News
Bolivian Army Leaders Arrested After Coup Attempt
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Police officers stand guard at Plaza Murillo in La Paz on June 26, 2024. Bolivian President Luis Arce on Wednesday slammed an attempted “coup d’etat” after soldiers and tanks deployed outside government buildings and tried to knock down a door of the presidential palace, before pulling back. (Photo by AIZAR RALDES / AFP)
Two Bolivian army leaders were arrested Wednesday after soldiers and tanks took up position in front of government buildings in what President Luis Arce called an attempted coup.
The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated, in the afternoon, prompting global condemnation of an attack on democracy.
One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.
Surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga said the “armed forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a true democracy and not one run by the same few people for 30, 40 years.”
AFP reporters saw soldiers and tanks pulling back from the square shortly after. The uprising lasted about five hours.
Zuniga was captured and forced into a police car as he addressed reporters outside a military barracks later on Wednesday, footage on state television showed.
“General, you are under arrest,” Deputy Interior Minister Jhonny Aguilera told Zuniga.
A second senior military officer Juan Arnez Salvador, who was head of the Bolivian navy, was also arrested Wednesday night.
Salvador’s arrest was announced by Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo, who said that Zuniga and Arnez are “two military coup leaders who tried to destroy democracy and the institutionality of our country and failed.”
Speaking from a balcony of the government palace, Arce told hundreds of supporters that “No one can take away the democracy we have won.”
He had urged “the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup d’etat in favor of democracy,” in an earlier televised message to the country alongside his ministers inside the presidential palace.
He fired Zuniga and Salvador and swore in a new set of military leaders.
Before he was arrested, Zuniga told reporters that the president had told him to stage an uprising, in order to trigger a crackdown that would make him look strong and boost his sagging approval rating.
At a meeting Sunday, the general said, Zuniga asked Arce “so we bring out armored vehicles?” He said the president answered, “bring them out.”
Arce’s instructions were to “stage something to raise his popularity,” Zuniga said.
Former president Evo Morales wrote on social media platform X that “a coup d’etat is brewing” and urged a “national mobilization to defend democracy.”
– Zuniga’s anti-democratic remarks –
Bolivia is deeply polarised after years of political instability and the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party is riven by internal conflict between supporters of Arce and his former mentor Morales.
Morales, who was Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term in office in 2019.
The leftist and former coca union leader won that vote but was forced to resign amid deadly protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the country.
He returned after Arce won the presidency in October 2020.
Since then a power struggle has grown between the two men, and Morales has increasingly criticized the government and accused it of corruption, tolerating drug trafficking, and sidelining him politically.
Six months ago, the Constitutional Court disqualified Morales from the 2025 elections, however he is still seeking nomination as the MAS candidate.
Arce has not said whether he will seek re-election.
Zuniga appeared on television on Monday and said he would arrest Morales if he insisted on running for office again in 2025.
“Legally he is disqualified, that man cannot be president of this country again,” he said.
Since that interview, rumors have swirled that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed
Calls for calm –
The US administration of Joe Biden said it was keeping a close eye on events in Bolivia and “calls for calm,” according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply concerned” by events in Bolivia and called on all actors, including the military, to “protect the constitutional order and to preserve a climate of peace”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Condemnations of the troop movements also poured in from across Latin America, with leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela calling for democracy to be respected.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X: “I am a lover of democracy and I want it to prevail throughout Latin America. We condemn any form of coup d’etat in Bolivia.”
The Organisation of American States (OAS) said the international community would “not tolerate any form of breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia.”
AFP
News
Rupture In PDP Governors’ Forum deepens
By Ojomah Austin.
The evolving fall-out, which comes barely days to the contentious National Executive Committee (NEC) of PDP, followed a back and forth between the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike and the Governors forum, who declared support for Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara to be made leader of the party in the state.
After a meeting with some members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) in Bauchi on Wednesday, Governor Mohammed, said “According to our party’s constitution, any leadership vacancy should be filled by someone from the region where it originated,” stressing that Damagum would be replaced soon considering that he hails from North East and not the North Central.
Same day, Makinde, during the groundbreaking of the upgrading of Ladoke Akintola Airport, Ibadan, to an international airport, which was attended by another set of NWC members, led by Damagum, said he would support whatever decision the Damagum-led NWC would take to reposition the party.
Damagum, who is considered a close ally of Nyesom Wike, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, was appointed acting national chairman after the removal of Iyorchia Ayu in June 2023.
Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP led by Senator Adolph Wabara, met with members of the National Assembly caucus in Abuja.
The close door meeting comes barely hours after the BoT met with Wike in Abuja.
While Wabara refused to comment on the essence of the meeting with the lawmakers, it was noticed that most of the lawmakers didn’t honour the invitation.
News
Tears As Man Takes Own Life Over Tinubu’s Govt Hardship
By Mario Deepromoter
Sad development in Marika village, Kiyawa Local Government, Jigawa, where a 40-year-old man, Jibrin Adamu, committed suicide by hanging himself.
According to eyewitnesses, Adamu’s lifeless body was discovered in a classroom at Miftahul Khairat Islamiyya and Primary School Gurdiba on Thursday.
Police spokesperson DSP Lawan Shiisu Adam confirmed the incident, stating that preliminary investigations revealed Adamu had struggled with mental health issues.
“Police received a report on Thursday that at about 1830hrs, a tragic incident was reported at the Command headquarters that one Jibrin Adamu ‘m’ age 40yrs of Jigawar Maroka village, Kiyawa LGA has committed suicide by hanging himself over the ceiling at Islamiyya school,” the Police spokesperson told Daily Post.
The Jigawa State Commissioner of Police, CP AT Abdullahi, has instructed officers to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.
News
Just in: Dangote Petrol Now Available at N765.99 Per Litre
By Mario Deepromoter
11plc, Total Energies, AA Rano, and other marketers have begun lifting Dangote Petrol through Nigerian National Company (NNPC) Trading Limited for N765.99 to retail outlets nationwide.
Findings showed some petroleum marketers who were able to complete their payment process on the NNPC trading payment portal commenced the lifting of petrol earlier this week under the existing agreement between marketers and the refinery.
Tunji Oyebanji, managing director, 11Plc confirmed to BusinessDay on Thursday evening that some marketers have started lifting the products at N765.99 from Dangote Refinery through NNPC who remain the sole off-taker of product.
“We were among the first marketers to complete the payment on the NNPC portal. We have no direct arrangement with the refinery,” Oyebanji said.
It was gathered that NNPC Retail, 11plc, Total Energies, A.A Rano are among the marketers that have picked up products from the refinery.
He added, “We don’t know the contractual financial arrangement between NNPC and the refinery but what I can confirm is we are buying at N765.99 from NNPC to lift Dangote petrol”.
Efforts to get the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to confirm if its members have picked up products at the Dangote Refinery proved abortive at the time of writing this report.
See also Nigeria’s Petrol Landing Cost Revealed
Adedapo Segun, executive vice-president, downstream at NNPC said marketers cannot purchase petrol directly from the refinery because the product is still sold at a subsidised rate.
“That is the same thing happening with Dangote. I said earlier that Dangote is a company and it is going to sell at market price,” he told Journalists.
According to Segun, “The market value of PMS is still higher than what N766 or N765 or N799 that NNPC is selling.
“The situation has not changed there. So, NNPC’s off-taking is only because the others would not buy at the price Dangote will be willing to sell, which is reasonable.
“As soon as the price allows for it, you will see the marketers go to Dangote and buy.”
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