William Niba
24 June 2011
The political storm in Senegal hits its consulates abroad, soldiers and police clash in Nigeria over a traffic violation and a politician demands an apology because he was investigated for graft.
Senegal takes pride of place in the African press review as newspapers react to president Abdoulaye Wade’s decision to abandoned a proposed law that sparked violent riots across the country on Thursday.
The draft law proposed the introduction of a joint ticket for the presidential race and a clause allowing the frontrunners in the first round vote to win with just 25 per cent of ballots cast.
The opposition saw the scheme as a ploy by Wade, to avoid a run-off vote and line up his son Karim for the succession.
La Gazette reports that the proposal triggered the most violent protest ever recorded in the country.
The popular Dakar tabloid Wal Fadjri narrates chaotic scenes in parliament with opposition MPs tearing copies of the bill as it was being tabled by the country’s justice minister Sud Online named prominent human rights leader Alioune Tine, among several people who were injured by riot police and Wade’s supporters armed with sticks.
Le Quotidien found out that the Senegalese consulates in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Milan Montreal and Washington were ransacked by angry protesters.
The paper argues that the scheme was doomed after France, voiced “surprise” that such an important reform was being carried out without appropriate consultation of key political players.
In an editorial Sud Online points to a remarkable turn around that has occurred in Senegalese politics – the fact that state institutions accused in 2000 of blocking Wade’s drive for regime change were now battling to prevent the advent of a Wade dynasty.
In Nigeria, Friday’s papers provide extensive coverage to persisting tensions between the police and the army. Soldiers clashed with police officers in Lagos Thursday following an attempt by traffic police to impound the car of a female air force officer who was seen driving in a bus lane.
Eyewitnesses quoted by the Vanguard said some soldiers rushed to the scene, vandalised a towing van and beat up a police officer who is reportedly in a coma.
The Punch regrets that the mini-drama forced shopowners to shut down businesses in the popular Obanikoro district through out the day.
The Sun notes an upsurge of similar incidents between the two forces in economic capital of late. The paper reports that bloodshed was averted at the same area on Tuesday after 15 unauthorised cars owned by soldiers were seized during a police operation.
The Nation also claims that a similar clash in the Lagos neighbourhood of Badagry led to the killing of three senior police officers.
Remarks by a former house speaker who claims no court can try him for suspected graft are also making the headlines in Nigeria.
The former speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole has been indicted for using parliamentary accounts in two banks to obtain 170 million naira in illegal loans.
This Day reports that Bankole faces a 17-count charge of corruption in an Abuja high court. The paper quotes his lawyers argument that the decisions taken while in office were beyond the scrutiny of anybody, including the courts.
Bankole, cites the provisions of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act. The Punch newspaper found out that the ex-speaker has in fact, asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to apologise to him for the public humiliation and denial of personal liberty caused by the anti-graft agency.
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Africa: African Press Review 24 June 2011