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Syndicated News from BeninInsalubrité à Pobè: Les populations peinent à assainir leur cadre de vieDate Added: Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:43:18 GMT+00:00
Actualité politique nationale: UN et ABT 2011 unis pour l'alternanceDate Added: Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:43:13 GMT+00:00
Commémoration des 20 ans de la Conférence des forces vives de la nation...Date Added: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:34:23 GMT+00:00
VISITE AU BENIN DU SECRETAIRE D'ETAT ADJOINT : AMERICAIN AUX...Date Added: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:39:15 GMT+00:00
Absence de réponse à la question écrite de l'Honorable Janvier YAHOUEDEHOU...Date Added: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:00:57 GMT+00:00
Results 1 - 10 of 2 Headlines for Benin
Benin HeadlinesResults Page: 1,TIDJANI, CROSS BORDER, KINGPIN ARRIVES IN ABUJADate Added: Tuesday, September 16th, 2003Contributed by: RCN Administrator
NIGERIAN security operatives, led by the Inspector General of Police Tafa Balogun, officially took over the custody of Hammani Tidjani, the notorious crime kingpin whose cross border robbery spans Nigeria, Benin Republic and Burkina Faso.
Hammani arrived Abuja for further questioning Friday night. He was arrested in his hotel hideout in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso capital, with three other suspected members of his gang, according to a police source.
"It was a commitment made by the security operatives of the three affected countries after the closure of the Nigeria-Benin Republic border last month and the surveillance team recorded success on Thursday," the source said.
An aide to Mr. Chris Olakpe, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) told The Guardian that because of finishing touches to the hand over ceremony, the FPRO could not answer telephone interviews.
But he said that the officers of Interpol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were involved in the meeting.
Mr. Young Arebamen, Lagos State Police Commissioner, in a phone interview, confirmed that the party that went to Benin Republic to receive the notorious robber "arrived in Abuja last night (Friday night) but the case is being handled at the Force Headquarters."
To him, with such breakthrough, Nigerians can now breath a sigh of relief, as the police no longer have to contend with internationally induced armed robberies.
The team arrived in Abuja very late in the night, citing security reasons for such. It was learnt that not less than 15 assorted luxury cars, ranging from Jeep to Mercedes convertibles, were found within the operational base of Tidjani.
The news of his arrest reportedly threw Cotonou and other major cities in Benin Republic and Burkina Faso into instant jubilation as residents who had been weary of the heartless robber and his gang danced openly in the streets.
To avoid his men being put at alert, police officials said that the convoy that conveyed him to Benin Republic and finally to Abuja adopted security measures, including avoiding the use of siren.
The Federal Government was said to have volunteered to sponsor the cost of tracking down the kingpin, which was said to have run into millions of dollars, after the meeting between Kerekou, the Beninois President and President Olusegun Obasanjo.
But a presidency source said that given the loss of lives and materials incurred by the country through armed robbery incidents carried out by Tidjani and his men across West Africa, no amount would be too much to be spent so long as there is a positive result.
The 32-year-old Tidjani took off from Benin Republic last month when that country's government set up a team of military detectives to track him and another notorious armed robber from Niger, said to be his partner in crime.
From the surveillance report, Tidjani, who controlled not less than 15 armed robbery gangs, hails from Niger Republic, though unconfirmed reports said he had spent some years in Nigeria before relocating to Cotonou.
Also, 80 per cent of the cars allegedly found with foreign numberplates, some with diplomatic numbers, were snatched from major Nigerian cities, including Lagos and its environs.
Meanwhile, Beninois detectives led by a military intelligence officers, had undertaken searches of the residence of top government functionaries in order to recover expensive flashy cars snatched at gun points in various cities of Nigeria by Tidjani's gang and sold to them at give away prices.
Some of the searches had yielded positive results. According to the latest edition of L'INDEPENDENT, a weekly magazine, published in Cotonou, Benin's economic capital, some of the stolen cars had been retrieved from some of these officials.
Two stolen luxury cars were recovered from the residence of Pierre Osho, the Deputy Defence Minister and another vehicle from Herve Kerekou, son of President Mathieu Kerekou.
This weekly magazine further stated that Tidjani sold stolen cars from Nigeria to Eustache Akpovi, a legislator, Desire Vodonou, member, National House of Assembly and Lambert Dagba, a businessman.
Diplomatic sources revealed that many more of these cars had been retrieved from some top security and civilian officials in Cotonou, Parakou and Porto-.
These startling discoveries by the military detectives have profoundly shocked Kerekou, who reportedly wondered privately the extent to which some of his close aides are associated with Hammani Tidjani.
"It was the catalogues of crimes committed by Hammani Tidjani and presented to General Mathieu Kerekou by President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria that opened the eyes of Kerekou to the level of corruption within the country's security apparatus.
"This mainly explains why for so many years Tidjani was treated with kid gloves and given red carpet treatment in highly influential social circles. I am very confident that Kerekou will get to the bottom of this Mafia controlled crime", declared an African diplomat, who pleaded for anonymity.
Reliable sources indicate that these military detectives had commenced investigations into the sources of some of the luxury cars with diplomatic plate numbers from Niger Embassy in Cotonou.
Tidjani, who is from Niger Republic allegedly "sold" stolen cars to embassy officials only to later retrieve and sell them off to "unsuspected and gullible buyers" in retrun for a handsome handshake to these embassy officials from maestro Hammani Tidjani.
The search for this international car snatcher has, so far not yielded the expected results. Unconfirmed reports earlier indicated that he might have fled, with the complicity of some security officials, to either Togo or Burkina Faso.
And President Mathieu Kerekou had reportedly sent special envoys to his Togolese and Burkina Faso counterparts, urging them to apprehend and extradite Hammani Tidjani whenever he set his feet on their territories.
In Cotonou, there are unconfirmed reports that Kerekou is in the process of reorganising the country's security apparatus with a view to removing corrupt elements who had soiled the name of the country, that was recently reported to be one of the few non-corruptible security organisations in West Africa.Results Page:
NIGERIA: REDEFINING REGIONAL POSITIONDate Added: Tuesday, August 12th, 2003Contributed by: RCN Administrator
Nigeria: Redefining Regional Position
Summary A recent move by Nigeria to shut its border with Benin illustrates Abuja's growing confidence in its new role as regional policeman for the United States. It also hints that Nigeria soon may adopt more hegemonistic policies toward its West African neighbors. Analysis Nigeria in recent days closed its border with neighboring Benin, citing an intolerable level of cross-border crime. Military forces have placed tanks and police vehicles on highways at the major checkpoint near Seme in order to block traffic. The decision to shut the border indicates growing tensions between the two states. Benin is the main transit route for illicit trade from Nigeria -- especially for smuggled fuel -- and Abuja's move will directly impact the country's $2.6 billion economy. Of greater significance, the border closing reflects Nigeria's growing sense of confidence. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, having won re-election and now becoming a proxy serving U.S. interests in the region, is now setting out to redefine Nigeria's regional role. West Africa is dominated by oil-producing countries -- and, by extension, oil consumers' investments. Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome, Cameroon, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire and even Ghana and Togo, as well as Nigeria, either produce oil or are the sites of current energy exploration projects. With a number of multinational companies operating in each of these countries, outside powers are taking greater interest and involvement in the region's political affairs. In the past, this has meant that Nigeria competed with Britain, China, France, Libya and the United States for influence over its neighbors. Now, that situation has changed: Washington's fears of instability have forced it to rely heavily upon cooperation from Nigeria -- the largest, wealthiest and most militarily powerful country in the region. Nigeria therefore is emerging as a deputy for U.S. policies in the region. For example, the recent deployment of Nigerian peacekeepers in Liberia is a direct result of the new cooperation between Abuja and Washington. The country's mediation between government and rebel forces following a coup in Sao Tome and Principe in July also came at the behest of the United States, which is considering the archipelago as a potential naval base. Nigeria's dispute with Benin over crime along their border likely has nothing to do with U.S. policies or goals, but it nonetheless is an indicator of confidence that Abuja will suffer no negative consequences if it takes punitive action against Benin. Obasanjo is scheduled to meet Benin's president, Mathieu Kerekou, in the Nigerian border town of Badagry in the coming days to discuss the border closure. Summoning his Beninese counterpart to Nigerian territory for a meeting is a clear demonstration of Abuja's power and Benin's relative weakness. This is the key to Nigeria's new worldview. With the United States relying upon Abuja to keep order in the region, with the country's oil wealth and with Obasanjo firmly ensconced in Aso Rock, Nigeria is well positioned to reshape relations with its neighbors. Perceiving itself to be in a strengthened position, and with at least tacit support from the United States, Nigeria may revisit and renegotiate several unresolved political issues in the coming months -- including the details of its handover of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, maritime boundaries with Sao Tome and pipeline deals with Ghana. ................................................................... CONTACT INFORMATION: Product inquiries, partnership, and sales: marketing@stratfor.com Subscription and customer service issues: service@stratfor.com Comments and/or information for analysis: analysis@stratfor.com Media services and trade show requests: PR@stratfor.com |
