That is partly because of democratic shortcomings even in many member states under civilian elected government – such as Guinea's rigged referendum clearing the way for Alpha Condé's third term the dubious management of the election in Sierra Leone the careful drafting of Nigérien election rules to shut the charismatic challenger Hama Amadou out of the 2020-21 presidential race or the jailing of opposition challengers in Benin or opposition activists in Senegal (AC Vol 65 No 4 The region on the rack)...
A group of 15 senior Nigérien politicians – including former President Mahamane Ousmane Seini Oumarou Hama Amadou and former prime ministers Ibrahim Mayaki and Brigi Rafini – sent a open letter to Tinubu on 10 August asking him to lift the harsh economic sanctions warning that military action could trigger worse instability and calling for diplomacy to resolve the crisis...
Opposition leader Hama Amadou a thorn in Issoufou's side was blocked from standing for the presidency on the grounds of a conviction his supporters see as politically motivated...
Opposition leader Hama Amadou who was interviewed in police custody over the weekend for alleged incitement was transferred to jail on Monday after eight charges were laid against him...
Amadou excludedBazoum may feel more able to publicly address such contentious issues now that the constitutional court has ruled that the most prominent opposition challenger Hama Amadou is ineligible because he had been sentenced to a one-year jail term – now served – for adopting children who had been brought into Niger by a criminal trafficking network (AC Vol 59 No 24 Détente derailed)...
The road to compromise has proved short in Niamey and now the opposition is mobilising a fresh campaign of protest over the government's attempts to reform electoral law so as to exclude the exiled former parliamentary speaker Hama Amadou from standing for the presidency...
The only opposition leader who counts is Hama Amadou jailed before the 2016 election and living in exile in France – who was smeared accused of involvement in a child-trafficking scandal (AC Vol 57 No 2 The campaign gaol trail)...
Although its candidate Hama Amadou had prevented the incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou from winning a first-round victory he had been campaigning with one hand tied behind his back (AC Vol 57 No 7 Issoufou woos)...
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His opponent in that round Hama Amadou remains in the American Hospital of Paris in the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine where he was transferred from gaol in Niamey on government orders four days before the final ballot (AC Vol 57 No 2 The campaign gaol trail)...
His main rival Hama Amadou leader of the opposition Mouvement démocratique nigérien pour une fédération africaine (Moden/FA-Lumana) won only 17...