The recent coup in Niger has further confirmed that the coup virus has firmly returned to West Africa despite the notion that coup is no longer fashionable. Coups occur in Africa despite condemnations by African and world leaders. The sanctions by AU has never stopped coups in Africa. Not even the intervention by ECOWAS has curbed it. Military intervention in politics is as old as politics in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, which experienced colonialism. In fact, coups, counter coups and civil wars are some of the legacies of colonial rule in Africa and other regions where the indigenous people were subjected to alien rule.
Although military takeover of power in Africa has contributed immensely to the stunted growth of countries on the continent, it is at times celebrated by the people, who are not better off in the hands of the so-called democratic leaders. The tragedy of governance in Africa, especially West Africa, is that both the military and political leaders have heaped bad governance on the people. There is little or no difference between a democratic government and a military government in Africa. It is even worse in West Africa, which has witnessed the worst forms of coups and wars in Africa and even the world. Both exhibit the same tendencies of dictatorial misrule and abuse of powers. That is why Africa is populated with leaders who change their term limits arbitrarily, the sit-tight leaders, who will prefer to die in office than to allow democracy to blossom on the continent. The roll call of Africa’s sit-tight leaders include Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Republic of Congo, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea and Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Before them were Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast, Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic republic of Congo, Idriss Derby of Chad, Hastings Kamuzu Banda of Malawi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and Mathieu Kerekou of Benin Republic.
There were also Samuel Doe of Liberia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Ben Ali of Tunisia, Moummar Ghaddafi of Libya, Joseph Kabila of Democratic republic of Congo and Omar Bongo of Gabon. Most of these leaders ruled their countries for over two, three or four decades. West Africa witnessed its first coup d’etat on January 13, 1963, with the killing of Togo’s first president, Sylvanus Olympio, by coup leaders, notably, Emmanuel Bodjolle, Etienne Eyadema (later Gnassigbe Eyadema) and Kleber Dadjo.
Since 1950, Africa has witnessed 214 coup attempts, with 106 of them successful. Latin America has witnessed 146 coup attempts with 76 being foiled; East Asia, 49 attempts with 22 foiled; Middle East, 44 attempts and 23 failed; Europe 17 and nine failed; and South Asia, 16 attempts and six failed. According to available statistics, of the 54 African countries, 45 have had at least one military takeover of government since 1950. Sudan has witnessed 17 coups attempts, including successful and failed ones, Burkina Faso has had more successful coups, Nigeria has also witnessed many coups and even a civil war arising from a very bloody counter coup of July 29, 1966 in response to the January 15, 1966 violent coup. Therefore, the return of the coup virus in West Africa should be understood against the backdrop of failure of democratic governance in the sub-region, mismanagement of elections, abuse of the constitution, corruption, abuse of power, greed and mismanagement of diversity. African, especially West African nations are yet to overcome the colonial hangovers. These countries were coupled together by the colonial powers without due consultations with the indigenous peoples, without fidelity to ethnicity, religion and cultural peculiarities of the people concerned.
To fully understand the history of coups in Africa is to understand the history of colonialism and its effects in Africa. The resurgence of coups in West African countries of Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Chad and now Niger is almost following the pattern of early coups in the sub-region which started in Togo before spreading to Ghana, Nigeria and other countries in the region. Apart from the Nigeria-led ECOMOG intervention force in Liberia during the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida era, the use of such a force to quell any military insurrection in West Africa now is not feasible. Both the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are toothless bulldogs, they lack the political, military and financial powers to restore a constitutional order in any African country where coupists are in power.
These continental and regional unions can only bark and not bite. African nations are fractured by colonialism and colonial influences, they are yet to be politically and economically united. Real free trade within the region is not yet operational. The same with travel and tourism. That is why the coupists in Niger are daring the ECOWAS leaders to come and fight. That threat is not empty. It is real. With the coming of Russia to Africa, especially West Africa to find new allies after being neglected by Western powers, the new scramble for Africa has started and the West, China and now Russia are competing to have undue influence in African affairs. Africa should beware of the Wagner virus. West Africa should beware of the Wagner disease. It is sad that after the wicked slave trade, brutal colonial rule, Africa is still another new frontier where foreigners are exerting their influence. The insecurity in Africa, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa is fueled by all these outsiders, especially those that manufacture weapons of warfare. The manufacturers of guns will look for markets. And if there is none, they will instigate coups and wars to sell their wares to those in need of them. ECOWAS leaders must tread with caution in handling the coup in Niger. Any poor handling of the Niger coup saga will have a spillover effect in the sub-region. Unfortunately, most countries in the region are grappling with insecurity and stunted political and economic growth due to poor governance and abuse of political power. Insurgents, bandits, terrorists and non-state actors are terrorizing citizens of these countries. Millions of citizens of these countries are poor and live on less than one US dollar per day. The only solution to coups in Africa is for African leaders to be good and exemplary leaders.
Apart from ensuring good governance, they must ensure that the human rights of their citizens are guaranteed. Let them wage a relentless war against corruption, bad governance, insecurity, hunger, poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. The good life should not be for the leaders and their families alone. It should be extended to the masses. Bad leadership is the major reason Africa is home to the merging coup virus. To cure Africa of the emerging coup virus, the continent must wean itself of sit-tight and evil leaders. Instead of going to war in Niger to restore constitutional order, AU and ECOWAS leaders should use diplomacy and sanctions, although they hardly work in our continent, to persuade the military juntas to vacate power in Niger.
The West African leaders should worry more about the problems of their countries than what is happening in Niger. Nigeria has a lot of issues that will engage its leadership more than the event in Niger. Nigerians are passing through the evil effects of the fuel subsidy removal. The cost of living is escalating on a daily basis and the standard of living of Nigerians is depreciating. The value of the naira is fast depreciating. These are issues that should engage Nigerian leaders than the coup in Niger.