Hama Amadou

Hama Amadou (born 1950 ) is a Nigerien politician who was Prime Minister of Niger from 1995 to 1996 and again from 2000 to 2007.

During the regime of Seyni Kountché, Amadou was Director-General of the Office of Radio Broadcasting and Television of Niger (ORTN) from 1983 to 1985 and became Director of the Cabinet in 1985.

Following Kountché's death, Amadou was named Minister of Information under his successor, Ali Saibou, on 15 July 1988, serving until 20 December 1989.

He was also Secretary-General of the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD-Nassara) from 1991 to 2001 and President of the MNSD-Nassara from 2001 to 2009.

Amadou is from the Kurtey, a Fula sub-group, and was raised in the Tillaberi Region, in the Niger River valley, north of Niamey.

At an MNSD congress held in November 1991, Amadou was elected as its Secretary-General, while Tandja Mamadou was elected as the President of the MNSD.

Amadou was elected to the National Assembly in the February 1993 parliamentary election as an MNSD candidate in Niamey.

In another election held in January 1995, an opposition alliance, primarily composed of the MNSD and the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS), won a majority of seats, resulting in cohabitation between the government, led by Amadou, and President Mahamane Ousmane.

Initially, the parliamentary majority put forward Amadou as its sole candidate for the position of prime minister, rather than submit three candidates from which Ousmane would choose the prime minister.

Ousmane rejected this and appointed Amadou Cissé, also an MNSD member, as prime minister, but the parliamentary majority would not accept Cissé.

Ousmane backed down and appointed Amadou as prime minister after two weeks, on 21 February 1995.

Amadou and Ousmane came into sharp conflict with one another, and the political system became paralyzed by the dispute.

Beginning in April 1995, Ousmane refused to attend meetings of the Council of Ministers; Amadou replaced parastatal managers in July despite Ousmane's objections, and Amadou attempted to assume the presidential role with regard to the Council of Ministers.

On 27 January 1996, a military coup led by Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara ousted both Amadou and Ousmane, and they were both placed under house arrest for several months.

On 2 January 1998, Amadou was arrested for allegedly leading a plot to assassinate Maïnassara.

He was released on bail on 8 January, but was charged with forming an illegal militia.

Amadou denied the charge and said that the arrest was political harassment and a means to distract the people.

Maïnassara was assassinated in an April 1999 coup, and new elections were held in late 1999.

The MNSD's presidential candidate, Tandja Mamadou, won the presidential election.

In the parliamentary election, held in November, the MNSD again won the largest number of seats, and through an alliance with Ousmane's party, the Democratic and Social Convention (CDS-Rahama), it held a majority in the new parliament.

Amadou was again elected to the National Assembly in the 1999 parliamentary election as an MNSD candidate from Niamey, but left his seat to become Prime Minister on 3 January 2000.

On this occasion he told the deputies of the National Assembly that Niger faced a "disastrous" financial situation and that "the coffers are absolutely empty", asking them to temporarily go without their salaries as deputies.

As President of Niger, Tandja had to give up his position as President of the MNSD.

Hamidou Sékou acted as interim president of the party until Amadou, who was until that point the party's Secretary-General, was elected as President of the MNSD on 21 December 2001.

While Amadou was campaigning for the July 2004 municipal elections, the helicopter in which he was travelling reportedly crashed on 14 July 2004 at Magaria in eastern Niger.

Amadou survived the crash.

He refused to rely on UN food aid in 2005, stating that the harvest was enough and that such aid was an insult to Niger's dignity.

As a result of corruption allegations against his government, he was removed from office as Prime Minister through a 2007 no-confidence vote in the National Assembly.

Amadou's government lost a no-confidence vote on 31 May 2007, with 62 deputies out of 113 deputies in favor of the motion.

The vote was prompted by allegations of corruption regarding embezzled funds that had been intended for education.

Although supported by the MNSD deputies, two other groups, including the CDS, joined the opposition Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) to form a majority against the government.

Amadou submitted his government's resignation immediately afterward; he called the vote an "expression of democracy" while also noting that the government had survived past no-confidence votes.

As a result of the no-confidence vote, President Tandja Mamadou had the choice of naming a new prime minister or calling new elections.

He named Seyni Oumarou, one of three candidates selected by parliament, as prime minister on 3 June; Oumarou had previously been part of Amadou's government as Minister of State for Equipment.

In 2008 he became the target of a corruption investigation which saw him arrested to face criminal charges at the Nigerien High Court of Justice and removed from his post as MNSD President.

From 2011 to 2014, Amadou was President of the National Assembly of Niger.

He was elected to that post as an ally of President Mahamadou Issoufou, but in 2013 he went into opposition.

He fled Niger in August 2014 to escape arrest on charges related to a baby-trafficking investigation.

Upon those charges, Amadou was sentenced to one year in prison, in March 2017, by the Niamey Court of Appeals.

Amadou was tried in absentia, since he was exiled in France.