Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum took to social media on Thursday with a defiant vow to protect “hard-won” democratic gains a day after he was toppled in a military coup. The country’s foreign minister Hassoumi Massoudou also issued a rallying cry on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, for “all democrats and patriots” to make the coup fail.

Their statements followed a late-night address on Wednesday by soldiers on national television announcing that Bazoum had been removed from power and all republic institutions suspended, marking the seventh coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.

Earlier on Wednesday members of the presidential guard had cut off the presidential palace in the capital Niamey and blocked Bazoum inside.

This sparked regional and international concern about instability in a country that is a pivotal ally for Western powers helping fight an insurgency in the Sahel region.

Bazoum was still being held inside the presidential palace on Thursday morning, Massoudou said in an interview with French broadcaster France 24. The minister’s whereabouts were unclear.

President Tinubu’s Ministerial List, 28 Nominees Make First Batch Of The List:

• Abubakar Momoh
• Ambassador Yusuf Miatama Tukur CON
• Arch. Ahmed Dangiwa
• Barr. Hannatu Musawa
• Chief Uche Nnaji
• Dr. Berta Edu
• Dr. Dorris Aniche Uzoka
• H.E. David Umahi
• H.E. Nyesom Wike
• H.E. Badaru Abubakar CON
• H.E. Nasiru Ahmed Elrufai
• Rt. Hon. Ekperipe Ekpo
• Hon. Nkiru Onyeojiocha
• Hon. Olubunmi Tunji Ojo
• Hon. Stella Okotette
• Hon. Uju Kennedy Ohaneye
• Mr. Bello Muhammad G.
• Mr. Dele Alake
• Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN
• Mr. Muhammad Idris
• Mr. Olawale Edun
• Mr. Waheed Adebayo Adelabu
• Mrs Iman Suleiman Ibrahim
• Professor Ali Pate
• Professor Joseph
• Senator Abubakar Kyari
• Senator John Eno
• Senator Sani Abubakar Danladi

More to come……..

The Chairman, House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Ejikeme Mmesoma, Rt. Honorable Soli Sada has commended the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, for the technological innovations deployed by the board for the conduct of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Sada gave the commendation when the ad-hoc committee visited JAMB headquarters in Abuja, applauding the examination body for fortifying its operations against criminal infiltrations.

He congratulated the board for generating enough revenue for the federation account, adding that JAMB is one of the public institutions with quality governance.

The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq  Oloyede, revealed to the committee that the board can communicate with all the states and also relate with the candidates during the examinations right from the situation room.

Recall that JAMB had earlier remitted the sum of N2 billion as its interim surplus for the 2023 operating year to the Federal Government.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen will again, on Thursday, meet with relevant stakeholders over the crisis between the Federal Government and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD). Majority Leader of the House, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, made this known at the plenary on Wednesday, which the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, presided over.

The meeting will be coming after Speaker Abbas met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday, in fulfillment of his promise to NARD earlier on Monday, as part of the efforts of the House to resolve the crisis.
This was contained in a press statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Speaker, House of Representatives Musa KrishI.

According to KRISHI, At the plenary on Wednesday, the leadership of the House expressed displeasure with NARD’s decision to continue with its planned strike despite the intervention by the Parliament.

A member of the House, Hon. Unyime Idem, during the plenary, attempted to move a motion of urgent public importance on the strike declared by NARD on Tuesday night. The immediate past Deputy Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Wase, however, raised a point of order to note that the Speaker was already working on the matter.

The Majority Leader, in his explanation, noted that the House’s interventionist moves would continue despite that the resident doctors have downed tools.

Prof Ihonvbere said: “As Rt. Hon. Wase explained, the Speaker had a meeting with the NARD and some stakeholders (on Monday) on this issue and pleaded with the union to hold on, to the strike, and give the House two weeks to resolve the matter; and the two weeks were to include this visit to Mr President to bring him up to date on the relevant issues. He also set up an ad hoc committee which is being chaired by my humble self to hold dialogues with the critical stakeholders.

“I want to inform (the House and the public) that Mr. Speaker has since met with Mr President and significant progress in terms of addressing the needs of the doctors that are now on strike. Second, we have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow with all the stakeholders, including members of the NARD. So, discussions are on.

“(Former Chairman of the House Committee on Healthcare Services) Dr. Tanko Sununu is here and he has been in touch with the NARD President, and they are going to be at this meeting tomorrow along with other stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, the Accountant-General of the Federation; Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning; even the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.”

The Deputy Speaker who presided over the session noted that the motion of urgent public importance showed that “we are sensitive to the needs of Nigerians,” adding that, “We are not asleep where Nigerians are panicking on issues bothering their health.”

Commenting after Hon. Idem stepped down the motion to allow the House leadership’s intervention, Kalu said: “Let me say this to the medical officers who are striking: The fact that the highest level of the parliament has started engaging with you shows how important your demands are. It shows how seriously we have taken your issues. I want to urge you to exercise more patience.

“You have heard the chairman of the ad hoc committee that was set up by Mr. Speaker to look into this, stating publicly that we would be engaging with you tomorrow. Kindly oblige the Speaker of the House who is making efforts to see that the Executive arm attends to your reasonable needs. This is my appeal from the House and I pray that the striking officers from the medical sector would consider this, as we also pledge to make sure that you are not ignored in your quest to have a better working condition in serving our people.”

Barring any last-minute change, President Bola Tinubu will, today, send the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation, LN247 has learned.

Top on the list for screening is the immediate past Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufia, current Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, Dele Alake, former governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola, Wale Edun, and immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, Adebayo Adelabu, and Beta Edu. Names will be submitted today. Adelabu was the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, while Edu was Commissioner for Health in Cross River State and National Woman Leader of APC.

Different purported ministerial lists have been in circulation as the President kept Nigerians guessing.

LN247 has learned that former governors, technocrats, and professionals are on the list. It was further gathered that to form a government of national unity, as speculated in some quarters, the President will accommodate some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Recall that President Tinubu took the oath of office on May 29, when former President Muhammadu Buhari handed over the mantle of leadership to him and was expected to form his cabinet within 60 days of resuming office, in accordance with the constitution.

The federal government has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC to shelve its planned strike scheduled to start next Wednesday, saying it was doing everything possible to address issues raised by the labour movement on the removal of fuel subsidy.

The appeal came against the backdrop of the strike notice announced by the labour movement giving the federal government a 7-day ultimatum to address what it described as anti-people policies or face industrial action.

Speaking after the Steering Committee meeting on Palliatives, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen pleaded with labour to give the federal government more time to look into its grievances, rather than embark on industrial action.

She explained that the government was yet to roll out palliatives because it did not want to make mistakes, adding that the meeting with organised labour was productive.

However, the labour unions said they would still embark on the planned strike and mass protests should the government fail to meet its demands. Recall that the NLC in a communiqué at the end of its Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting held Tuesday, July 25, at Labour House, Abuja, also demanded the immediate inauguration of the Presidential Steering Committee as agreed in their earlier engagements.

The coup in Niger has succeeded with soldiers announcing on national TV the dissolution of the constitution, Aljazeera reported. With this, Niger becomes the sixth country in the West Africa sub-region to experience a coup since August 2020.

Led by Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, the soldiers announced they had carried out a coup and closed all West African borders.

In a statement broadcast on national television and quoted by Aljazeera, Mr. Abdramane said that “the defense and security forces … have decided to put an end to the regime you are familiar with”.

The attempted coup in Niger where the presidential palace was blocked by soldiers with President Mohammed Bazoum believed to be held inside the palace.

World leaders including Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu have condemned the coup and noted that it will not be tolerated.

The US, France, UN, ECOWAS, and African Union also condemned the coup calling for a return to the status quo. There have also been protests by citizens of Niger who are against the coup.

On Wednesday, ECOWAS, led by Mr Tinubu, sent the President of Benin, Patrice Talon, to Niger to mediate in the crisis.

Mr. Talon had briefly met with Mr. Tinubu in Abuja before leaving for Niger.

It was not clear at the time of this report if Mr. Talon had met the coup leaders or ousted President Mohammed Bazoum.