By Abideen Akinwale
The dream of virtually everyone living on the continent of Africa is to have a good life. The life of hardship is seen in most African countries looking at the history of the natives of this continent. Starting from the era slave trade when Africans were sold in exchange for European leftovers by their fellow Africans, the period of colonization was another rocky road to the present day Africa. The period of 1960s saw many African colonies become politically autonomous yet the tribulations cease to go.
Military intervention in Africa has continue to interrupt the democratically formed tenures bringing instability, corruption, neglection of rule of law and many more challenges to the people of Africa. Between 2017 to 2023, nothing less than eighteen military coups had taken place throughout the world, ten of which happened in Africa. In Niger, on July 26, 2023, the military announced that they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum. General Abdourahamane Tiani becomes the new strongman of the country.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced on August 10 its intention to deploy a regional force to “restore constitutional order”, while continuing to favor the diplomatic route. The military proposes a transition period of “three years” maximum before returning power to civilians.
In Burkina Faso, on January 24, 2022, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was ousted from power by the military, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was inaugurated president in February. On September 30, Damiba was in turn dismissed from his position by the military, Captain Ibrahim Traoré was invested as transitional president until a presidential election scheduled for July 2024.
On October 25, 2021, Sudanese soldiers led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane chased out the transitional civilian leaders, who were supposed to lead the country towards democracy after 30 years of dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, himself deposed in 2019. Since April 15, 2023, a war due to a power struggle between General Burhane and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdane Daglo has killed at least 5,000 people in the country.
In Guinea On September 5, 2021, President Alpha Condé was overthrown by a military coup. On October 1, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya became president. The military has promised to return the place to elected civilians by the end of 2024. In Mali, there were two coups in 9 months. On August 18, 2020, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was overthrown by the military, a transitional government was formed in October. But on May 24, 2021, the military arrested the president and the Prime Minister. Colonel Assimi Goïta was inaugurated in June as transitional president. The junta has committed to returning the place to civilians after the elections scheduled for February 2024
At a roundtable discussion titled “The Resurgence of Coups in Africa” held at the Post Graduate Room of the Department of Political Science University of Ibadan on October 4, 2023, the issue of military junta in Africa was broadly discussed. One of the speakers at the program was retired professor O.B.C Nwolise who maintained a stance that Coup d’etat has always been happening in Africa. According to him, “Coup d’etat in dictionary simply means violent and unlawful seizure of power from a government”. Professor Nwolise contended that the two forms of coup detat are the civilian coup d’etat and the military coup d’etat, both have continue to reoccure in Africa.
His idea behind the civilian coup is the fact that, many claimed democratic regimes in Africa emerged with coup ranging from vote buying, electoral thuggery, intimidation of voters among others, all of these are violent and against the democratic principles. A correspondent of the POSSPRESS made it to interview Professor Nwolise after the program ended asking him the role that ECOWAS has to play in Niger coup, his response was that, ECOWAS should not attempt to intervene and African leaders should do the needful by making true democracy thrive.
