Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmad and Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki have indicated their intention to support the election of Bamanga Tukur as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They declared their supports when Tukur visited the state to campaign.
Ahmad said his support was because of Tukur's wealth of experience in public and private sectors. Saraki, who described the PDP in Kwara State as a family, said the party needed a national chairman of Tukur's calibre to transform the party.
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Daily Trust
HARARE (Reuters) - A court in Zimbabwe on Monday convicted six activists of plotting to unseat President Robert Mugabe's government by stirring up Arab Spring-style protests similar to those that toppled autocratic rulers in North Africa last year.
The group, led by Munyaradzi Gwisai, a former opposition lawmaker in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party, was found guilty of "conspiracy to commit acts of public violence" aimed at overthrowing Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African state since its independence from Britain in 1980.All defendants denied the charges.Prosecutors said that Gwisai, who heads the small but radical pressure group International Socialist Organisation, had shown fellow activists videos of popular uprisings which toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.Defense lawyers denied the activists had been plotting anti-government protests, however, saying the videos had been shown as part of an academic debate the group was having on North African politics.The group was arrested in February last year after police raided a meeting they were holding.The activists face up to 10 years in jail. Sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday.Despite public disenchantment with Mugabe's 32-year old rule, public protests against him are rare, mainly due to tough security laws.(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Ed Stoddard (http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=ed.stoddard&) and Andrew Osborn)
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