Niamey - A leading opposition figure in Niger whose arrest is being sought on suspicion of involvement in a baby-trafficking ring has lost his position as speaker of parliament, the West African nation's justice minister said on Sunday.
Hama Amadou, a former political ally who turned against President Mahamadou Issoufou, fled to Burkina Faso then to France in August after parliamentary leaders authorised his arrest. A warrant was issued last month.
“Hama Amadou is no longer president of the National Assembly,” Justice Minister Marou Amadou, who is also the government's spokesman, said during an interview on the private Tenere television channel.
“There is an arrest warrant against him and if he returns he will be sent directly to the civilian prison... So he can not be at the president's podium,” he said.
Neither Hama nor his supporters were immediately available to comment on the minister's remarks.
But a lawmaker from Hama's Nigerien Democratic Movement party, speaking to journalists recently, denied he had been removed.
“If he has left the country, it's for his security. No one has pushed him out of this post,” Mossi Aboubacar said.
Seventeen people, including the wives of several senior politicians, were arrested in June by police investigating allegations that they acquired new-born babies from “baby factories” in neighbouring Nigeria. Hama's wife was among those initially taken into custody.
Hama has denied accusations he may have been involved in baby-trafficking and says the investigation is politically motivated.
Political tensions have risen in Niger since last year when Hama, who had been part of Issoufou's coalition, fell out with the president.
Issoufou's government has accused him and his party of trying to destabilise the uranium-exporting West African nation. - Reuters