20 Facts About Seyni Oumarou

Seyni Oumarou is from the west of the country and is a member of the Djerma ethnic group.

Seyni Oumarou unsuccessfully stood as a presidential candidate in 2011,2016 and 2021.

Seyni Oumarou was Director-General of the Nigerien Paper Transformation Enterprise from 1987 to 1998, and in 1995 became Special Adviser to Prime Minister Hama Amadou.

Seyni Oumarou was then named Minister of Trade and Promotion of the Private Sector on September 17,2001, and Minister of Trade, Industry, the Craft Industry, and the Promotion of the Private Sector on February 12,2004.

On November 12,2004, following a number of resignations by ministers contesting that year's elections, Seyni Oumarou was additionally placed in charge of public health, the fight against endemic diseases, and hospital reforms, until he was named Minister of State for Equipment in a new government on December 30,2004.

Seyni Oumarou remained Minister of State for Equipment until Amadou and his government lost a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly on May 31,2007.

Seyni Oumarou's appointment was opposed by the main opposition party, the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, as well as a number of civil society organizations, because he was so closely associated with his predecessor and possibly tainted by the same corruption scandal related to embezzlement of education funds that caused the no-confidence vote against Amadou.

In 2007, Seyni Oumarou was President of the MNSD section in Tillaberi, as well as a vice-president of the MNSD National Political Bureau.

Seyni Oumarou said on July 13,2007, that the government would not negotiate with the Movement of Nigeriens for Justice rebel group in northern Niger.

In January 2009, Seyni Oumarou's government asked the National Assembly to strip three MNSD deputies of their immunity from prosecution.

Thereafter Seyni Oumarou made statements indicating that the presidential, parliamentary and local elections would go ahead as planned.

Seyni Oumarou headed the 22-member Nigerien delegation that traveled to Abuja for talks with ECOWAS beginning on November 9,2009.

Seyni Oumarou said on the occasion that he would work to restore the National Assembly's image in the wake of the controversies of the preceding months.

Unlike Tandja and Abouba, Seyni Oumarou was initially not detained by the new junta; however, he was arrested on 29 March 2010, along with a number of other high-ranking associates and loyalists of Tandja.

The MNSD expressed outrage at the arrest of Seyni Oumarou, who was expected to be the MNSD's candidate for the January 2011 presidential election, and demanded his release; it said that the charge against him was a politically motivated effort to smear and marginalize the party.

On 2 August 2010, Seyni Oumarou was charged and released on bail.

The MNSD announced on 10 August 2010 that Seyni Oumarou had been designated as its presidential candidate at a party congress.

Seyni Oumarou was ultimately defeated by Mahamadou Issoufou in a second round of voting, held in March 2011.

On 29 November 2015, Seyni Oumarou was designated as the MNSD's candidate for the 2016 presidential election.

Seyni Oumarou was again defeated by Issoufou, placing third in the first round.