CNN
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Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military general who campaigned on rooting out government corruption, has died at age 82, the presidential press office said in a statement on Sunday.

He died in London at about 4:30 p.m. after a “prolonged illness,” according to the statement.

Nigeria’s current president Bola Ahmed Tinubu offered his condolences to Buhari’s wife and ordered his vice president to travel to the UK to accompany Buhari’s body back to Nigeria.

Tinubu hailed Buhari’s legacy as “a patriot, a soldier, a statesman” with a “deep commitment to the unity and progress” of his country.

“He stood firm through the most turbulent times, leading with quiet strength, profound integrity, and an unshakable belief in Nigeria’s potential. He championed discipline in public service, confronted corruption head-on, and placed the country above personal interest at every turn,” Tinubu said.

Buhari was elected president in 2015 after running unsuccessfully three times. He was re-elected for another four-year term in 2019.

A former general who first came to power in a 1983 military coup only to be overthrown by another military coup two years later, Buhari will be remembered for his strong anti-corruption agenda in a country famously described as “fantastically corrupt” by former British prime minister David Cameron. Others laud his tough stance against the Boko Haram insurgency and security issues that plagued the northeast of the country for years.

A Fulani Muslim, he was born in Daura, Katsina state in Nigeria’s northern province in December 1942 and completed military training in Kaduna state, Great Britain, India and the United States.

He first came into political prominence in 1975 after a military coup that overthrew then-ruler Yakubu Gowon. Buhari was made military governor of Borno state – a state plagued by Boko Haram.

Buhari, who was married twice and has ten children, was part of Nigeria’s ruling establishment both as a military ruler and later a “reformed democrat” as he called himself during the 2015 election campaign, which he won by a landslide.

Nigerians lined the streets celebrating his victory; however, the honeymoon didn’t last long as many believed he squandered his goodwill by being too slow in his presidential actions.

He took six months to appoint ministers to his cabinet and then failed to act quickly to tackle the country’s economic crises, which was in part brought about by a weak currency and falling global oil prices.

For months, Buhari refused to devalue Nigeria’s falling currency, the naira, and weakened investor confidence. This further led to a gulf between the official and black market exchange rate.

According to economic analyst Bismarck Rewane, one of Buhari’s failings was his limited understanding of modern economics and markets policies, which plunged the country into recession. This lack of understanding was rooted in paranoia and suspicion after he was overthrown during his first military rule, according to Rewane.

He said: “In 1983, Buhari felt he was swindled when he was asked by the IMF to devalue the Naira and remove subsidy. Three weeks later there was a coup against him. Since then he has been suspicious of free market policies and he took a long time to do things. When he did do them, the impact was too little too late and not optimal.”

Rewane, who met President Buhari several times on the campaign trail and gave him some policy advice after his victory, says Buhari will be remembered as a “strong and principled leader.”

“He was a very unique governor,” Rewane told CNN. “Some people will say he was rigid, he didn’t shift when he believed in something. But I see that as a good thing. He had a strength of character is very rare in this part of this world. People here are too flexible and corrupted.”

Buhari’s first term was characterized by war on many fronts, including the Boko Haram insurgency, the secessionist pro-Biafra movement in the east of Nigeria and rampaging Fulani herdsmen across Nigeria.

Despite growing concerns around the country’s security situation, Buhari was reelected in 2019. During his second term, furious protests against police brutality erupted across the country, decrying reported incidents of kidnapping, harassment, and extortion by a controversial police unit.

Buhari vowed to do more to fight militant groups and fix the economy as the demonstrations turned deadly and continued to simmer for the remainder of his presidency.

In his final UN speech in 2022, Buhari criticized the “corrosive” effect” of fellow leaders who extend term limits to cling to power. The next year, he praised his successor and fellow party member Tinubu as “the best person for the job.”

CNN
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Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal are urging quick action by the US as Russia escalates its war in Ukraine, including the passage of a bipartisan bill they’ve introduced implementing sanctions on Moscow that they say could be the “sledgehammer” President Donald Trump needs to end the conflict.

The legislation, which would allow the president to levy a 500% tariff on imports from countries that purchase Russian uranium, gas and oil, has gained momentum in the Senate as Trump has signaled he will escalate US action against Russia.

“(Blumenthal) and I have got 85 co-sponsors in the United States Senate for congressional sanctions with a sledgehammer available to President Trump to go after Putin’s economy and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two lawmakers just returned from Rome, where they attended a conference focused on Ukraine’s recovery and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders. Blumenthal said European allies expressed to the lawmakers that any potential US sanctions would “have to be tough and rigorous to change behavior.”

Russia conducted its largest drone assault on Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion last week, launching 728 drones and 13 missiles in strikes that killed at least one person, according to Ukrainian officials.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters last week that he could bring the bill to the floor by the end of the month, something he had indicated he would not do without the Trump’s approval.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he would bring a bill to crack down on Russia to the House floor if it passes in the Senate, telling Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” there’s a “big appetite” in his chamber for tough sanctions.

Still, Trump has not yet publicly endorsed the bill, saying last week that he was “looking” at it and that the legislation will advance at his “option,” though Graham has said the president gave him the go-ahead.

In recent days, Trump has announced a deal to send US weapons to Ukraine through NATO and floated sending another Patriot air defense system to the war-torn country. He has also recently ramped up his rhetoric against Putin, a stark reversal from his previous, sometimes conciliatory, approach as his frustration with the leader grows.

The president told NBC on Thursday that he will have “a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” and he also plans to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during his visit to the US early in the week, according to the alliance.

Graham and Blumenthal, who will also meet with Rutte during a dinner with lawmakers on Monday, predicted that Trump will soon allow NATO allies to tap into seized Russian assets to help aid Ukraine.

“Just stay tuned for tomorrow’s announcement; the idea of America selling weapons to help Ukraine is very much in play,” Graham said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“We want to make use of the seized assets, again, in a unified way. I think a multifaceted approach here is the only way to bring Putin to the table, because he’s a thug,” Blumenthal said.

He noted that European countries are already planning to mobilize their Russian assets, and that “it’s time” for the US to also allow access to its $5 billion in seized assets.

Graham said Putin “has calculated that we would get tired and Europe would get weary. He made a huge mistake,” adding, “NATO is bigger and stronger and we’re more committed to ever to make sure he does not take Ukraine by force.”

“Congress is on the verge of passing the most consequential sanction package in the history of the of the country,” the South Carolina Republican said. “It will give President Trump tools he doesn’t have today, a literal sledgehammer.”

London
CNN
 — 

A man has escaped from a prison in France by hiding in a bag belonging to his cellmate who was being released after finishing his sentence, an official told local media.

Sébastien Cauwel, director of France’s prison administration, told CNN affiliate BFMTV Sunday that the man “took advantage” of the release of his fellow inmate to escape from the Corbas prison near Lyon, a city in the country’s southeast.

Cauwel told the broadcaster that prison officials had noticed on Saturday morning that the man had escaped. He acknowledged an “accumulation of errors,” noting that an investigation into the incident had been opened.

“This is an extremely rare event that we have never seen in this administration and which clearly shows a whole series of serious failures,” Cauwel said, noting that the Corbas prison is overcrowded.

The prison has an occupancy rate of around 170%, he told the broadcaster. “That makes the working conditions of our officers more complicated.”

The inmate who escaped was serving several sentences, France’s prison service said in a statement cited by European news agency AFP. He was also under investigation in a case connected to organized crime, AFP reported, citing an unnamed source close to the matter.

Last year, another prisoner in France escaped after gunmen ambushed a prison convoy transporting him to a jail in the northern region of Normandy. The fugitive, Mohamed Amra – also known as “The Fly” – was rearrested in Romania in February this year, according to Reuters.