Olusegun Obasanjo Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish

Nigeria stops paying ex-presidents salaries

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 22:00:00 +0000

Nigeria’s government has failed to pay the country’s ex-leaders their monthly salaries and allowances since January because of a cash crisis.

Government secretary Babachir Lawal told this to senators who are checking whether the government is in breach of the constitution which guarantees ex-leaders salaries for life.

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There are six ex-leaders whose salaries have been cut,.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who left office last year, can probably survive without the payments.

But 91-year-old Shehu Shagari, who was elected in 1979 and overthrown by the military in 1983 after winning elections, lives from hand to mouth.

Senator Aliyu Wamakko says the government decision doesn’t indicate seriousness and it doesn’t indicate fairness.

Other former presidents affected include Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, and Abdulsalami Abubakar

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African leaders drafted in to boost peer review mechansim

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 22:00:00 +0000

Africa’s cash-strapped governance self-assessment instrument is calling in former leaders to revive its popularity and get more of the 53 members of the continental body to sign up for it.
A meeting in Gaborone this week was unable to attract the founding fathers of the 12-year-old African Peer Review Mechanism.
But the will be called to attend meeting in Senegal in October and in North
Africa next year.
Former president Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria are being drafted to breathe new life into the APRM along with former Ghanaian leader John Kufuor and Joschim Chissano of Mozambique.
The mechanism was launched with fanfare in 2003.
Since then 35 African countries have acceded to it.
Half of them have undergone the process like of looking at their democracy, transparency and good governance and then reporting to African heads of state for their comment and analysis.
The APRM falls under the African Union umbrella but it not funded by it.
Jeggan Grey-Johnson of the Open Society Foundation sees this was a serious drawback.
APRM members are required to pay 80 000 euros a year to keep the system going.
Because a number of them have failed to do this, the mechanism is struggling to finance even its downsized budget.

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AU observers give low estimate of turnout in Sudan’s election

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 22:00:00 +0000

Heading the African Union’s observation team, Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasango estimates the turnout in Sudan’s eleHeading the African Union’s observation team, Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasango estimates the turnout in Sudan’s elections this week at 30 to 35 percent.
Heading the African Union’s observation team, Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasango estimates the turnout in Sudan’s elections this week at 30 to 35 percent.
He says extending voting for a fourth day was designed to get more people to the polls.
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All in all, the African Union observer find the results of Sudan’s elections will reflect the expression of the will of the voters.
The team leader, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo commends the peaceful nature of the exercise.
However his estimate of the turnout is way below the 60 percent of voters who cast their ballots in the country’s previous election five years ago.
If Obasanjo’s correct it will be a blow for President Omar Al Bashir’s government because the success of the election will be measured by electors’ participation after opposition parties boycotted the poll. He says extending voting for a fourth day was designed to get more people to the polls.
ends intro
All in all, the African Union observer find the results of Sudan’s elections will reflect the expression of the will of the voters.
The team leader, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo commends the peaceful nature of the exercise.
However his estimate of the turnout is way below the 60 percent of voters who cast their ballots in the country’s previous election five years ago.
If Obasanjo’s correct it will be a blow for President Omar Al Bashir’s government because the success of the election will be measured by electors’ participation after opposition parties boycotted the poll. ctions this week at 30 to 35 percent.
He says extending voting for a fourth day was designed to get more people to the polls.
ends intro
All in all, the African Union observer find the results of Sudan’s elections will reflect the expression of the will of the voters.
The team leader, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo commends the peaceful nature of the exercise.
However his estimate of the turnout is way below the 60 percent of voters who cast their ballots in the country’s previous election five years ago.
If Obasanjo’s correct it will be a blow for President Omar Al Bashir’s government because the success of the election will be measured by electors’ participation after opposition parties boycotted the poll. Heading the African Union’s observation team, Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasango estimates the turnout in Sudan’s elections this week at 30 to 35 percent.
He says extending voting for a fourth day was designed to get more people to the polls.
ends intro
All in all, the African Union observer find the results of Sudan’s elections will reflect the expression of the will of the voters.
The team leader, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo commends the peaceful nature of the exercise.
However his estimate of the turnout is way below the 60 percent of voters who cast their ballots in the country’s previous election five years ago.
If Obasanjo’s correct it will be a blow for President Omar Al Bashir’s government because the success of the election will be measured by electors’ participation after opposition parties boycotted the poll.

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AU observers’ virtual thumbs down for Sudan elections

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 22:00:00 +0000

The African Union observer mission has given what amounts to a thumbs down to this week’s

elections in Sudan.

Its leader, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obanjo stops short of characterising the four-day

poll as free and fair.

A week into this month, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council overruled the

recommendation by its assessment mission to Sudan against sending an observer mission to the

elections.

The team arrived late in Sudan and armed with an Amnesty International report relating to human

rights suppression in the host country.

Asked if what the AU observers saw was a free and fair process, Obasanjo tells a press

conference in the capital an hour after polls closed that some measures will have to be taken to

achieve this.

He accepts security concerns by the authorities but says the elections would have been enhanced

had they fully respected basic freedoms and human rights.

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