PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA TO REPLACE HIS FINANCE MINISTER WITH HIS EX-WIFE

South African President ,Jacob Zuma is set to replace his finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan with Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma, his ex-wife.

Earlier we reported that the president will be endorsing his ex- wife as the next president and the first female leader in South Africa. Read here

According to the Congress Of The People (COPE), the move to elevate Dlamini-Zuma as finance minister is a move by President Zuma aimed at getting his ex-wife to take over as president of the ANC and hopefully, South Africa.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who had four children with President Zuma before their divorce in 1998, is being speculated as the leading candidate to take office as president at the 2019 general election.

PRESIDENT ADAMA BARROW REMOVES "ISLAMIC" FROM GAMBIA'S NAME

The Gambia new  President Adama Barrow, has removed the ‘Islamic’ title from the country’s name.

According to Aljazeera, the president made this known at his first news conference since returning to take office on Thursday, January 26.

The country was renamed Islamic Republic of The Gambia by former President Yahya Jammeh on 11 December 2015.


As at the time of making the change declaration, Jammeh said it was designed to distance the country further from its colonial past.


According to Barrow, The Gambia, despite having a 90 percent Muslim population, with the rest Christian and animist, was a republic "not the Islamic republic,"


Recall that Yahya Jammeh, who was defeated by Adama Barrow in the December 1, 2016 presidential poll, finally left the country in the evening of Saturday, January 21, 2017 after 22 years of holding sway as the president of the tiny West African country.


Barrow on the other hand finally returned to Gambia from Senegal to take over the ruling the state by 4p.m. on Thursday, January 26.

From Naij

YAHYA JAMMEH GETS A FINAL DEADLINE TO STEP DOWN OR FACE MILITARY ACTIONS !

Yahya Jammeh, who lost elections last month, have  until midday on Friday to hand over power and agree to leave the Gambia or face military action carried out by the regional bloc ECOWAS.

West African troops entered the country to bolster its new President Adama Barrow - who was sworn-in on Thursday - but military operations were suspended a few hours later in favour of a final diplomatic push to convince Jammeh, who has stubbornly refused to quit, to exit peacefully.

"We have suspended operations and given him an ultimatum," said Marcel Alain de Souza, head of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.

"If by midday he doesn't agree to leave The Gambia ... we really will intervene militarily."Final talks were being led by Guinean President Alpha Conde in the Gambia's capital, Banjul, on Friday morning, "according to de Souza.

He said a total of 7,000 troops along with tanks had been mobilised by Senegal and four other nations, which had crossed into the tiny tourist-friendly country on Thursday evening without resistance.


Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies