By RFIPosted on 14-11-2019Modified on 14-11-2019 at 21:38
After three years of absence, opponent Hama Amadou returned to Niger on Thursday 14 November. The former president of the National Assembly was sentenced to one year in prison for a case of alleged international trafficking of babies. The leader of the opposition had been evacuated to France in 2016 while serving his sentence. Thursday night, he was greeted by hundreds of supporters.
Hama Amadou arrived in the middle of the afternoon from Abidjan by an Air Ivoire flight. Hama Amadou took refuge at the grave of his mother, who died at the end of October, and then left the Muslim cemetery of Yantala to return to his home.
Beyond mourning, the motives of the opponent seem to be also political. " He wants to participate in the political dialogue with the political class ," said the opponent Omar Hamidou Tchiana, who was at his side on the plane, Thursday afternoon.
Other voices in his entourage suggest that Hama Amadou wants to engage in the election campaign of 2021, as he has already announced twice in meetings organized a few months ago with the Nigerian diaspora in Accra. Ghana, and Turkey.
► See also: Niger: Hama Amadou deposed from his party's presidency
This gesture raises a lot of questions: why this return despite the sentence that still weighs against him? " You have to know how to face things, the dice are thrown away, " said a relative.
Has Hama Amadou been guaranteed? Has he made an agreement to return to Niger without being worried by justice? " No, " one assures both the authorities and his advisers.
No speech, no meeting: Hama Amadou has not planned a political meeting these days. He wants, says one of his relatives, to observe a period of recollection of 40 days following the disappearance of his mother.
► See also: Niger: the ECOWAS Court of Justice dismisses Hama Amadou
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