After a decade of mesmerizing world leaders, subduing his rivals and eking out dramatic election victories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future is suddenly in doubt. With near-final results from Israel’s election on Tuesday, he has been left well short of the parliamentary majority he had sought — not only to continue in power but also to fend off a looming corruption indictment. With over 90% of the votes counted late Wednesday, challenger Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party captured 33 seats in the 120-seat parliament, to 32 seats for Netanyahu’s conservative Likud. That leaves neither party poised to…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday challenged leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) and APC state governors on the need to institutionalise the party to guarantee its survival beyond the end of his tenure in 2023. The president gave the challenge when he received APC governors who were in the State House, Abuja, to congratulate him on Wednesday’s Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal’s judgment which upheld his election. “What I will say to chairman of the party and governors in return for your congratulating me is to make sure you really institutionalise the party so that when we leave, the party will…

Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike, has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari for his victory at the election petition tribunal. Wike said it was better to congratulate Mr Buhari publicly than to secretly visit the president at night. The tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the petition of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Mr Atiku Abubakar, against Buhari’s re-election. Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated Abubakar and about 70 other candidates in the February 2019 presidential election. Wike, apart from being one of the most influential PDP governors, has been a renowned critic of the president. “I am…

The Presidential Election Tribunal on Wednesday rejected a bid by the main opposition candidate to overturn result of February’s presidential election, which saw President Muhammadu Buhari returned to office. Defeated contender Mr Atiku Abubakar, a businessman and former vice president, was the candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). PDP said it would mount an appeal against the ruling at the Supreme Court. The defeat for Atiku was widely anticipated. Mr Buhari, a 76-year-old former military ruler, was re-elected after first taking office as an elected leader in 2015. The tribunal rejected all three of Atiku’s claims: that…