Alhaji Muhammadu Lamido Sanusi, 14th Emir of Kano, has met with the coup leaders in Niger Republic. The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) met the military leadership after the junta aborted a meeting with representatives of the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and a top US diplomat. Nigerien authorities turned down a meeting request by ECOWAS and the US delegation based on ECOWAS sanction ordering member states to shut their border with Niger on Monday. But on Wednesday, footage of Sanusi, whose Tijjaniya sect has a large following in Niger, went into circulation. Sanusi is the Khalifa of the sect in West Africa. It is not clear what his mission to the neighbouring country entails. More details to come…

  A former rebel leader and politician in Niger has launched a movement opposing the junta that took power in a July 26 coup. This is the first sign of internal resistance to army rule in the strategically important Sahel country. Rhissa Ag Boula said in a statement on Wednesday that his new Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) aimed to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who had been in detention at his residence since the takeover.   “Niger is the victim of a tragedy orchestrated by people charged with protecting it,” the statement said. The launch comes as diplomatic efforts to reverse the coup appeared stalled after the junta rejected the latest diplomatic mission and the army governments of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, which back the armed takeover. Mali and Burkina Faso also appealed to the United Nations to prevent any military intervention. Niger’s coup leaders denied entry to African and UN envoys on Tuesday, resisting pressure to negotiate ahead of a summit on Thursday. On Thursday heads of state from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would discuss possible use of force. The CRR supports ECOWAS and any other international actors seeking to restore constitutional order in Niger, according to Ag Boula’s statement, which added that it would make itself available to the bloc for any useful purpose. A CRR member said several Nigerien political figures had joined the group but could not make their allegiance public for safety reasons. Ag Boula played a leading role in uprisings by Tuaregs, a nomadic ethnic group present in Niger’s desert north, in the 1990s and 2000s. Like many former rebels, he was integrated into government under Bazoum and his predecessor Mahamadou Issoufou. While the extent of support for the CRR is unclear, Ag Boula’s statement would worry the coup leaders given his influence among Tuaregs, who control commerce and politics in much of the vast north. Support from Tuaregs would be key to securing the junta’s control beyond Niamey’s city limits. The U.N., Western powers and democratic ECOWAS member states such as Nigeria want the junta to reinstate a civilian government that had been relatively successful in containing a deadly Islamist insurgency devastating the Sahel region. Niger is the world’s seventh-largest producer of uranium, the most widely used fuel for nuclear energy, adding to its strategic importance.

  The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, says the administration of President Bola Tinubu will give special attention to the safety and security of students and schools in the country. Ribadu stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at a Strategic Forum On Achieving Safer Schools organised by the Nigeria Police Force. The programme was themed, ‘Imperative for a safer teaching and learning environment for the future of Nigeria’s national development: the need for national collective action’. It was aimed at strengthening synergy amongst security agencies towards tackling the myriads of security challenges including mass kidnapping in schools within the country. At the Forum, Ribadu said, “Undoubtedly, education has always been the cornerstone of progress in any society and as we strive to build a prosperous country for the future of our children and the generation yet unborn, it is critical that we prioritise the safety and security of our educational institutions at all levels. “The administration of President Bola Tinubu pledged to work with both state and local government authorities to reform and retool the nation’s educational system by giving special attention to security of our schools, welfare and training of teachers and students.” Ribadu, who was represented at the event by Major Gen A.M Dikko (rtd), said the invasion of schools by bandits and other armed persons has impacted on school enrolment in the country, especially in the northern region. He tasked all the security agencies in the country on the need for intelligence gathering and sharing to curb the menace. The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, who was the host of the programme, said the Tinubu administration is determined to protect students and give them safe learning environment. Others at the event include the Chief Of Defense Staff, Maj-Gen C G Musa represented By Air Vice Marshal A.V. Ndache; the Chief Of Army Staff Maj Gen Taoreed Lagbaja; the Chief Of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla represented by Commodore S.M Ahmed; the Chief Of Air Staff, Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar represented by Brig Gen G.O Esho. Mass abduction of students by bandits was one of the major security challenges that confronted the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari. In February 2021, bandits abducted over 300 schoolgirls in Jangebe in Zamfara State. In the same month, bandits kidnapped dozens of students and workers of Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. In 2020, bandits abducted over 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. Aside from Jangebe, Kankara and Kagara, non-state actors previously abducted hundreds of secondary school girls from Chibok, in Borno State; and Dapchi in Yobe State.

  President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, met with Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, at the presidential villa. Nyesom Wike, former governor of Rivers and a ministerial nominee, was also at the State House to see the president. El-rufai’s meeting with Tinubu is his first public engagement with the president since Monday when the senate withheld his confirmation as a ministerial nominee. The former governor of Kaduna was among the 48 ministerial nominees recommended by Tinubu to the upper legislative chamber for screening and confirmation. On Monday, the red chamber screened and confirmed 45 out of the 48 nominees, excluding el-Rufai and two others. Explaining why el-Rufai and Stella Okotete (Delta) and Danladi Abubakar (Taraba) — were not confirmed, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the legislators were yet to get security clearance on them. “The others are still awaiting security clearance,” Akpabio had said. TheCable had reported how Sunday Karimi, senator representing Kogi west, presented a petition against el-Rufai while the former Kaduna governor was being screened for the ministerial position last week. “I have a very strong petition against you that borders on security, unity and cohesiveness of the Nigerian nation,” Karimi said. “And I think that the petition has to be considered in this screening exercise.” While details of the meeting with Tinubu have not been made public, TheCable understands that the sit-down with the president may revolve around the suspension of el-Rufai’s confirmation by the senate.

  Godwin Emefiele, suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has asked a federal high court in Lagos to restrain the federal government from further prosecuting him. The Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting Emefiele for “illegal possession of a firearm”. Emefiele is also seeking an order of the court discharging him of all offences preferred against him. He said the federal government is in “brazen disobedience” of the subsisting orders of court granting him bail on July 25. Emefiele wants the court to prohibit the government, through its agencies, from taking him before any other court unless it complies with the bail ruling. The application was filed by Joseph Daudu, counsel to Emefiele, on Tuesday. The application seeks to preserve and protect “the efficacy, majesty and integrity of the court as well as the rule of law in a democracy”. FACE-OFF BETWEEN AGENCIES IN COURT Emefiele has been in DSS custody since his arrest in June. On July 25, he was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on “illegal possession” of firearms at a federal high court in Ikoyi and was granted bail in the sum of N20 million. Nicholas Oweibo, the judge, had ordered that Emefiele be kept in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.   But the DSS insisted that Emefiele must return to its custody — a development that led to the face-off between the secret police and prison officials. After the face-off, DSS rearrested Emefiele on the court premises. The secret service proceeded to file an application before a high court of the federal capital territory seeking to further detain the suspended CBN governor. The application was struck out after it was withdrawn by the service over jurisdictional concerns. On August 3, the federal government also filed an application before the federal high court in Lagos, seeking leave to appeal against the order granting bail to Emefiele. In the application filed by Nkiru Jones-Nebo, a deputy director of public prosecutions of the federation, the federal government is also seeking a stay of execution of the order remanding Emefiele in the custody of the NCoS. The federal government wants him remanded in the custody of the DSS instead. Oweibo, the presiding judge, has fixed Thursday to hear the application.

  A 17-year-old senior secondary student, Abdullahi Tukur Abba, who was allegedly tortured by security personnel attached to Operation Farauta in Yola, is dead. The SS 2 student was arrested on August 5 after a neighbour lodged a complaint with the task force over a missing phone and was allegedly beaten to a stupor before he was admitted at the Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola. Speaking to Daily Trust in Yola, counsel for the family of the deceased, Barrister Abubakar Hamman Diram, said Abdullahi died after spending four days in a coma. “A mobile phone was stolen in the neighbourhood and a boy claimed that he took the phone and gave it to Abdullahi. But he (Abdullahi) swore that he knew nothing about it and advised that tracking technology should be used to trace the phone, so the person holding it could explain where he got it from. Yet he was tortured until he became unconscious and consequently died today (Wednesday) at the ICU unit of the teaching hospital in Yola”. Barrister Diram had on August 7 filed a petition to the Adamawa State Commissioner of Police, copies of which were sent to the National Human Rights Commission and the Officer in Charge of Operation Farauta, seeking justice for Abdullahi who was still lying in a coma. The deceased father, Dr Tukur Abba said he would file a court case against the people who lodged the complaint with Operation Farauta as well as those who caused his son’s death. “The task force often derails from its assignment of fighting robbery, banditry and activities of thugs to entertaining civil and criminal cases. In the process, they end up trampling on the rights of people”, said a resident who did not want his name revealed. When contacted, the police spokesman in the state, Sulaiman Nguroje, a deputy superintendent of police, confirmed the incident, saying the command had launched an investigation into the case and would ensure justice prevail. Operation Farauta, led by the military, comprises soldiers, police, operatives of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). It is charged with the task of fighting armed robbery, kidnapping and related crimes

  A Romanian national kidnapped by an Al-Qaeda affiliate in 2015 in Burkina Faso, has been released after eight years in captivity, the Romanian government announced on Wednesday. Iulian Ghergut, now 47, was taken on April 4, 2015, while working in a manganese mine in northeast Burkina Faso, near the border with Mali and Niger. “He has been released and is currently safe on Romanian territory,” Romania’s foreign ministry said in a press release, thanking Morocco for its “important support”. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on X, formerly known as Twitter, welcomed the release of Ghergut and thanked the Romanian institutions and its “external partners” for their efforts. It was the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group, Al-Mourabitoun, that claimed the abduction of Ghergut. He is thought to have been one of the last remaining Western hostages in Africa’s troubled Sahel region. In May, 88-year-old Australian surgeon Kenneth Elliott was released after more than seven years’ captivity. Elliott and his wife were abducted by Al Qaeda-linked jihadists in Burkina Faso in January 2016. His spouse was released three weeks later.   French journalist Olivier Dubois, and US aid worker Jeffery Woodke, kidnapped in 2021 and 2016 respectively, were freed in March. AFP

  Forty-one migrants sailing from Africa have died in a shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa in Italy. According to BBC, four people who survived the shipwreck told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying over 40 people, including three children. The survivors said the boat set off on Thursday morning from Tunisia’s Sfax but capsized and sank after a few hours. A large wave was said to have flipped the vessel, causing everyone on board to be thrown into the sea. The survivors, consisting of three men and a woman from Ivory Coast and Guinea, said they were rescued by a cargo ship and then transferred to an Italian coast guard vessel. It is unclear if this shipwreck is linked to the two shipwrecks that the coast guard had reported on Sunday. Around 30 people were reported to have been missing from them. The coast guard had also said they had recovered 57 survivors and two bodies, amid reports that at least one of the sunken boats had set off from Sfax on Thursday. According to Tunisian authorities, Sfax, a port city about 80 miles (130km) from Lampedusa, is a popular gateway for migrants seeking safety and a better life in Europe. Italian patrol boats and charity groups have in recent days, rescued another 2,000 people who have arrived on Lampedusa. Tunisia has experienced a wave of racism against black Africans in recent months. Attempts to leave the country by boat have increased.

  The World Bank says it is halting new financing to Uganda over the adoption of a law that criminalises same-sex relationships. Earlier this year, the Ugandan government passed an anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) law. The law includes penalties such as life imprisonment and death. In a statement on Tuesday, the World Bank said the law contradicts the bank’s values as it seeks to protect gender and sexual minorities from exclusion in the projects it funds. “Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act fundamentally contradicts the World Bank Group’s values,” the Bretton Woods institution said. “We believe our vision to eradicate poverty on a livable planet can only succeed if it includes everyone irrespective of race, gender, or sexuality. “This law undermines those efforts. Inclusion and non-discrimination sit at the heart of our work around the world. “Immediately after the law was enacted, the World Bank deployed a team to Uganda to review our portfolio in the context of the new legislation. “That review determined additional measures are necessary to ensure projects are implemented in alignment with our environmental and social standards. “Our goal is to protect sexual and gender minorities from discrimination and exclusion in the projects we finance. These measures are currently under discussion with the authorities. “No new public financing to Uganda will be presented to our board of executive directors until the efficacy of the additional measures has been tested. “Third-party monitoring and grievance redress mechanisms will significantly increase, allowing us to take corrective action as necessary.” The World Bank Group, despite its position on the new law, said it still maintains a longstanding and productive relationship with Uganda. “We remain committed to helping all Ugandans, without exception, escape poverty, access vital services, and improve their lives,” the bank added.