Nigeria’s Supreme Court fixes October 23rd for hearing

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Africa Headlines

• Nigeria’s Supreme Court fixes October 23^rd for hearing – Nigeria’s supreme court has fixed Monday 23^rd October for hearing of the petition by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Abubakar Atiku and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi. They are challenging the outcomes of the presidential elections of 25^th February 2023 and seeking the nullification of the election. At the hearing next week, the supreme court will unveil a seven-member team to decide the case. After the elections in February, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared winner. Last month September 6th, the presidential election tribunal led by Justice Haruna Tsammani dismissed the petitions and affirmed the outcome of the February 25 elections. The supreme court is the last in the process of the election petitions and appeal and the country keenly awaits the conclusions of the process.

• China to complete outstanding rail projects in Nigeria – Following the conclusions of the two-day belt and road initiative in Beijing earlier this week, Nigeria came back with the assurance that China will complete the Abuja – Kano and PortHarcourt – Maiduguri railway projects. This follows the statement by the government after the BRI forum and the meeting of the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vice President Kashim Shettima on the sidelines of the meeting. The projects had stalled following cutbacks by the Chinese and the non-release of the 85% of its contributions towards the project. As part of the BRI in Nigeria, the Chinese have built the Abuja – Kaduna railway project, the Lekki Port, the Lagos light railway project, and the Lagos – Ibadan railway project. However, these projects suffer from poor integration into national infrastructure plans and weak fiscal arrangements, especially towards the projects paying for themselves.

• Kenya Celebrates Mashujaa Day – Kenya President William Ruto will today lead Kenya's celebrations of Mashujaa Day. Mashujaa in Swahili means heroes. It is a national day observed as a public holiday on October 20. This year’s celebrations is holding at the Kericho Green stadium, honoring the country’s heroes who fought for freedom from colonial rule. Earlier today, the Nation reported that six people are injured as they gather early at the stadium for the celebrations.

• Transnet is seeking State help on debt – According to BusinessDay South Africa, Transnet, the country’s railway, and ports company is seeking the government’s help in dealing with its R 130 billion debt. Last month, the company’s leadership admitted the company is in serious debt crisis, paying R 1 billion in debt service every month. The debt crisis emanated from the investment expenditure on 1,064 locomotives in 2014 for R54.5 billion on the assumption that the economy will grow by 5% on annual basis. However, growth in South Africa is 1.8% on average in the last 10 years.

Global

• Jim Jordan to have a third vote Friday – After failing to get the votes of 22 House Republicans in the second round of voting, Jim Jordan has shifted third round of voting to Friday. He had initially planned to cut him ambition and support giving the temporal speaker powers to preside over legislations but changed his mind after several meetings. The votes came two weeks after Kevin McCarthy was removed as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the US. The House has been without a substantive Speaker in two weeks because the Republicans have not been able to reach an agreement / consensus on who becomes the next Speaker. Jim Jordan, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee will need 217 votes to become speaker. While without a substantive Speaker, legislative business in the House has been paralysed. Outstanding issues of legislation include the funding the government to avoid a shut down in about four weeks and any potential aid to Israel following the attack on the country.

• A lengthy, wider conflict emerging in Israel – Palestinian Crisis – Day 14 of the latest Israel / Palestinian crisis has raised tensions in the region to very high levels and risks of a lengthy and wider conflict materialising. There is now fighting in the Israeli – Lebanon border while the Israeli army are preparing for an imminent ground invasion of the Gaza strip. Meanwhile, aid deliveries are set for Gaza at the Egyptian border. The US President Joe Biden has made a request to the Congress for emergency support for Israel and Ukraine. It is estimated that over 3,000 and about 1500 people have been killed in Palestine and Israel, respectively. Also, in Gaza, about 500,000 people have been internally displaced, including women, children, and the elderly. The blockage of water, food, and fuel have started to ease. There is also no movement on securing the release of the hostages held by Hamas.