Federal government has declared Friday, March 29 and Monday, April 1, as public holidays to mark Good Friday and Easter Monday, respectively.

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, announced the public holidays in a statement issued on Wednesday by Aishetu Ndayako, permanent secretary of the ministry.

The minister urged Nigerians to emulate the sacrifice and love displayed by Jesus Christ in dying for the redemption of man.

“Easter, beyond religious significance, promotes values of love, forgiveness, and compassion, which are essential for social cohesion and harmony,” the statement reads.

“While wishing Christians at home and abroad a happy and blissful Easter celebration, the Minister also called on Nigerians to join hands with President Tinubu-led Administration in its determination to bring sustainable development and usher in prosperity for all.”

The minister further urged Nigerians to show acts of charity and generosity to help alleviate the material conditions of the less privileged among them.

Tunji-Ojo added that this was in tandem with Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.

The Cable

Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 16, militant rockets kill 1 Israeli as cross-border violence soars

A series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed 16 people and a barrage of rockets fired by the militant group Hezbollah killed one Israeli man, making Wednesday the deadliest day in more than five months of fighting along the border.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, concerns have grown about further escalation along the Israel-Lebanon frontier. Tens of thousands of people on both sides have been displaced by the violence.

Wednesday’s Israeli strikes targeted a Lebanese Sunni political and militant organization, the Islamic Group, which has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel. Two Hezbollah fighters were also killed, as was a local commander with the Amal Movement, another Shiite group.

The first Israeli airstrike hit a paramedic center affiliated with the Islamic Group, killing seven of its members in the village of Hebbariye after midnight.

Muheddine Qarhani, head of the Emergency and Relief Corps, told reporters at the scene that the paramedic center had been set up late last year. He said he was surprised a medical group had been targeted.

Israel said it killed an Islamic Group member involved in attacks against Israel, as well as several other militants.

Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, the head of the Israeli army’s Northern Command, said Israel was operating against the Islamic Group and had struck a “large number of operatives” and was also conducting “very significant strikes” against Hezbollah.

“We are at war. We have been at war for almost half a year now, and it doesn’t end with Hezbollah,” he told a gathering of commanders.

Hours after the airstrike, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing rockets into the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona and a military base. Hezbollah said it was retaliating for the deadly attack on the paramedic center.

Rescue services in Israel said a 25-year-old man was killed when a direct hit sparked a fire in an industrial park in Kiryat Shmona. Footage from the scene showed thick black smoke pouring out of a building.

Another person was lightly injured. Around 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel, according to the Israeli military.

Nada Khleif was in her small bakery in Hebbariyeh when the strike heavily damaged her business and a nearby apartment, where two of her relatives were unharmed.

“The bakery was my only means of living. It is gone now,” she said.

The Lebanese news agency said Israel bombed the village of Teir Harfa after sunset, killing five, and a second strike killed four people as paramedics gathered near a cafe in the coastal town of Naqoura.

Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Society said two of its paramedics were killed in Teir Harfa.

The Islamic Risala Scout Association, also a paramedic group, said one of its members was killed in the strike on Naqoura.

The Amal movement of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the strike on Naquora killed one of its local commanders, identified as Ali Mahdi. Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed without saying where they were struck.

The near-daily violence has mostly been confined to the area along the border, and international mediators are scrambling to prevent an all-out war. The fighting has killed nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel. Nearly 240 Hezbollah fighters and about 40 civilians have died in Lebanon.

Hezbollah began launching rockets toward Israel on Oct. 8, the day after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack that sparked the crushing war in Gaza.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin issues F-16 warning to Ukraine sponsors

Should the US-made fighter jets make it to Ukraine, Russia will destroy them just as it has other Western equipment so far, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Several NATO members have promised to donate their F-16s to Kiev and have trained Ukrainian pilots to fly them, but no deliveries have been made as of yet. Russia has repeatedly warned the West that fielding the nuclear-capable jets will be an unacceptable escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

“If they deliver the F-16s, I think you know better than others that this will not change the situation on the battlefield,” the president said. “And we will destroy these planes just as we have destroyed tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including multiple launch rocket systems.”

The comments came during Putin’s visit to the Torzhok Air Base in Tver Region, home of the 344th Training Center for Russian combat pilots, including personnel being trained to take part in the Ukraine conflict.

In case the F-16s flown by Ukrainian pilots end up getting based in third countries, they will be legitimate targets for Russian aviation, Putin added.

“Of course, if they are used from airfields of third countries, they become a legitimate target for us, wherever they are located,” the Russian president stated.

Russia is well aware that the 1970s jet can potentially carry nuclear weapons, and this will be taken into account in combat operations, he noted.

Kiev has lost much of its air force over the past two years, including the Soviet-era jets donated by several NATO members as replacements. The Ukrainian government eventually asked the US-led bloc for the F-16s.

The single-engine fighter is a late 1970s design, originally manufactured by General Dynamics before it was acquired by Lockheed Martin. It requires pristine runways, which are in short supply in Ukraine, prompting speculation that Ukrainian-operated jets might be stationed in nearby NATO countries instead. 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia may have used new guided bomb to attack Ukraine's Kharkiv, local officials say

Russia may have used a new type of guided bomb in airstrikes on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that killed at least one person on Wednesday, local officials said.

The officials said four children including a three-month-old baby were among 19 people wounded in Kharkiv in the latest strikes since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some of which have caused blackouts, including in Kharkiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack as "Russian terror" and Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Moscow may have used a new type of guided bomb which he described as the UMPB D-30.

"This is something between a guided aerial bomb which they (the Russians) have used recently, and a missile. It's a flying bomb so to say," Tymoshko said at the site of the strike.

Regional governor Oleh Synehubov also suggested Moscow may have used a new type of bomb, saying: "It seems that the Russians decided to test their modified bombs on the residents of the houses."

Russia did not immediately comment on their remarks. It denies targeting civilians although the war has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and destroyed towns and cities.

Two residential buildings and a medical institution were partially destroyed, and a total of 14 buildings, including an educational facility, were damaged, Synehubov said on the Telegram messenger.

NEW ATTACK AFTER MIDNIGHT

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, also writing on Telegram, reported another strike after midnight on a city district that destroyed a restaurant and smashed windows in an adjacent building. There were no injuries.

Prosecutors in Kharkiv region reported that a 12-year-old boy was killed when Russian forces shelled the town of Borova, southeast of Kharkiv.

Police cordoned off a five-storey residential building that had been hit, its windows blown out and balconies badly damaged.

"Some people were unlucky. One person was killed, others have shrapnel wounds," said Kateryna Velnychuk, who was with her boyfriend in the building when it was hit.

At the scene, a man with a bandaged head sifted through the rubble of a damaged apartment in search of two cats, which he eventually found alive.

A dead body covered with a jacket lay near the entrance to the building. There was blood on the pavement.

Kharkiv and the surrounding region have frequently been attacked with missiles and drones during more than two years of war, but the use of large-calibre guided bombs is unusual for the city.

"Russian terror against the city is becoming increasingly heinous," Zelenskiy said on X, and urged Ukraine's allies to supply more air defences and fighter jets.

"There is no rational explanation for why Patriots (missiles), which are plentiful around the world, are still not covering the skies of Kharkiv and other cities and communities under attack by Russian terrorists," he said.

RT/Reuters

From the description of the VIP treatment given the two Binance executives abducted by the Nigerian government in a Mohammed bin Salman’s Ritz-Carlton style, one gets the impression that they did not think their tactic through. They detained the men (Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan) deemed economic sabotages, still allowed them several privileges, somehow forgot to put them on a watch list, and one of them managed to escape. Nigeria’s handling of the Binance affair suggests that their detention and proposed trial were half-hearted. So desperate was the government to find a scapegoat that they invited Binance officials, detained them, and demanded $10bn from their employers.

The government alleges that some unscrupulous elements use Binance for money laundering, terrorist financing, currency speculation and market manipulation, thus distorting the Nigerian economy and weakening the Naira against other currencies. Nigeria also accused them of offering taxable services without remitting taxes to the country. The government said over $21.6bn was traded by Nigerians whose identities were concealed by Binance. These accusations are grievous, and I agree that they should be addressed. However, it was foolish to arrest, detain the Binance officials, and demand money. Even the bandits that abduct schoolchildren for a living are far more tactical. By doing that, Nigeria overplayed its hand.

People like to come up with how the United States similarly extracted $4.3bn from Binance to justify the detention of Anjarwalla and Gambaryan, but seem to forget that the US—despite the leverage it has over Binance since the country is their major market— did not resort to abducting company officials and demanding payment. They spent years piling up evidence and going to court. Their prosecutors demonstrated that Binance violated federal anti-money laundering and sanctions laws through lapses in its internal controls. They failed to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions involving designated terrorist groups including Hamas, al Qaeda, and ISIS. Prosecutors also alleged that Binance’s platform supported the sale of child sexual abuse materials and was among the largest recipients of ransomware proceeds.

Nigeria has relatively little leverage over transnational corporations like the US does, and we would have done far better by addressing the situation through the instrument of the law, diplomacy, policies, technical expertise, and moral suasions. If Binance has not been remitting taxes to Nigeria, we should create a policy framework and technical structure that facilitates it. The fact that they sent two of their workers to Nigeria suggests good faith on their part. We should have worked hand in hand with the company to resolve the issues raised.

But trust Nigerian officials. They like gragra. Thinking through situations can be too tasking for them, so they quickly resort to the sole weapon of their warfare: force. Everything must be remedied through a blatant show of force. What exactly did they think they would achieve by abducting two Binance officials and demanding $10bn?

Think about it: if you were the CEO of Binance and asked to give up information regarding transactions worth $21.6bn in exchange for two company officials, would you? You would consider that paying the ransom might not secure your company officials. Besides, if you allowed yourself to be blackmailed, what would stop other broke countries and individuals from seizing your officials and demanding payment? So, how should you respond?

Well, you will first disconnect the men’s access to any of the company’s operating systems so that they will have no means of giving up valuable information, even under duress. You will make the necessary diplomatic and legal moves to get your officials released, but you will also steady yourself to wait out Nigeria. What you will not do is hand over money or information to the abductor.  Even if those men die in Nigerian custody, it would still be far cheaper to pay their families some compensation than to yield grounds. Even if you pay their families $100m each, it is still not up to one per cent of the sum at stake.

I listened to a television interview where a talking head said Nigeria should extradite Anjarwalla. Why keep escalating errors? It was bad enough that Nigeria started what it had no idea how to finish, it is imprudent to keep expending resources over inanity. Did anyone study the company organogram to determine that these “executives” are central to decision-making in Binance to the point that taking them hostage ever made sense? Even now, it is more than likely that their job with Binance has been terminated. If an abducted employee manages to return in a dramatic escape, you would rightly wonder if it were not a ploy by the abductors to get access to the company by other means. In case the abducted had been brainwashed, you would either place him on an administrative leave or pay him a severance pay. Of what use would further pursuing Anjarwalla be to Nigeria?

The trouble with the Binance affair is the Nigerian tendency to blame spurious factors for its economic woes. Nigeria vs. Binance is a recrudescence of that time when CBN governor Godwin Emefiele blamed abokifx—a website that reports exchange rate figures—for tanking the national currency. I thought that had to be one of the most thoughtless moves ever in the history of national banking until the present administration repeated it with Binance. At some point, they started arresting BDC owners for driving up forex through their speculative activities. There was also a time when the Emefiele clown also blamed the Nigerians who collected Business Travel Allowance and ended up not travelling abroad for driving up the exchange rate. Everything, except the real issues of our mono-economy as administered by our perennially visionless leaders, is to be blamed.

It does not seem these people think through the implication of blaming national woes on singular entities. Not only do you display imprudence by thusly broadcasting your vulnerability, but you also give yourself away as inept and lacking the capability to think through situations other countries face but choose to approach with reasonable solutions.

The Binance charade is another misstep by Nigerian leaders dealing with transnational corporations in the age of the internet. We are so wired into demonstrating forcefulness on issues that require rational judgment that we seem to forget that our local gragra ways go nowhere on the international market. Unlike our local cases where a tomato review gets a poor woman arrested, global capitalism is complex and cannot brook the puerility of the Nigerian extrajudicial methods. We did the same unsophisticated thing with the then Twitter (now X). We even inaugurated a committee of old men to go to Silicon Valley to negotiate with Twitter, but what came out of it? Twitter comfortably neglected Nigeria and their share price did not even drop. They proved that the Nigerian market is negligible in the global scheme of things. Binance too had no problem barring Nigerians from its app and that in itself is quite telling. If we were a profitable market, they would not have walked away from us so easily.

I hope the incident teaches our aged leaders who like to make a show of how much they support youths, digital economy, and global technology that the world is no longer what they know it to be. The internet has changed the world in such drastic ways that countries like Nigeria where lawmakers debate social media regulations waste their time. To succeed in the new world being unfolded, you must drop gragra tactics and commit to learning so you can propose reasonable solutions.

As for Gambaryan, they should let him go his way. That these men were labelled “executives” and sent to Africa does not mean they have any real power in the corporation. Even if you abduct their CEO for $10bn, you will be surprised how the company board of shareholders will rather give him up than give up money. Binance trades capital, not sentiments.

Punch

Chioma Okoli, a 39-year-old entrepreneur from Lagos, is being prosecuted and sued in civil court for allegedly breaching the country’s cybercrime laws, in a case that has gripped the West African nation and sparked protests by locals who believe she is being persecuted for exercising her right to free speech.

What did she say?

Okoli, a small-scale importer of children’s wear, told CNN that on September 17 she asked her 18,000 followers on Facebook to share their opinions about a tomato puree she bought in place of her usual brands, saying she found it too sweet.

Her post, accompanied by a photo of an opened can of Nagiko Tomato Mix, produced by local company Erisco Foods Limited, sparked varied reactions from commenters, one of whom replied: “Stop spoiling my brother’s product. If (you) don’t like it, use another one than bring it to social media or call the customer service.”

Okoli responded: “Help me advise your brother to stop ki***ing people with his product, yesterday was my first time of using and it’s pure sugar.”

A week later, on September 24, she was arrested.

In legal filings seen by CNN, the Nigeria Police Force alleged that Okoli used her Facebook account “with the intention of instigating people against Erisco Foods,” adding in a statement on March 7 that it had “unearthed compelling evidence” against her from its preliminary investigations.

According to the police, Okoli was charged with “instigating Erisco Foods Limited, knowing the said information to be false under Section 24 (1) (B) of Nigeria’s Cyber Crime Prohibition Act.”

If found guilty, she could face up to three years in jail or a fine of 7 million naira (around $5,000), or both.

Okoli was separately charged with conspiring with two other individuals “with the intention of instigating people against Erisco Foods Limited,” which the charge sheet noted was punishable under Section 27(1)(B) of the same act. She risks a seven-year sentence if convicted of this charge.

CNN has reached out to Facebook for comment.

Okoli is also being sued in a separate civil case brought by Erisco, which said in a statement issued on January 19 that it was defending its reputation after her comments “resulted in several suppliers deciding to disassociate themselves from us.”

The Lagos-based food company said it also “suffered the loss of multiple credit lines” and had therefore filed a civil lawsuit against Okoli that sought 5 billion naira (more than $3 million) in damages. This case is due to be heard on May 20, her lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, told CNN.

A spokesman for Erisco Foods, Nnamdi Nwokolo, told CNN the company would not speak further on the case “because it is pending in a court of competent jurisdiction.”

Public apology required

Okoli, who’s currently pregnant with her fourth child, told CNN she was arrested by plainclothes police while she was in church in Lagos and detained in a leaky police cell.

“I was put in the cell around 6 p.m. (on September 24). There were no seats, so I stood all through till the next day. My legs were inside the water (that came in from the leaking roof). Sometimes, I squatted to reduce the pressure on my legs. I was thinking about my children who were at home. I was talking to myself. I would think, I would pray, I was messed up,” she said.

The following day, Okoli was flown to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and held at a police station until her release on administrative bail was finalized a day later, she said.

Agreeing to apologize publicly to Erisco was a condition of her release on bail, she said, but her lawyer, Effiong, told CNN she agreed to this under duress and therefore did not apologize after her release.

The police filed their case against Okoli in an Abuja court on October 5.

The first court hearing took place on December 7. She was represented by her lawyer but did not attend in person.

Okoli told CNN that a month later, on January 9, police entered her Lagos home and attempted to arrest her, despite a restraining order issued by a court on November 8 barring her arrest without a court order. CNN has seen a copy of the restraining order.

“They stayed in my building from 6:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. My children couldn’t go to school that day and we couldn’t go out to get food because the cooking gas was finished,” she said. Eventually, she said, the police left.

National police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi told CNN he could not comment on the case as the matter was in court.

“We will comment on the case when the court decides,” Adejobi said.

Countersuit against police and food company

Effiong told CNN that Okoli’s legal team was now gearing up for the two legal cases, which he described as a David vs. Goliath battle.

“In this case, we believe that David is right, and Goliath is wrong,” Effiong said.

In October, he filed a 500 million naira ($361,171) countersuit on behalf of Okoli against both Erisco and the police at a Lagos court, challenging her arrest and detention, which he said violated her constitutional rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.

In court papers relating to the countersuit, Effiong argued that his client’s arrest was also a breach of her constitutional right to freedom of expression. He said that he would also ask the Abuja court where she is being tried for cybercrime violations to transfer the case to Lagos, where she lives, at the next hearing, set for April 18.

Hard to prove

Nigerian legal and public affairs analyst Kelechukwu Uzoka told CNN that there are limits to the freedom of speech defense.

“No law guarantees absolute freedom,” he said. “While we have our freedom of expression, there are limitations. You can’t defame or malign someone.”

However, he added that “cybercrime is difficult to prove in court. You have to prove actual harm when the post was made. Erisco must prove that the Facebook post (by Okoli) affected its business as at the point it was made.” He noted that in Okoli’s post, she used a word with three asterisks, which could be open to interpretation.

“Harassment and intimidation of Chioma Okoli must end now,” Amnesty International Nigeria said earlier this month, as Nigerians began crowdfunding online to support her legal fees.

Okoli’s case has sparked protests at Erisco’s Lagos facility as many on social media called for a boycott of its products. The company’s founder, Eric Umeofia, refused to budge, however, saying in a recent documentary on the local Arise Television channel that he won’t drop the lawsuit against Okoli and that he would “rather die than allow someone to tarnish my image I worked 40 years to grow.”

CNN

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Tuesday, raised the interest rate by 200 basis points from 22.75 per cent to 24.75 per cent amid soaring inflation.

The central bank made this known after the two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held between Monday and Tuesday.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s latest annual inflation rate jumped to 31.70 per cent from 29.90 per cent a month prior, primarily fueled by a continuous surge in food prices.

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, on Tuesday, disclosed that the MPC voted to adjust the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +100 to -300 basis points.

He said the committee voted to retain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 45 per cent for commercial banks and adjust the CRR of merchant banks from 10 per cent to 14 per cent.

The committee also voted to retain the liquidity at 30 per cent.

According to him, the committee’s considerations focused on the current inflationary pressures and the need to anchor inflation expectations as well as ensure sustained exchange rate stability.

“These considerations underscore the importance of the ECB and its commitment to the price stability mandate and the need to urgently bring inflation under control to ensure that the purchasing power of ordinary Nigerians is restored in the short to medium term.

“Members noted the continued rise in headline inflation driven largely by food prices, because of supply shortages, and high cost of Logistics and Distribution. The committee, therefore, was of the view that addressing food insecurity is key to containing current inflationary pressures.

“On this note, members commended the ongoing efforts of the federal government towards addressing food insecurity. Some of these measures include the provision of various palliatives release of grains from the strategic reserves, distribution of seeds and fertilisers as well as farm implements for dry season farming. The committee therefore called for the full implementation of the federal government’s agricultural policies and programmes to improve food supply and further advised for broader fiscal consolidation, particularly on the improvements of tax collection and tax to GDP ratio,” he said.

Cardoso said the committee will continue to monitor developments in the global and domestic economies to ensure that inflationary expectations are anchored to restore and sustain macroeconomic stability.

He announced that the next meeting of the MPC will be held on 20 and 21 May.

PT

Reactions have trailed bandits seen in viral videos displaying cash supposedly collected from victims.

Videos of the ransoms were uploaded on Tiktok.

The monies were seen in a series of post on X by a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst, Zagazola Makama.

Makama said the user of the social network account has over 3000 followers.

He noted that some of them are bandits who openly show off their rifles and are dressed in military or police uniforms.

“Audacity: Bandit on Tiktok flaunting and showing off ransom money he collected from his victims.”

“The user of the account has 3000 followers, some of them are bandits who openly show off their rifles and are dressed in military or police uniforms.

“Tiktok platform has given room for insurgents to promote their campaign of terror without being restricted,” he wrote.

The post has elicited anger.

Writing via @tundealuko, one Tunde Aluko said: “Bandit has a social media account and ‘can’t be found” random user post a comment about EFCC chairman and was arrested under 2 weeks.”

@mobilisingniger: “The annoying thing is the video was taken 3days ago. There is a video where he was showing where he went to collect ransom from his victim.”

@Sikowitz17: “If someone insulted the IGP or the presidency and had a video showing his face on TikTok or Twitter. He’d have been arrested within hours.”

@Kings_Things: “Openly showing off rifles and flexing on the gram, Nigerian security forces refuse to do anything to apprehend them. Every Nigerian deserves the right to legally own a gun to protect themselves because no one will protect you better than yourself.”

@obajemujnr: “Security can track anyone who dares insult politicians, but they can’t track b@ndits flaunting ill-gotten wealth on TikTok. That speaks volumes.”

@aamowuN: “Nigerian police spokesman brazenly bragged here that he can locate anyone who called out the Nigerian police on social media within minutes but can’t locate bandit who roam freely on social media. Abi the rule of location does not apply to terrorists?”

@AmaraDeborah1: “Thinking TikTok is the problem here is crazy. This is an evidence of a failed state. A country that massages ego of terrorists, negotiated (fund them), reintegrates the arrested ones into the society and pays them, then sets up armoured vehicles to raze down civilian communities.”

@toyeebarowona: “The government is doing a lot to fight terrorism but this might be a wake up call to the government to do more in its war against terrorism. We can’t allow miscreants to mock us as a nation.”

@VictorFargo: “Nigeria insecurity crisis have given insurgents the audacity to post on social media. Don’t blame it on tiktok, this is an easy opportunity to track them.”

@Tsure1∅1: “These people are completely animal. You are calling the name of God to do evil, kill, and rob people because of the guns you have in your possession.”

Daily Trust

Togolese lawmakers adopted a new constitution on Monday, moving the country from a presidential to a parliamentary system and giving parliament the power to elect the president of the small West African country.

The president will be chosen “without debate” by lawmakers “for a single six-year term”, and not by the public, according to the new text.

The vote comes less than a month before the next legislative elections in Togo, but it is not yet known when the change — which was approved with 89 votes in favour, one against and one abstention — will come into force.

Currently, the president can serve a maximum of two five-year terms.

The change to the constitution, proposed by a group of lawmakers mostly from the Union for the Republic (UNIR) ruling party, was adopted almost unanimously.

The country’s opposition, which boycotted the last legislative elections in 2018 and denounced “irregularities” in the electoral census, is poorly represented in the national assembly.

The new constitution also introduces the position of “president of the council of ministers” with “full authority and power to manage the affairs of the government and to be held accountable accordingly.”

The president of the council of ministers is “the leader of the party or the leader of the majority coalition of parties following the legislative elections. The position will be held for a six-year term,” according to the text.

“The head of state is practically divested of his powers in favour of the president of the council of ministers, who becomes the person who represents the Togolese Republic abroad, and who effectively leads the country in its day-to-day management,” said Tchitchao Tchalim, chairman of the national assembly’s committee on constitutional laws, legislation and general administration.

The new text will mark Togo’s entry into its fifth republic, with the last major constitutional change dating back to 1992.

It comes less than a month before the next legislative elections, due to be held on April 20 at the same time as regional elections, in which the opposition has announced its participation.

In 2019, members of parliament revised the constitution to limit presidential terms to two, but it did not apply retrospectively, leaving President Faure Gnassingbe free to stand for the next two elections.

Gnassingbe — in power since 2005 — succeeded his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, who seized power in a coup more than 50 years ago.

The Guardian

Israel confirms Hamas deputy military commander killed in Israeli strike

Hamas deputy military commander Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli strike this month, Israel's military spokesperson said on Tuesday, confirming reports from earlier in the month.

"We have checked all the intelligence," Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement. "Marwan Issa was eliminated in the strike we carried out around two weeks ago," he said.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Issa was at the top of Israel's most-wanted list together with Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who are believed to have masterminded the group's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia delivers strike at Ukrainian intelligence decision-making centers

Russian forces delivered a combined strike by long-range precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukrainian intelligence decision-making centers and sites and foreign mercenaries’ deployment areas over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"During the last 24-hour period, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a combined strike by seaborne and ground-based long-range precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against SBU [Ukrainian Security Service] decision-making centers and sites, military-industrial enterprises and deployment areas of Ukrainian Neo-Nazi formations and foreign mercenaries. All the targets were struck. The goals of the strike were achieved," the ministry said in a statement.

On March 16-22, Russian troops delivered 49 retaliatory strikes with precision weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in response to Kiev’s shelling of Russian populated areas and attempts to break through into its territory, the ministry reported.

On March 24, Russia’s Aerospace Forces delivered a combined strike by air-launched precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukrainian electric power and gas-extracting industry sites and naval drone assembly workshops.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Security Council permanent members that the enemy’s strikes delivered against Russia’s populated areas during the presidential election would trigger a retaliatory strike.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian missile attack hits Russian warship and reconnaissance vessel, navy says

A Ukrainian missile attack struck a Russian naval reconnaissance vessel and a large landing warship that Moscow captured from Kyiv during the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, Ukraine's navy said on Tuesday.

Ukraine hit the vessels during an attack on Crimea at the weekend, the navy said. The fact of that strike was already known, but the military had said it hit two other warships, the Azov and Yamal large landing ships.

The navy said the Konstantin Olshansky large landing ship was struck with a Neptune anti-ship missile, sustaining damage that Kyiv was still assessing.

"Currently, this ship is not combat-capable," navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said on national television, adding that the Ivan Khurs reconnaissance vessel had also been hit.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which Moscow used to project power into the Mediterranean and Middle East before the war, has suffered a string of blows as Ukraine has picked off warships and even a submarine with naval drones and missiles.

Earlier this month, Russia confirmed the appointment of a new head of its navy in what was seen in Ukraine as tacit acknowledgement of the success of their naval attacks even though Ukraine does not have any large warships of its own.

The Konstantin Olshansky, then a Ukrainian warship, was captured by Russia along with much of the Ukrainian navy in 2014 when the Kremlin's troops seized control of Crimea, the traditional base of the Black Sea Fleet.

Russia cannibalised the vessel for parts for other landing ships, Pletenchuk said.

But Ukrainian strikes on large landing ships created a shortage and forced the Russian navy to prepare the ship to be brought back into service over the past year, he said.

"It had gone through a renovation and was being prepared for use against Ukraine, so unfortunately the decision was taken to strike this (ship)," he said.

He added that a Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missile was used for the strike.

"Out of 13 (large landing ships), four have been destroyed, four are being repaired, and five are in working order," he said.

The Yamal and Azov warships that were also hit over the weekend have been taken for repairs, Pletenchuk said.

The battle in the Black Sea is important for Ukraine, which wants to secure a vital export corridor for its grain, metal and other cargo to international markets despite attempts by Russia to impose a de-facto sea blockade.

Ukraine controls several hundred kilometres of Black Sea coastline despite Russian occupation of some of its southern regions.

Tass/Reuters