President Bola Tinubu has expressed his deep concern over the political development in Gabon with the takeover of government by the military.
The president also bemoaned the sociopolitical stability of the oil-rich Central African country and what looks like an autocratic contagion spreading across different regions in the African continent.
This was made known by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale while speaking to State House correspondents on Wednesday, where he expressed President Tinubu’s belief that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to the constitutional resolution of electoral disputes must not be allowed to perish in Africa.
The reaction from Tinubu is coming a few hours after a group of Gabonese military officers appeared on television Wednesday announcing they were “putting an end to the current regime” and cancelling an election that, according to official results, President Ali Bongo Ondimba won.
This is also coming at a time Nigeria, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union are still battling with the crisis in Niger Republic as a result of the forceful takeover of government by the military.
Power does not belong in the barrel of a gun
The Presidential media aide said,
- “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is watching developments in Gabon very closely with deep concern for the country’s sociopolitical stability and the seeming autocratic contagion apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent.
- “The president, as a man who has made significant personal sacrifices in his own life, in the cause of advancing and defending democracy, has all of the unwavering belief that power belongs in the hands of Africa’s great people, and not in the barrel of a loaded gun.”
Ngelale added that Tinubu affirmed that “the rule of law and a faithful recourse to constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not at any time be allowed to perish from our great continent”.
According to him, the President is “working very closely and continuing to communicate with other heads of state in the African Union towards a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forward with respect to how the crisis in Gabon will play out into how the continent will respond to the contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent”.
Is there anything like objective rule of law in most African democracies or rather, African civilian rule? The law seems to be subservient to the wishes of whoever is in power. Abuse of power can be very sweet for those who wield it, however, they don’t often seem to realize they’re setting a bad precedence which may be applied to pull them down someday.
While military rules is an aberration and no longer acceptable under any guise.
Our politician in African countries need to stop their sit tight syndrome, they are not the messiah, that will solve all the problems, they should do their original constitutionally accepted tenor and leave, the should stop instigating their legislature to change their country constitutions at will to enable them stay in power perpetually, doing this in itself is a coup against democracy.
They should stop making the leadership of their countries as if it is family inheritance. Most African countries don’t run monarch systems of Government, they should stop imposing themselves on people.
There is a need for change of attitude in African leadership.
You have hit the nail on the head.