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Hassan reelected as Tanzania's President amid Controversy

Ken Akpan The Tanzania’s electoral Commission on Saturday, November 1, 2025, declared President Samia Suluhu Hassan as the winner of the presidential election held on October 29, 2025, amid rising controversies. The commissioner declared that Hassan won with nearly 98% of the votes, an election that set off violent protests across the country this week. ALSO READ >>> Election protesters in Tanzania persist, defy Army Chief The result hands Hassan, who took power in 2021 after the death in office of her predecessor, a five-year term to govern the East African country of 68 million people. Protests erupted during Wednesday’s election for president and parliament, with some demonstrators tearing down banners of Hassan and setting fire to government buildings and police firing teargas and gunshots. Demonstrators are angry about the electoral commission’s exclusion of Hassan’s two biggest challengers from the race and what they described as widespread repression...

Senate passes Wildlife Protection Bill

Rufus Okoro
The Nigeria’s Senate has passed the Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill, 2024, a legislation aimed at curbing wildlife trafficking and strengthening environmental protection.

The bill, already approved by the House of Representatives in May 2025, now awaits President Bola Tinubu’s assent to become law.

The new law overhauls the 1985 Endangered Species Act, introducing tougher penalties, wider investigative powers, and financial tracking mechanisms to target wildlife traffickers.

It also aligns Nigeria’s laws with global conventions such as CITES, enabling cross-border investigations and extraditions.

The sponsor of the bill and deputy chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Terseer Ugbor, hailed its passage as “a huge win for Nigeria,” saying it would protect the nation’s wildlife and natural heritage.

Nigeria has faced global scrutiny for its role as a transit hub in illegal wildlife trade, with the United Nations reports linking it to the trafficking of over 30 tonnes of ivory and millions of pangolin scales in recent years.

Environmental groups, including the Africa Nature Investors Foundation, EIA UK, and Wild Africa, praised the Senate’s move and urged swift presidential assent ahead of next month’s UN CITES meeting in Uzbekistan.

Once signed into law, the bill would empower enforcement agencies to pursue wildlife crimes more effectively and position Nigeria as a leader in conservation efforts across Africa.