Newscast - Africa

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi and his deputy, Eric Igwe, to vacate their seats as the sitting governor and deputy respectively, on grounds that the Peoples Democratic Party won the election in March 2019 and not its candidate.
Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered the PDP to immediately send names of replacements to INEC so that fresh elections can be conducted.
Justice Ekwo also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to cease recognising Umahi and Igwe as the governor and deputy governor of the Ebonyi State.
Justice ordered the governor and his deputy to vacate office, adding that their defection was illegal, null and unconstitutional.
He ordered INEC to receive names of candidates from the PDP to replace Umahi and Igwe.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja stopped President Muhammad Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, from tampering with the newly signed amended Electoral Act 2022.
Justice Ekwo agreed with the counsel to the party, James Onoja, that the Electoral Act has become a valid law and cannot be tampered with without following due process of law.
The court restrained the defendants from removing Section 84, Subsection 12 of the Electoral Act or preventing it from being implemented for the purpose of the 2023 general elections.
The PDP had dragged President Buhari before the court, challenging the fresh move to tamper with the newly amended Electoral Act signed into law some days ago.

The UN adviser on Libya has invited rival factions to come together to try to resolve the country's constitutional arrangements, as a political process to restore stability has foundered.
Stephanie Williams has sent letters to parliament and the High State Council, which represent separate administrations, to nominate six members for a joint committee.
The move comes the day after Fathi Bashaga was sworn in as the new prime minister nominated by parliament in the east of Libya, even though the incumbent premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah in Tripoli has refused to step down.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened the existence of Ukrainian statehood as his army’s invasion of the neighbour faces stiff resistance Sunday and his economy is increasingly asphyxiated by sanctions.
Putin says the current Ukrainian authorities must understand that if they continue to do what they are doing, they are putting in question the future of Ukrainian statehood.
The Ukrainian military says it was engaged in fierce battles with Russian forces for the control of borders at the southern city of Mykolaiv and the Chernihiv in the north.
Mariupol officials say it would begin efforts from noon on Sunday to evacuate its civilian population after earlier efforts were scuppered by ceasefire violations.

Social media giant TikTok announced it is suspending the posting of all video content from Russia in order to keep its employees safe and comply with the country’s new fake news regulations.
The company says they will continue to evaluate the evolving circumstances in Russia to determine when they might fully resume services with safety as their top priority.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for publishing fake news about the Russian army, as Moscow pushes forward with its invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin defended the new legislation, saying the country was facing an information war that required counter-action.

Card payment companies Visa and Mastercard say they will suspend operations in Russia, joining a growing list of international companies refusing to do business with Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The moves deal another blow to Russia’s financial sector and are set to further isolate its sanctions-hit economy.
Mastercard announced that cards issued by Russian banks would no longer be supported by its network and any card issued outside the country would not work at Russian shops or ATMs.

The United States says it was in active discussions with its European allies about banning Russian oil imports as a further economic penalty on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says they are now in very active discussions with European partners about banning the import of Russian oil to countries while maintaining a steady global supply of oil.
The White House said it was looking for ways to reduce US consumption of Russian oil while protecting American families from price hikes, but pressure has mounted on Western nations to cut off Russian energy imports as a way to tighten the screws on the Kremlin.

Namibia’s education ministry says students who have arrived home from Ukraine following Russia's invasion will have an option to enrol in local universities.
A ministry official termed it as a second chance to the students, although there was no clarity on how the transfer of grades will be done.
It is unclear if the evacuation was done on a return ticket to allow the students to return to Ukraine after the war.
African students who were studying in Ukraine had said that they were uncertain about the fate of their education.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has stressed that an abundance of opportunities still remained to be harnessed in the country’s oil and gas sector despite the current global energy transition to net-zero carbon emission.
The Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Mr Gbenga Komolafe, says the commission had set for itself the target of growing Nigeria’s oil reserves to 40 billion barrels by 2030 and is poised to grow Nigeria’s gas reserve to 210 TCF by 2030 and raise the country’s oil production capacity to three million barrels per day and gas production capacity to 12 Bscf within the same time frame of 2030.
He also stated that the shift from fossil fuels to greener energies would have implications for developing nations, which would struggle to cope with the trend even with abundant resources while the already developed nations would have a good head start.

Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, says agriculture remains a strong pillar and saving grace for the Nigerian economy.
Emefiele expressed satisfaction with the level of interest shown in agriculture and the tremendous impact the sector had had in the last six years.
He wondered how the country could have coped with the rising prices of food and commodity items across the world without the foresight to revamp agriculture.
Emefiele says the apex bank had come up with several initiatives aimed towards repositioning the sector with a view to creating employment opportunities as well as growing the Gross Domestic Product.