Long reigning President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria has resigned from office, the state news agency said on Tuesday.
\nThe sudden resignation came in the wake of the demand by the country\u2019s powerful army chief of staff that he be declared unfit and leave office \u201cimmediately\u201d.
\n\u201cWe believe there is no more time to waste\u201d on starting a constitutional process to declare Bouteflika unfit for office, said a statement released by Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah.
\n\u201cOur decision is clear and irrevocable. We will support the people until their demands are fully and completely satisfied,\u201d the statement added.
\nBouteflika had promised to resign before 28 April when his term expires. But the impatient military demanded the immediate launch of impeachment proceedings against him.
\n\u201cAny decision taken outside the constitutional framework is considered null and void,\u201d the general said.
\nWithout naming anyone, Gaid Salah criticised \u201cthe stubbornness, the procrastination and the deviousness of certain individuals who are trying to make the crisis last and make it more complex with the only concern being their narrow personal interests\u201d.
\nHe said the army\u2019s \u201csole ambition\u201d was to \u201cprotect the people from a handful of (other) people who have unduly taken over the wealth of the Algerian people\u201d.
\nBouteflika has come under mounting pressure to step down since his decision to seek a fifth term despite rarely being seen in public after suffering a stroke in 2013.
\nThe 82-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, said last month he would pull out of the race and postponed April elections, in moves that angered protesters who saw it as a ploy to extend his two decades in power.
\nGaid Salah, a long-time Bouteflika ally, last week called on the president to resign or be declared unfit to rule, becoming one of the first of his faithful supporters to abandon him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Long reigning President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria has resigned from office, the state news agency said on Tuesday. The sudden resignation came in the wake of the demand by the country\u2019s powerful army chief of staff that he be declared unfit and leave office \u201cimmediately\u201d. \u201cWe believe there is no more time to waste\u201d on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}