Nigerien president snubs Supreme Court

  1. Posted on Sunday 28 June 2009 - 13:22
    KingsleyKobo
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    Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
    Nigerien President, Mamadou Tandja, has declined Supreme Court's ruling, which banned him from organizing a referendum that would likely pave a way for him to get a third term. In a nationwide broadcast, President Tandja said he would henceforth govern the country by ordinances and decrees.
    Tandja
    Tandja said his aim is “to protect the nation’s foundation and the interest of the people in all circumstance.”

    This is being defined by political analysts as a bid to bypass the two other arms of government – the legislature and the judiciary. Since its proposition by the president and his collaborators, the referendum project has been widely received with coldness – even within the president’s inner circle.

    Tandja is currently in the last year of his second five-year term. Nigerien constitution allows only two terms for a president, but a handful of goodwill associations across the West African nation have been canvassing for the extension of President Tandja’s tenure because, according to them, he brought growth and stability to the hitherto struggling economy.

    But many Nigerien critics say the president and his team were responsible for setting up these goodwill associations.

    Last week, a coalition of four political parties, which had long collaborated with the ruling party, issued a statement calling on President Tandja to accept the Supreme Court’s ruling and renounce his referendum project.

    Opposition parties have made similar statements, backed with street protests, but yesterday’s televised speech proved that the president is unrelenting and was poised for any eventuality.

    Mamadou Tandja was elected Niger’s president in 1999 for a five-year term. He was re-elected in 2004 for a second term which expires late 2009.

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