Former president Mahamane Ousmane  who still refuses to accept his defeat by Bazoum in the 2021 election  managed to blame the crisis on the detained head of state but firmly condemned the putsch...
 A group of 15 senior Nigérien politicians – including former President Mahamane Ousmane  Seini Oumarou  Hama Amadou and former prime ministers Ibrahim Mayaki and Brigi Rafini – sent a open letter to Tinubu on 10 August asking him to lift the harsh economic sanctions  warning that military action could trigger worse instability and calling for diplomacy to resolve the crisis...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     That didn't stop the losing candidate  ex-President Mahamane Ousmane  from disputing the validity of the result and Bazoum's legitimacy as head of state for months afterwards (AC Vol 61 No 25  Dauphin goes to the polls)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     But the electoral commission's announcement of the provisional results – disputed by the opposition candidate Mahamane Ousmane  who claims to have won  with 50...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Even with Amadou's popular touch absent from the race  there are other heavyweight contenders still in the 30-strong field  including the former president Mahamane Ousmane  former foreign minister Ibrahim Yacouba  one-time opponent turned government ally Seyni Oumarou  and the retired general Salou Djibo  who led the 2010 military coup (AC Vol 51 No 5  A coup to stop a coup)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     The new opposition platform has the potential to attract a broad slice of the electorate: the FP is led by Issoufou's former foreign minister Ibrahim Yacoubou while the FRDDR groups supporters of Amadou and former president Mahamane Ousmane...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     He has since formed an opposition coalition with prominent opposition leader Mahamane Ousmane  of the Convention démocratique et sociale (CDS)  which has exploited the President’s errors...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Speculation is rife over the possible return from exile of former President Mahamane Ousmane  leader of the Convention Démocratique et Sociale  and Hama Amadou  former MNSD Secretary General and Prime Minister  who fell out with Tandja and was caught up in an  anti-corruption campaign...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	    6%; Tandja's former ally Mahamane Ousmane and CDS-Rahama  17...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	    9 per cent vote for President Mamadou Tandja in the second round  when he was helped by the backing of ex-President Mahamane Ousmane...
 Mahamane Ousmane's Convention Démocratique et Sociale-Rahama has 17 members  which helped earn the former national President the parliamentary presidency...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Mahamane Ousmane (CDS)  the democratically elected President overthrown by General Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara in 1996  threw his south-eastern Hausa bloc-vote behind Tandja...