Niger’s coup leaders accused the head of the United Nations on Friday of obstructing their participation in the body’s General Assembly, saying it was “likely to undermine any effort to end the crisis in our country”.
Issued on: 23/09/2023 – 08:43

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Rebel elite soldiers overthrew president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have since detained him at home with his family.Negotiations to restore civilian rule have yet to bear fruit, with the junta demanding a three-year transition and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) calling for the immediate return of the democratically elected Bazoum.The coup has also been strongly criticised by Western governments and global bodies such as the UN, which is holding its General Assembly of world leaders in New York this week.In a news release read on public television, the military said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “went astray in the exercise of his mission by obstructing Niger’s full participation in the 78th session of the UN General Assembly”.It criticised “the perfidious actions” of the UN leader, adding that they were “likely to undermine any effort to end the crisis in our country”.Bakary Yaou Sangare, who before the coup was Niger’s ambassador to the UN and is now its foreign minister, was the new leaders’ chosen representative for the gathering.But, according to a diplomatic source, there was also an application by the overthrown government to represent Niamey.”In case of competing credentials from a Member State the secretary-general defers the matter to the Credentials Committee of the General Assembly who will deliberate on the matter,” Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.”The secretary-general does not decide.”Because the committee will not meet until later, no representative from Niger was added to the speakers’ list.Niger “forcefully rejects and denounces this clear interference by Mr Guterres in the internal affairs of a sovereign state”, the junta said.Worries over Sahel One of the world’s poorest nations, Niger is the fourth country in West Africa to suffer a coup since 2020, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.Bazoum’s removal heightened international worries over the Sahel region, which faces growing jihadist insurgencies linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.Regional sanctions since the coup mean food and medicines are scarce in landlocked Niger, prices are skyrocketing and there are blackouts after Nigeria cut electricity supplies.Senegal’s President Macky Sall said on Thursday a diplomatic solution in Niger was “still possible”.”I hope that reason will ultimately prevail… that it is still possible to move forward reasonably to a solution,” Sall said in an interview with France’s RFI and France 24 media outlets.He urged Niger’s coup leaders “to not push (us) to the final decision which would be a military intervention”.The military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a mutual defence pact this month, saying they aimed to “establish an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations”.(AFP) 

By Rita Iliya
The Victims Support Fund (VSF), in collaboration with the Niger Government has launched the distribution of food items to 3,000 victims of terrorism in the state.
Gov. Umaru Bago, while speaking at the inauguration of the VSF 2023 Improving Livelihood and Empowering Communities in Minna on Friday,  said the partnership was to support the weak and victims of terrorism and other forms of vices.
Bago, represented by his deputy, Mr Yakubu Garba, said victims of terrorism were faced with various challenges ranging from poor hygiene to lack of access to education and economic downturn.
“The predicaments are alarming and all hands must be on deck to reverse the ugly trend,” he said.
He reiterated the state government’s commitment to ensuring that lasting peace and security was restored to the various communities.
The governor also called on VSF to expand its scope to reach out to victims of flood and other public health issues with a view to reaching a wilder populace.
Earlier, Prof. Nana Tanko, Executive Director, VSF, said that 3,000 households from Lapai, Shiroro and Kontagora Local Government Areas would benefit from the food items.
She listed the items for distribution to include rice, beans, vegetable oil, sugar and seasoning.
Tanko disclosed that VSF had developed a strategy for the next three years to support victims of terrorism as well as expand its intervention to Taraba, Kaduna, Katsina, Benue and Niger.
She said that the organisation was making effort to build resilience of victims to enable them to go back to their communities.
In his remarks, Ahmed Suleiman, the state Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, said the ministry would partner VSF to bring support to victims of terrorism in the state.
One of the beneficiaries, Sadiya Mohammed, appreciated the VSF and the Niger government for the support, adding that the gesture would help alleviate their sufferings. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Deborah Coker and Isaac Ukpoju

More often than not, players’ career fortunes pirouette on the altar of time and chance. Taiwo Awoniyi can attest to that. Had Awoniyi paid for his university exams on the day he was supposed to, in Ilorin, north-central Nigeria, playing in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest, where his decisive goals saved them from relegation last season, might never have happened.

“My dad actually borrowed the money to pay for my exams,” he says. “I went to the person that was supposed to help register me for the exam in the morning and he was not around. I went there again in the evening and they told me he still wasn’t around. “It was on my way back from that trip that I got a call from the Imperial Soccer Academy [in Nigeria’s Ogun State], that they wanted me. I went back to my dad and said: ‘I do want to keep on going to school. But my passion is football, so let me use this money to get myself down to the academy.’ I think that was the turning point for me.”

Awoniyi (right) has been flying Nigerian flag high in Premier League

Awoniyi had been with the Unicorn Football Academy in Ilorin since he was “six or seven” and played for Nigeria as a 14-year-old at the Copa Coca-Cola Cup, a tournament for African teams, in London in 2011. A call-up to the Golden Eaglets, Nigeria’s Under-17 side, that won the 2013 World Cup in the UAE, earned the opportunity he had dreamed of – a five-year contract with Liverpool in 2015. But he never played for the club.

“We discovered that we needed a work permit and to get a permit I needed to play for Nigeria’s first team,” he says. “When I signed, my Nigeria teammate Kelechi Iheanacho got the work permit under the special talent scheme [to join Manchester City]. It was after him that they closed the special talent scheme.

“The only option I had was to keep on going on loan, with the hope that if I do well on loan and I play for the national team, I’ll be able to get the work permit and come back [to Liverpool]. I kept on going on loan. And the national team call-ups still didn’t come, so I didn’t have any other option than to keep on striving.”

In six years, Awoniyi went on loan to six clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium: FSV Frankfurt, NEC Nijmegen, Royal Excel Mouscron (twice), Gent, Mainz and Union Berlin. Then Union bought him from Liverpool for £6.5m in July 2021, before his move to Forest in 2022.

“It was really a hard and tough situation,” he says of the early years on loan, recalling how his family and Seyi Olofinjana, the former Wolves and Stoke midfielder who founded Imperial Soccer Academy, helped him through it.

“I didn’t really play a lot of games [at Frankfurt] … the team was relegated. I then went to Holland [Nijmegen] and that was another strange experience … we also got relegated … I said to myself, about the third year, if I go down again or I don’t make anything happen, I have to think about my football career.

“It was at Mouscron that I really discovered myself, that I saw myself as the player I wanted to be … I scored a goal in my first match and [10] goals with Mouscron that season.”

Taiwo Awoniyi shone at Mouscron

Liverpool gave him a second five-year contract but his journeyman status continued, at Gent and Mainz, via Mouscron again, until he found a real home at Union.

“I remember my first conversation with the coach. He said: ‘Taiwo, I’ve seen you. I think I can make you who you want to be as a player. But it is your decision to come.’ It was just an amazing club. It is what a football club should be, in terms of the people, the administrators, everything, especially the fans.”

Awoniyi’s form made him a cult hero, with his final goal for Union earning them a Europa League spot for the first time. “We needed to win. I remember that in the first half I had a penalty and I scored. We were then in the 88th or 89th minute … I was checking the time and I said: ‘No, these people have come a long way for us not to win …’

https://efb9095dae39658896226d0b4cb40cdb.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html “It’s taken them to where they want to be and where they should be as a club. And from there, they’re now playing in the Champions League. These people deserve even more than that … But they’ve always known that one day I will leave for the Premier League.”

Forest signed Awoniyi after ending a 23-year absence from England’s top division and he knew helping them stay up would constitute a successful season. Years of relegation battles had fortified him for the challenge.

“I was never in doubt that the team would stay up, because I know how much they wanted the club to be where they wanted it to be. I was not really afraid at all. I just said: ‘OK, this is what I want. This is my dream to be in the Premier League and I have a club that is really, really ready to give me the opportunity.’ “So I said I would go for it. When I had the [initial] meeting with the owners and the coach, I was so impressed with the plan and the structure.”

Awoniyi in pre-season training with Liverpool

Awoniyi says his objective was to “exhibit everything that is in you” and that came to the fore in Forest’s penultimate game, when his goal against Arsenal – the club he supports – secured their top‑flight status.

Forest fans have taken Awoniyi to their hearts and voted him this season’s player of the month for August after he scored three goals in his first three games. The feelings are mutual.

“Looking at the difficulty that we found ourselves in last season, they were still behind us, pushing everyone to keep on fighting … They never gave up on us and that gave us more power to push forward.”

The champions Manchester City host Forest on Saturday and Awoniyi expects to face Manuel Akanji, the most difficult defender he has faced. He will relish the challenge.

“I played against him in the Bundesliga and I know how tough he is. I’ve always believed [success in football] will happen. I’ve always worked hard, I’ve always hoped for it, prayed for it and I’ve always done everything that will make me achieve what I want.”

By Osasu Obayiuwana From The Guardian