Parliamentary
NSF: UNIBEN orders students to vacate halls of residence
Ahead of the 20th National Sports Festival (Edo 2020), the Senate of the University of Benin (UniBen) has ordered students to vacate its Halls of Residence from April 1. The university hall of residence have been earmarked for the use of contingents coming for the festival holding in Benin between April 2 and April 14. A statement issued on Wednesday in Benin by the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, said the UniBen management had provided holding facilities for students who may need to keep their luggage. She said that the luggage must be tagged and dropped under strict security supervision while their mid-session break lasted. “Following the directive by the Senate of the University of Benin for students to vacate the Halls of Residence on April 1, the Man...
Ghanaian fisherman sentenced for snatching ballot box
A 39-year-old fisherman has been sentenced to three months imprisonment for interfering in the just-ended elections at the Sene West constituency in the Bono East region. Christain Nukpeta who a resident of Tato Bator is reported to have snatched a Parliamentary ballot box at one of the polling stations in the area when the counting process was ongoing. He was subsequently pursued by some security personnel and arrested. But the retrieved ballot box was without the seal of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Appearing before the Techiman Circuit Court presided over by Justice Alexander Graham, the accused pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a fine of GH₵3, 600 and in default, serve a six months imprisonment term. In addition, the 39-year-old has been disqualified from voting for the next fi...
Presidential elections in Ghana, others top agenda at ECOWAS meeting
The 44th Ordinary Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council of the Economic Community of West African States has called attention to the ongoing insurgency in Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea Bissau as well as the political crisis in Mali. The Council at its meeting in Niamey, Niger, on Friday, also focused on forthcoming presidential elections in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Niger. The meeting was presided over by the Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Mediation and Security Council, Kalla Ankourao. Ankourao recalled the challenges COVID-19 has brought upon the region coupled with the breakdown in democratic governance in Mali. He urged the ECOWAS body to take the necessary steps for the preparation and smooth conduct of the upcoming presidential electi...
Ivory Coast’s Guillaume Soro faces war crimes lawsuit in France
File Photo Ivory Coast’s former prime minister Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader before he entered politics, is facing a lawsuit in France for war crimes, torture and murder, lawyers told AFP. The plaintiffs say the case is being filed in France because Soro has been living in the country since 2019. Late last month, he was handed a 20-year jail term in Ivory Coast for embezzlement, money laundering, and buying a mansion in the West African country’s main city Abidjan with public money. The Abidjan court fined him nearly seven million euros ($7.6 million), ordered the confiscation of his Abidjan home and barred him from civic duties for five years, which effectively eliminates the 47-year-old from contesting presidential elections due in October. Soro denies all accusations. The latest lawsui...
