Here's how Nigerians remember Buhari, who ruled both as a dictator and a democrat
'He inherited unprecedented goodwill and squandered it,' Olive Chiemerie, a Lagos-based writer, told The Associated Press. 'His legacy is one of missed opportunities, deepening inequality and a country left to pick up the pieces.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
World's oldest president eyes eighth term - at the age of 92
As the world's oldest head of state, Cameroon's president is seeking re-election in October in a move that would extend his 43 years in power. Currently 92 years-old, another seven-year term could see him remain in power until he is nearly 100. So far his tenure presents a mixed picture, marked by both support and criticism. President Paul Biya first took power in 1982 and has not lost an election in the central African nation since. Under his governance, Cameroon survived an economic crisis and moved away from one-party rule. Biya also claimed on X that his latest decision to run followed "numerous and insistent" calls across 10 Cameroonian regions and the diaspora. But during decades in power, his administration has faced backlash over embezzlement, corruption, bad governance and insecurity. In 2008, democratic backsliding led to the abolition of term limits - allowing his continuous re-election. Concerns have also been raised about his health and ability to govern. During a six-week mysterious absence from public eye last year, authorities banned the media from discussing the president's health. As rumours of ill-health quickly spread, interior minister Paul Atanga Nji said such stories 'disturb the tranquillity of Cameroonians'. The president's health was deemed a matter of national security and 'offenders' were threatened with legal action. Notorious for long periods of time spent abroad, Biya in 2018 held a cabinet meeting for the first time in more than two years. An investigation supported by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found that Biya spent a third of the year abroad in some years, such as 2006 and 2009. Along the way he missed key events, including a 2016 train accident which killed 75 people and the violent repression of protests over the marginalisation of Anglophone minorities. The protests set off what later became a separatist insurgency in English speaking provinces, who have historically complained of discrimination in Francophone-dominated public institutions. This year's election also comes as Cameroonians face climbing living costs and high unemployment. Confirmation of Biya's candidacy in a post on X on Sunday followed a rift with long-term allies in northern regions, who had previously been key in securing northern votes. Prominent minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary and former prime minister Bello Bouba Maigari left the governing coalition and announced their candidacy separately. 'A country cannot exist in the service of one man,' Tchiroma said. If elected, Tchiroma has offered a referendum to devolve power as a solution to the so-called Anglophone crisis. Elsewhere Biya's supporters and members of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement have publicly backed his candidacy since last year. Human rights groups have criticised the perceived crackdown on dissent. Parliamentary elections that were due to take place in 2024 were also delayed until 2026.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
France, Eq. Guinea to clash at UN top court over Paris mansion
France and Equatorial Guinea will cross swords Tuesday at the top United Nations court, in a long-running dispute over a luxury Paris mansion confiscated by French authorities. The central African nation has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue emergency orders preventing France from selling the building, seized after Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as Teodorin, was convicted of corruption. French authorities seized the property, which boasts a cinema, a hammam, and marble and gold water taps, after convicting Obiang under a law targeting fortunes fraudulently amassed by foreign leaders. In 2021, France's top appeals court gave Obiang -- the eldest son of the long-standing president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo -- a three-year suspended sentence and 30 million euros ($35 million) in fines. France also confiscated assets, including the luxurious building near the Arc de Triomphe, which has an estimated value well above 100 million euros. In its latest complaint to the ICJ last week, Equatorial Guinea argued French police entered the property last month and changed the locks on several of the doors. Equatorial Guinea called on the court to order France to give it "immediate, complete and unhindered access" to the building. Lawyers for Equatorial Guinea will address judges at the Peace Palace in The Hague at around 10:00 am (0800 GMT), before France responds at around 4:00 pm. - 2016 dispute - The mansion was also at the centre of an earlier case filed by Equatorial Guinea in 2016 at the ICJ, which rules on disputes between UN member states. Equatorial Guinea argued the building served as the country's embassy in France and that Paris had broken the Vienna Convention, which safeguards diplomats from interference by host countries. But the UN court sided with France, which said the building was merely Teodorin Obiang's residence and served no diplomatic purpose. The ICJ upheld France's objections that Equatorial Guinea had only tried to designate it as such after the investigation into Obiang began, and that the country already had an embassy in Paris. A request for emergency orders -- provisional measures, in the court's jargon -- takes precedence over all other court business. The ICJ is currently wrestling with a busy caseload, including a high-profile case brought by South Africa against Israel, alleging its actions in Gaza have breached the UN Genocide Convention. The court will also deliver a key ruling on countries' climate change obligations next Wednesday. While the ICJ is the highest United Nations court, whose rulings are binding, it has no way of enforcing its decisions. For example, it has ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine -- to no avail. ric/srg/sbk/sco
Los Angeles Times
11 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Fireworks, warplanes and axes: How France celebrates Bastille Day
PARIS — Swooping warplanes, ax-carrying warriors, a drone light show over the Eiffel Tower and fireworks in nearly every French town — it must be Bastille Day. France celebrated its biggest holiday Monday with 7,000 people marching, on horseback or riding armored vehicles along the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees, the most iconic avenue in Paris. And there was also partying and pageantry around the country. Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison on July 14, 1789, a spark for the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy. In the ensuing two centuries, France saw Napoleon's empire rise and fall, more uprisings and two world wars before settling into today's Fifth Republic, established in 1958. Bastille Day has become a central moment for modern France, celebrating democratic freedoms and national pride, a mélange of revolutionary spirit and military prowess. The Paris parade beneath the Arc de Triomphe so impressed visiting President Trump in 2017 that it inspired him to stage his own parade this year. The spectacle began on the ground, with French President Emmanuel Macron reviewing the troops and relighting the eternal flame beneath the Arc de Triomphe. Each parade uniform has a touch of symbolism. The contingent from the French Foreign Legion was eye-catching, its bearded troops wearing leather aprons and carrying axes, a reference to their original role as route clearers for advancing armies. Near the end of the parade, a Republican Guard officer fell from one of the 200 horses, but the national gendarme service said the rider and horse were unhurt. Such incidents happen occasionally at the annual event. The Paris event included flyovers by fighter jets, trailing red, white and blue smoke. Then the evening sees a drone light show and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower that has gotten more elaborate every year. Every year, France hosts a special guest for Bastille Day, and this year it's Indonesia, with President Prabowo Subianto representing the world's largest Muslim country, which is also a major Asian economic and military player. Indonesian troops, including 200 traditional drummers, marched in Monday's parade, and Indonesia is expected to confirm new purchases of Rafale fighter jets and other French military equipment during the visit. Prabowo, who was accused of rights abuses under Indonesia's previous dictatorship, will be treated to a special holiday dinner at the Elysée Palace. 'For us as Indonesian people, this is a very important and historic military and diplomatic collaboration,'' the commander of the Indonesian military delegation, Brig. Gen. Ferry Irawan, told the Associated Press. Finnish troops serving in the U.N. force in Lebanon, and Belgian and Luxembourg troops serving in a NATO force in Romania, also paraded through Paris, reflecting the increasingly international nature of the event. Among those invited to watch will be Fousseynou Samba Cissé, a 39-year old Paris man who rescued two babies from a burning apartment earlier this month and received a last-minute invitation in a phone call from Macron himself. ''I wasn't expecting that call,'' he told online media Brut. ''I feel pride.'' Beyond the military spectacle in Paris are growing concerns about an uncertain world. On the eve of Bastille Day, Macron announced 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in extra French military spending in the next two years because of new threats including Russia, terrorism and online attacks. The French leader called for intensified efforts to protect Europe and support for Ukraine. ''Since 1945, our freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,″ Macron said. ''We are experiencing a return to the fact of a nuclear threat, and a proliferation of major conflicts.″ Security was exceptionally tight around Paris ahead of and during the parade. It's a period when France bestows special awards — including the most prestigious, the Legion of Honor — on notable people. This year's recipients include Gisèle Pelicot, who became a global hero to victims of sexual violence during a four-month trial in which her husband and dozens of men were convicted of sexually assaulting her while she was drugged unconscious. Others earning the honor are Yvette Levy, a Holocaust survivor and French Resistance fighter, and musician Pharrell Williams, who is a designer for Louis Vuitton. Bastille Day is also a time for family gatherings, firefighters' balls and rural festivals around France. Charlton writes for the Associated Press.
