International

Boakai Wins Liberia Presidential Election

Published

3 years ago

November 21, 2023

394 Views

Political veteran Joseph Boakai was on Monday declared winner of Liberia’s presidential election, beating incumbent George Weah, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) said after completing the ballot count.

Boakai won with 50.64 percent of the vote, against 49.36 percent of the vote for former international football star Weah, Davidetta Browne Lansanah, president of the commission, told reporters.

Boakai won with only a 20,567-vote margin.

Weah had already conceded defeat on Friday evening, based on the results of more than 99.98 percent of the polling stations.

The outgoing president and former football star won praise from abroad on Monday for conceding and promoting a non-violent transition in a region marred by coups.

Liberians have once again demonstrated that democracy is alive in the ECOWAS region and that change is possible through peaceful means,” the Economic Community of West African States said in a statement.

Since 2020, ECOWAS states have seen abrupt regime changes with military forces seizing power by force in four of the fifteen member countries: Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The election six years ago of Weah — the first African footballer to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy and the Ballon d’Or — had sparked high hopes of change in Liberia, which is still reeling from back-to-back civil wars and the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.

But critics have accused his government of corruption and him of failing to keep a promise to improve the lives of the poorest.

While his party lost, “Liberia has won,” Weah had said on radio.

Weah said he had spoken to the man he called the “president-elect” to congratulate him and urged his own supporters to accept the election result.

“This is a time for graciousness in defeat,” he said, adding “our time will come again”.

The African Union sent its congratulations to the president-elect on Monday.

AU chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat also called on “all parties to continue to display maturity and embrace dialogue to consolidate democracy”.

– ‘Defied the stereotype’ –
The West African bloc also said that the post-election phase was “crucial”, and called on “the people of Liberia to maintain and safeguard peace and security”.

However, the electoral commission head said that on Friday it had received two appeals from Weah’s party concerning the conduct of the election in Nimba County.

The commission has 30 days to investigate and reach a decision, she said.

Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who led a mediation mission for the election, said he was “deeply pleased with the successful outcome of the democratic process”, in comments posted on X, formerly Twitter.

He went on to congratulate Boakai, urging him “to be magnanimous in victory and seek to continue the efforts to unite” Liberia.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is a heavyweight in the West African bloc, commended Weah’s concession saying it had averted any form of socio-political crisis.

“He has defied the stereotype that peaceful transitions of power are untenable in West Africa,” Tinubu said.

Several presidential elections in the region are upcoming in 2024, including polls in Senegal, Ghana and Mauritania, as well as military-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso.

AFP

International

Millions Rushing To Watch Solar Eclipse in Europe

Mainland Europe has not experienced a total solar eclipse for 20 years while Spain has not witnessed one in more than a century.

Published

4 days ago

August 12, 2026

OCHEFA

48 Views

• Solar Eclipse 2026

Millions of people are turning their gaze skywards in the hope of witnessing one of nature’s greatest spectacles, a rare total solar eclipse, as it sweeps over mainland Europe to briefly turn day into night.

The Moon is first expected to blot out the Sun, leaving only the shimmering glow of its outer corona, in Russia’s remote Arctic north, before parts of Greenland and Iceland are enveloped in the arc of its eerie shadow.

Excitement is highest in Spain, where tourists thronged the streets of normally quiet villages to experience the dramatic natural phenomenon as the eclipse’s narrow path cuts across the Iberian Peninsula from the northern Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean Sea in the south.

Mainland Europe has not experienced a total solar eclipse for 20 years while Spain has not witnessed one in more than a century.

Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, however, has not seen a total solar eclipse since 1433.

Supplies of special viewing glasses were in high demand as a partial eclipse will be visible for millions more in most of Europe, Canada, the northern United States and northwest Africa.

However, a total eclipse of the Sun is expected to only be visible in a handful of places.

Credit: EURO NEWS

International

Trump cancels 175,000 visas for violations of public safety

The State Department said its continuous-vetting programme is designed to identify visa holders who violate the conditions attached to their visas, commit crimes, defraud Americans or pose public safety risks.

Published

5 days ago

August 11, 2026

OCHEFA

85 Views

The United States has revoked more than 175,000 visas issued to foreign nationals since President Donald Trump returned to office.

Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2025, when he was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

The State Department disclosed the figure on Monday, saying most cancellations followed law enforcement encounters involving criminal activity fraud, assault, reckless driving, theft and drug-related offences.

Other cases involved child molestation, fraud, embezzlement and more serious offences including kidnapping, sexual battery, domestic violence and possession of child sexual abuse material.

It stressed that obtaining a US visa does not guarantee permanent permission to enter the country, describing a US visa as a privilege rather than a right.

International

Man jailed for keeping dead mother in freezer to claim £78,000 in benefits

Passing sentence, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said Phillips repeatedly deceived medical professionals to hide the fact that his mother had died.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 4, 2026

OCHEFA

95 Views

•Christopher Phillips

A 60-year-old man has been sentenced to two years and four months in prison after keeping his late mother’s body in a chest freezer for nearly three years while fraudulently collecting more than £78,000 in her pension and benefits.

Christopher Phillips was jailed by Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court after admitting to preventing the lawful and decent burial of his 89-year-old mother, Silvia Phillips, and pleading guilty to two counts of fraud.

The court heard that Phillips concealed his mother’s death after she died on March 8, 2023, by storing her body in a chest freezer in the living room of their home in Porthcawl, Wales.

Prosecutors said he failed to notify the Department for Work and Pensions and Bridgend County Borough Council of her death, allowing her pension and benefits to continue being paid into bank accounts he could access.

Passing sentence, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said Phillips repeatedly deceived medical professionals to hide the fact that his mother had died.

“You continued to collect her prescriptions and misled medical professionals about her whereabouts, lying when enquiries were made about your mother, repeatedly telling medical staff that she did not wish to attend appointments or undergo tests,” the judge said.

(Source: Tribune)