Martin Griffiths had been addressed to ECOWAS for exemptions.
UN aid flights have also been reportedly grounded because they cannot get access to jet fuel because of the sanctions, complicating aid efforts in the country.
Foreign
UK: 11 Drug Couriers Convicted Over £13.8m Cannabis Smuggling Plot Through Birmingham Airport
Eleven drug couriers have been convicted for their roles in a plot to smuggle cannabis worth an estimated £13.8 million into the United Kingdom through Birmingham Airport.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) investigated the group after Border Force officers arrested them in August 2024 and seized 460kg of cannabis concealed in 22 suitcases.
According to an NCA statement published on Wednesday, the couriers had travelled to the UK from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on the same flights.
The convicted couriers were identified as Carsten Kyei, 21, from Newham, East London; Bradley Lloyd, 27, and Claire McCullough, 36, both from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester; Lewis Ross, 35, from Bolton, Lancashire; Nathan Vitorino, 26, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire; Ryan Boachie, 32, from Edmonton, North London; Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, 26, from Dagenham; Tasia Nelson, 22, from Newquay, Cornwall; Jaden Ramen, 23, from Colliers Wood, South London; Paige Crisp, 24, from Broomhall, Worcester; and Jamal Clarke, 22, from Walthamstow, London.
Birmingham Crown Court heard that each courier had two suitcases, with each suitcase containing about 20kg of cannabis.
The suitcases were reportedly so heavy that the couriers had to pay excess baggage charges at Bangkok Airport to have them placed in the aircraft hold.
The cannabis had been vacuum-packed and concealed beneath a thin layer of clothing. Eight of the suitcases also contained Apple AirTag trackers, which NCA investigators established were connected to the same Apple ID account.
Suspicion was raised after Border Force established that four passengers had travelled from Birmingham to Charles de Gaulle Airport earlier on August 9, 2024, each carrying two large suitcases.
Border Force officers subsequently fully staffed the Nothing to Declare channel and intercepted the group.
One of the couriers had also been instructed by an associate: “my man gonna be on the other side – don’t leave the airport until you see him leave.”
Kyei and Vitorino were convicted on May 26, 2026, following a three-week trial, while Ross and Lloyd changed their pleas to guilty during the trial.
Crisp, Nelson and Ramen were convicted on Wednesday, August 19, following a four-week trial.
McCullough, Boachie, Olumoyegun and Clarke had previously pleaded guilty.
Those convicted on August 19 will be sentenced on October 22, while the others will be sentenced on September 3.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer Paul Boniface said the operation involved extensive planning.
“A huge amount of planning went into this sophisticated attempt to bring hundreds of kilos of cannabis into the UK,” Boniface said.
He said the coordination of flights and luggage demonstrated “the lengths criminals will go to in order to hide their offending.”
“With thanks to Border Force, we were able confiscate these drugs and stop criminals from benefitting financially from the damage they cause,” he added.
Boniface warned people against agreeing to smuggle drugs into the UK, saying anyone who attempted to do so would face justice.
Adam Chatfield, Head of Border Force Midlands Command, said the convictions should serve as a warning to anyone considering transporting cannabis into the UK.
He said the young people involved now faced serious consequences, including criminal records that could affect their employment opportunities and future prospects.
Victoria Norman of the Crown Prosecution Service said prosecutors and investigators had pieced together evidence of a coordinated attempt to smuggle large quantities of drugs into the country.
She said the evidence resulted in six members of the group pleading guilty, while the others were convicted following trial.
An Australia-based Nigerian, Foluso Omole, is facing trial over his alleged role in a $5m fraud involving the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Omole was arrested by operatives of the Australian Federal Police at Adelaide Airport last Friday while allegedly attempting to flee Australia.
According to the report, Omole had allegedly “cut ties” in Adelaide and was preparing to travel to Nigeria before his arrest, a court heard.
The 38-year-old appeared before the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, where his bail application was refused following allegations that he had attempted to leave Australia for Nigeria.
The court heard that Omole, a dual Australian and Nigerian citizen, had “purchased a one-way ticket to Nigeria” before his arrest.
A prosecutor also told the court that Omole appeared to have “sent, over the course of his offending, significant funds back to Nigeria”, where his wife resides.
The report stated that Omole was working as an NDIS coordinator and operating two businesses that employed several staff at the time of the alleged offences.
The prosecutor reportedly told the court that Omole allegedly received information “improperly” from a woman employed by the National Disability Insurance Agency over a period of six years and “used that information to obtain benefit fraudulently”.
The woman, who has also been charged in connection with the alleged fraud, was expected to appear in court on Thursday.
However, disputing the allegation that Omole intended to flee Australia, his lawyer, Mark Twiggs, told the court that his client had informed him that he planned to travel to London on a “return ticket” purchased before any raid on the woman’s home.
“The charges are denied. He has no record at all.
“My client has good reason why he should be given bail,” Twiggs said.
Omole is yet to enter pleas to one count of dealing with proceeds of an indictable crime worth more than $1m and one count of dealing with money or property valued at more than $1m that is allegedly the proceeds of crime.
Magistrate Patrick Hill, however, refused bail, citing concerns that Omole posed a flight risk.
“Whether it was a one-way ticket to Nigeria or a return ticket to London does make a difference as to the court’s assessment of whether or not Mr Omole is a flight risk.
“For the other reasons put forward by the prosecution, in any event, I remain concerned that he is a risk of flight and the bail application is refused,” Hill said.
In April, a Nigerian couple, Luciana and Femi Akanbi, were jailed in the United Kingdom for their involvement in a similar fraud scheme.
The couple reportedly used personal data belonging to Transport for London employees to carry out a tax rebate fraud scheme that cost the public purse more than £433,000.
The fraud, which was carried out between September 2021 and January 2022, was reportedly based on sensitive information belonging to at least 40 TfL workers, including passport details, National Insurance numbers and bank records. The information was used to submit 139 fraudulent tax refund claims.
Court proceedings at Woolwich Crown Court revealed that Luciana Akanbi, 38, who worked in TfL’s human resources department, had access to the personal records of about 107 employees, which were later exploited for the scheme.
A United States federal court has set August 21, 2026, as the deadline for the release of records linked to longstanding allegations concerning Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and U.S. financial accounts associated with him in the 1990s.
The records are being sought in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Aaron Greenspan, which has reportedly been before the federal courts for more than three years.
The documents are understood to be held by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The development followed a reported request by the DOJ for an additional 10 days to comply with an earlier court order requiring the release of the records.
According to Von Batten, a Washington, D.C.-based Republican lobbying firm, Tinubu also joined the DOJ’s request for the extension.
The firm said it obtained a copy of a recent court filing submitted on Tinubu’s behalf and claimed that the Nigerian president formally joined the request just two business days before it became public.
However, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell rejected the request for additional time and directed that the records be released by August 21.
Von Batten said Tinubu’s reported decision to participate in the extension request raised questions about his reasons for seeking more time before the records are made public.
The firm alleged that the delay could potentially be used to lobby U.S. officials over concerns that releasing the documents might affect U.S.-Nigeria relations.
It further speculated that Tinubu could argue that disclosure of the records might affect his cooperation with Washington on counterterrorism and security matters.
The records relate to allegations dating back to the early 1990s, including the 1993 forfeiture of approximately $460,000 connected to accounts associated with Tinubu in a U.S. proceeding involving suspected proceeds of narcotics trafficking.
Tinubu has consistently denied wrongdoing and has rejected allegations linking him personally to drug trafficking.
Von Batten also warned against any attempt by U.S. officials to interfere with the FOIA or judicial process to prevent the records from being released.
The lobbying firm referenced U.S. President Donald Trump’s stated opposition to shielding individuals accused of serious criminal conduct, arguing that the legal process should be allowed to proceed without political interference.
With Judge Howell’s ruling in place, the records are expected to be released on or before August 21, unless further legal action changes the deadline.
The contents of the documents remain unknown, and their release could provide further information about the 1990s forfeiture proceedings and U.S. law-enforcement investigations involving accounts linked to Tinubu.
South Africa’s anti-immigration group, March and March, has announced September 30 as a fresh deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave the country, as it staged a protest outside the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Durban on Monday.
The group marched through central Durban under the theme, “It’s time to fetch your people,” calling on African leaders attending the 46th SADC Summit to take back their citizens living in South Africa without legal documentation.
March and March had earlier led nationwide protests on June 30, demanding tougher government action against undocumented immigration and warning that its campaign would continue until its demands were addressed.
Announcing its latest action, the group said the September 30 deadline would mark the beginning of what it described as the “mother of all protests”, while urging South Africans to assist the police in identifying undocumented foreigners.
The protest took place as the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government got underway in Durban, with leaders from the regional bloc’s 16 member states in attendance.
The demonstration has renewed debate over South Africa’s treatment of foreign nationals, particularly citizens of other African countries.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently condemned discrimination and violence against foreigners, saying South Africa could not advocate regional integration at the SADC summit while practising exclusion within the country.
The June 30 protests were accompanied by security operations and reports of attacks and looting in some areas, according to police reports cited in the original report.
March and March has continued to demand tougher action against undocumented immigration, while tensions over the treatment of foreign nationals have prompted some African countries to evacuate their citizens from South Africa.
The latest protest has brought the immigration dispute directly to the doorstep of the SADC summit, placing the issue before regional leaders whose citizens are among those affected.
-
Politics5 days ago2027 Enugu Guber: NDC’s Odalije Chinyeaka Ohaa Reiterates Power of Electorates to Hire and Fire Leaders
-
Crime4 days agoEnugu Govt Urges Residents to Use 112 Emergency Line as Crime Drops by 80%
-
News4 days agoBREAKING: Edo House of Assembly Elects New speaker
-
News4 days agoConfusion In House of Assembly As Speaker Resigns
-
Foreign4 days agoTrump Threatens Oman With Bombing Over Strait of Hormuz Talks
-
Foreign5 days agoIran offers $30,000 bounty for killing, capturing US soldiers
-
Opinion4 days ago
EBONYI; LET’S STAND ON A BETTER, MORE PROGRESSIVE MANDATE; PDP ANYICHUKS ODII
-
Politics5 days ago2027: Kwankwaso Explains Decision to Run as Obi’s Running Mate