29 May 2014
President Goodluck Jonathan (click here) on Thursday directed the security forces to launch a full-scale military operation to put an end to the impunity of terrorists in the country.
The president gave the directive in his democracy day broadcast.
Jonathan said that Nigeria's unity and stability as well as the protection of lives and property were non-negotiable.
He restated the determination of his administration to protect the nation's democracy, national unity and political stability, by waging a total war against terrorism....
The violence is on the rise on the continent.
28 May 2014
There have been deadly clashes (click here) at a Catholic Church in the Central African Republic. Thousands of people had been seeking refuge in the compound when Muslim fighters attacked with grenades and gunfire.
Wednesday's attack happened at the Church of Fatima in the capital Bangui, following clashes in a nearby neighborhood between Muslim and Christian fighters.
At least 10 people were killed. The bloodshed is largely blamed on Muslim rebels, who sprayed bullets and hurled grenades at those sheltering in the Church, which was home to thousands of Christians displaced by the country's violence. One of the dead was a 76-year-old priest....
They will fight for their profiteering. They believe they have to and use the strength of religious beliefs to empower them. I am worried this is just the beginning of escalation.
Poverty is the vicious cycle that empowers the militias. There isn't going to be any living with them now.
The radicals never consolidate around parties. If one party is as ineffective in relieving poverty than the other, they will seek their own power and define it with militia movements.
ANALYSIS
Kano is Nigeria's (click here) second largest city and the biggest in the northern half of the country. Traditionally a PDP stronghold, since its governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso decamped to the insurgent All People's Congress the ruling party has been struggling to make inroads in the state.
The result of council polls announced on the 18th of May saw the APC sweeping all the votes in the 44 local councils. And it is results like this that have made the PDP court former governor of Kano State and ex-presidential flag bearer Ibrahim Shekarau to try to combat the frenzied following enjoyed by Kwankwaso.
Down in the country's South West the political scene is abuzz with the upcoming elections in Ekiti and Ondo States - the party's first major test. The incumbent APC gubernatorial candidates in two states have been involved in a fierce campaign to outshine their PDP co-contenders....
The fact political parties in Africa have to mean something. They have to bring quality of life and opportunity, otherwise this will never end.
