Headline
Gabon: A List Of Recent Military Coups In Africa

On August 30, top military commanders in Gabon declared on national television that they had assumed power and annulled the results of the election in the country that announced President Ali Bongo’s third term victory.
Africa, especially the western and central regions, has in the last few years become a ‘hub’ for military coups. If successful, the Gabon coup will be the second in two months this year and the eighth since 2020.
Below is a list of recent military coups in the continent
NIGER
On July 26, 2023, members of Niger’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum inside his palace, declaring on national television that they were seizing power to address the “deteriorating security situation and bad governance.”
READ ALSO: Coup: Why We Took Over Power — Gabon Army
Abdourahamane Tiani, the commander of the presidential guard, was named the new head of state a few days later by the military junta.
The leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been in talks with the Junta to reinstate constitutional order, noting that they will activate ‘standby forces’ if diplomacy fails.
BURKINA FASO
The country had two coups in 2022. In January 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba ousted President Roch Kabore over failure to contain violence by Islamist militants.
However, on September 30, 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power from Damiba to become the country’s new leader.
GUINEA
President Alpha Conde was overthrown in September 2021 by special forces leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya after the former altered the constitution in 2020 to get around restrictions that would have prohibited him from running for a third term, which had led to severe unrest.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Gun Battle In Gabon As Soldiers Seize Power
ECOWAS thereafter imposed sanctions on Doumbouya, junta leaders, and relatives, rejecting the promise of a transition to democracy in three years.
CHAD
After President Idriss Deby was killed in combat while visiting forces engaged in fighting rebels in the north, the Chadian army seized control of the country in April 2021.
The president’s son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, was named interim president, which contravenes Chadian law, where the speaker of parliament should have become president.
The unlawful transfer of power sparked rioting in N’Djamena, the country’s capital, which the military eventually put down.
MALI
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown in August 2020 by a gang of Malian colonels under the command of Assimi Goita. The coup came after anti-government demonstrations about worsening security, contentious elections for the legislature, and corruption charges.
The junta consented to hand over control to an interim administration run by civilians, which will oversee an 18-month transition to free and fair elections in February 2022.
After a clash between the coup leader and the interim president, retired colonel Bah Ndaw, the junta staged a second coup in May 2021. Assimi Goita, who had been acting vice president in the meantime, was promoted to the position of president.
Headline
Kimmel’s Suspension: Obama Slams Trump For ‘Dangerous’ Attack On Free Speech

Former United States President Barack Obama has condemned the suspension of the late-night show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel following remarks he made about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In a post on X on Thursday, Obama described the suspension of the show as a dangerous attack on free speech led by President Donald Trump.
He wrote, “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.
“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”
READ ALSO: Putin Has ‘Let Me Down’, Trump Laments As UK State Visit Ends
Obama’s comments came after ABC, owned by Walt Disney, announced on Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live had been suspended indefinitely.
The decision followed threats of a federal investigation into Kimmel’s remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close Trump ally who was shot and killed on September 10 while debating students at a Utah university.
During Monday’s broadcast, Kimmel accused Kirk’s supporters of using his assassination to “score political points.” At least one local ABC affiliate had already announced plans to stop airing the program before the network’s decision.
The suspension has sparked backlash from free speech advocates, who argue that the administration’s actions amount to political censorship.
Headline
Ghana To Take More West African Deportees From US

Ghana will receive another 40 West Africans deported from the United States in the coming days, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said, after the government revealed last week a deal had been struck with Washington.
Deporting people to third countries instead of their home nations has been a hallmark of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Ghana President John Mahama announced last week that 14 deportees from the region had been sent to the country, sparking questions over their current whereabouts and pushback from the political opposition.
“On humanitarian grounds, pan-African solidarity, let us accept our fellow West Africans. And let’s make the point that Ghana is your home,” Ablakwa told Ghanaian broadcaster Channel1 TV late Wednesday.
READ ALSO:Ghana Deports Convicted Nigerian For Smuggling Fake $100,000
He said the deportees, who are vetted before arrival, will be allowed to remain in Ghana temporarily, per regional visa-free travel rules, or return to their home countries.
The Ghanaian government previously said that many of the deported west Africans had already returned to their home countries — though lawyers in the United States say at least some of them are being held in military detention in Ghana in “cruel conditions”.
Five Nigerians and Gambians deported to Ghana were granted protection from deportation by immigration authorities in the United States, their lawyers said in a Tuesday statement.
If they continue on to their countries of origin, they risk “torture, persecution or death”, said Lee Gelernt, of the American Civil Liberties Union.
READ ALSO:Ghana Accepts Nigerians, other West Africans Deported From US
In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportation of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they could have their asylum applications processed.
Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the US administration invoking an 18th-century law to remove people it has accused of being Venezuelan gang members.
Some were sent despite US judges ordering the planes carrying them to turn around.
The deportation agreement with Ghana comes as Washington has hiked tariffs on Ghanaian goods and restricted visas issued to its nationals.
Headline
Putin Has ‘Let Me Down’, Trump Laments As UK State Visit Ends

Donald Trump warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “really let me down” as he met Prime Minister Keir Starmer for wide-ranging talks on Thursday, the final day of the US president’s historic UK state visit.
A day after King Charles III treated Trump to royal pageantry at Windsor Castle, the Republican flew to Starmer’s Chequers country residence for talks on thorny issues, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Starmer has positioned himself as a bridge between Trump and European allies, particularly on the war in Ukraine, in a bid to secure more commitments for Kyiv from the US leader.
And his calls, repeated again on Thursday, for more international pressure on Putin appear to be gaining more traction with Trump, who slammed the Russian leader for continuing the war despite his efforts to stop the fighting.
Trump told a post-talks press conference that he had thought the Ukraine conflict would be the “easiest” to end “because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down. He’s really let me down.”
He urged European nations to stop buying Russian oil, saying that “if the price of oil comes down, Putin’s going to drop out of that war.”
READ ALSO: Israel-Palestine Conflict: Nigeria, 141 Countries Endorse Two-State Solution
– ‘Unbreakable bond’ –
Starmer’s warm tone with the 79-year-old Trump has won some leniency in the president’s tariff war, with the British leader saying Thursday the trade deal the two countries signed in May was the first by the US and also “the best”.
But Trump said that the pair had “one of our few disagreements” about the UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state.
The US leader also offered strong thoughts on illegal migration in the UK, revealing that “I told the Prime Minister I would stop it”, even if it meant calling in the military.
Earlier in the day, Trump hailed America’s “unbreakable bond” with Britain as he and Starmer signed a huge tech deal, boosting ties in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy.
At the signing ceremony attended by a host of US tech CEOs, Labour leader Starmer said he and Republican Trump were “leaders who genuinely like each other.”
The deal comes on the back of pledges of £150 billion ($205 billion) of investment into the UK from US giants including Microsoft, Google and Blackstone.
READ ALSO:CWC: Trump Put Your Medal In His Pocket, Took It To White House – Cucurella Tells Madueke
Trump had earlier said goodbye to King Charles at Windsor, calling him a “great gentleman and a great king” as he left the castle heading to Chequers.
Appealing to Trump’s admiration for British wartime leader Winston Churchill, Starmer led the US president on a tour of Churchill artifacts at Chequers.
Starmer is facing political troubles at home after sacking his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, over his connections to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Sex offender Epstein has also haunted Trump over recent weeks, with further revelations about the pair’s relationship in the 1990s and early 2000s.
– ‘Highest honours’ –
Having negotiated the potentially perilous press conference relatively unscathed, Starmer can claim some justification for granting Trump an unprecedented second state visit, with investment deals and deepening alignment on Ukraine to show for the diplomatic effort.
READ ALSO:Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy
Trump was Wednesday lavished with the full pomp and circumstance of the British state — the second time it has done so, after his first visit in 2019.
“This is truly one of the highest honours of my life,” Trump said at the state banquet.
The king meanwhile hailed Trump’s peace efforts and support of Ukraine, after a day featuring gun salutes, soldiers on horseback, and bagpipes, all designed to appeal to the US president’s fascination with royalty.
But he also stressed to Trump the need to protect the environment for “our children, grandchildren, and those who come after them”.
Melania Trump remained in Windsor on Thursday morning, where she met scouts with Princess Catherine, and viewed Queen Mary’s Doll’s House with Queen Camilla.
The US first lady’s husband was kept far from the British public, with an estimated 5,000 people marching through central London Wednesday to protest against his visit.
Trump was due to return to Washington later Thursday.
- Entertainment4 days ago
200-level Student Wins Car As MTN Thrills UNIBEN With Campus Invasion
- News2 days ago
10 Things Candidates Should Know About Customs Recruitment CBT Exams
- Business4 days ago
Falana Reveals Those Behind Subsidy Removal
- Politics4 days ago
Alleged Infidelity: Soludo’s Wife Issues Senator Ekwunife Ultimatum To Apologize
- News1 day ago
Air Peace Announces Recruitment For 1,000 Fresh Graduates [SEE How To APPLY]
- News4 days ago
Ossiomo Restores Power To Customers After Barely Two Weeks Outage
- Business4 days ago
Dangote Fuel Sells Cheaper In Togo Than In Nigeria – Falana Laments
- Sports4 days ago
Idahosa Hails Insurance 1-0 Thrashing Of Niger Tornadoes
- Metro4 days ago
NDLEA Arrests Indian Businessman, 3 Others Over Alleged Trafficking Of N3.9bn Tramadol
- Politics1 day ago
BREAKING: Tinubu Ends State Of Emergency In Rivers