Djibo Bakary

Djibo Bakary (* 1922 in Soudouré, † April 16, 1998 in Niamey ) was a socialist politician and in 1957 was the first head of government and Prime Minister of the Republic of Niger.

From May 20th 1957 to December 14, 1958, he was Vice President of the " Conseil de Gouvernement " and dated 26 July 1958 to 10 October the same year, President of the " Conseil de Gouvernement ".

Political activity

Bakary considered as a prominent figure of the independence movement of Niger. He was first Secretary General of the Nigerien Progressive Party (PPN - RDA). He was expelled from the party when he African Democratic collection ( RDA) opposed the fraction of the parent party with the French Communist Party. Bakary subsequently founded in 1954, the left Nigerien Democratic Union ( UDN). In 1956 he was elected mayor of the capital Niamey. The UDN teamed up with the conservative Nigerien action block (BNA ) to the Niger section of the African Socialist Movement (MSA), which won the elections to the territorial assembly in 1957. Bakary was Deputy Prime Minister of the already autonomous Niger.

Bakarys Party was at that time the name Sawaba, which means something like " freedom " or " independence " means. When the Sawaba government the constitutional referendum of 1958 on the full and immediate independence of Niger lost - 78 percent of voters voted against it - came back Bakary 1958. The elections to the territorial assembly in 1958 brought the Conservatives Hamani Diori (PPN - RDA) to the office, which had forbid the Sawaba. Bakary went into exile in Mali, then to Ghana where he could count on the support of President Kwame Nkrumah.

In Ghana Sawaba trained fighters penetrated the mid-1960s with Ghanaian soldiers to Niger and tried to overthrow Diori who could defeat but with French arms aid the invaders.

14 years later, the new military government allowed under Seyni Kountché Bakary 1974, the return to Niger when he came as a private citizen and not as a politician. Bakary accepted, however, took - even in the country - his political activities. 1975 a failed coup attempt by the military, who sympathized with the Sawaba. This took the Kountché government as a reason to detain Bakary until 1980. As part of the democratization process, Ali Saibou 1991 Bakary founded a new party, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Progress of the People ( UDFP - Sawaba ). In the presidential elections in 1993, he took up one last time, finished with 1.68% but only the last place.