African press review 03 October 2014

A court martial for Nigerian soldiers accused of cowardice in the face of Boko Haram is set up. Has the sect insists its leader is alive, the army says he has been killed. Nigerian pastor TB Joshua faces awkward questions in SA. 

In Nigeria Punch newspaper reports the inauguration of a general court martial to try 97 soldiers accused of cowardice, after being assigned to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east of the country.

Vanguard says the deserters include four lieutenant-colonels, a major and four captains. Their trial opens in Abuja on 15 October, according to the widely read newspaper.

The Nigerian Tribune reports that the court’s installation on Thursday was marred by objections from defence lawyers to the composition of the tribunal – notably the presence of the judge advocate who issued the legal advice that led to the prosecution of 97 in the general court martial panel.

The Sun comments about the resurrection of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau after a new video is posted on internet on Thursday less than two weeks after the Nigerian military announced he had been killed by government troops during a gun battle in the Borno state enclave of Kodunga in early September.

According to Punch, Shekau boasts in the 35-minute video, obtained by the AFP news agency on Thursday, that “nothing can kill him” until the day Allah stopped his breathing.

Premium Times and This Day carry a statement posted on the blog of the Nigerian Defence Headquarters debunking the video. It insists that Bashir Mohammed, alias Abubakar Shekau, was actually eliminated as corroborated by still photographs, video evidence and surrendering and captured terrorists.

As Muslims in Nigeria prepare to join their counterparts worldwide in celebrating the Eid-el-Kabir on Saturday, the Guardian urges citizens to mark the Muslim feast with less fanfare. According to the paper, this is a time for prayer and reflection, as millions of Nigerians are undergoing death, pain or physical and psychological torture, mainly arising from the Boko Haram insurgency raging in the North East.

In South Africa, the Sowetan slams controversial Nigerian pastor TB Joshua after he claims to have warned people about the tragic collapse of his Lagos Synagogue multi-story guest house in which 115 people were killed.

According to the paper, Joshua made the remarks in a post on his Facebook page last Sunday. The founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations had previously alleged that a terror attack was behind the collapse of the six-storey building and showed a clip from CCTV footage of a plane flying over the building several times.

Mail and Guardian meanwhile continues its special reflections about the tragedy and how poverty is driving desperate Africans into the hands of false prophets. According to the paper, while the Bible warns about false prophets charismatic pastors such as Joshua are amassing fortunes from exploiting the poor and desperate.

Mail and Guardian holds that the lust for power is a weakness all too frequently found among leaders, whether in politics, business, media, churches or any organisation. History, it argues, is full of examples of leaders whose ambition for power was unbridled and who abused it to the detriment of their followers.