Electoral Wind of Change Moves from Nigeria to Ghana and Gambia
The wind of change in the fortune of incumbents in West Africa unleashed by the sacking of Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria in April 2015 seems to be still sweeping through the continent. Two other incumbents have fallen in the past one week. The first was Yahya Jammeh of Gambia who swept himself into power via a military coup in 1994. Next to him is President John Mahama of Ghana whose electoral ouster became a certainty last night. The Electoral Commission of Ghana has signed and sealed it in favour of the country’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mister Nana Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who is now Ghana’s president-elect. The gap between the incumbent and the opposition candidate is 9.45%, each having scored 44. 40% versus 53.85% of the votes cast respectively. Whether in Nigeria, Gambia and Ghana, a common feature of the trend so far is the incumbent conceding defeat. The trend has not extended outside of West Africa as the opposition could not snatch victory in Tanzania or Uganda, both in East Africa where elections have been held after Nigeria’s. In Burundi and DRC, resistance to tenure limits has stalled elections, creating crisis situations. But even in West Africa where this trend has been most manifest, there is still no evidence that the euphoria about change without further struggles are guaranteed.
Genocide in South Sudan?
Alarm bells of possible genocide in South Sudan are ringing more persistently across the world. The United Nations which animates global security is saying so. Officials of the UN Commission on human rights started saying so since the beginning of this month, an intervention that has been widely reported in the media. There are fears that genocide in South Sudan may play out in the same way that it did in Rwanda in 1994 when the world did not heed notifications to that effect. The transition in the United States and China’s disinclination to interventionism might mean that none of the Great-2 might push for early action. But the conditions on the ground are already horrible, the reports point out. It is hoped that another African tragedy of wars, destruction, genocide and misery can be averted. South Sudan became an independent country in 2011.
Boko Haram Kills More in Nigeria
Boko Haram is still demonstrating capacity for mass killing in north-eastern Nigeria when its teenage suicide bombers struck at a market in Madagali LGA of Adamawa State yesterday. It left victims as high as 56 persons, reports have quoted local government officials. Many more are said to be in critical conditions in hospitals. Why and how Boko Haram is still capable of turning very bloody in the week in which they are being cleared out of the Sambissa fortress is a puzzle. There is an obvious focus on soft targets.
