- As soldiers take over government in Gabon
Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has cautioned politicians not to think that it is safe and proper to take the masses for granted because they have power.
This is even dozens of soldiers appeared on Gabonese national television, announcing the cancellation of recent election results and the dissolution of “all the institutions of the republic.”
The coup is a sequel to the re-election of the 64-year-old President Ali Bongo Ondimba, for a third term, in an election the opposition described as a ‘fraud orchestrated’ by the ruling party.
On 26 July 2023, a coup d’état occurred in neigbouring Republic of the Niger when the country’s presidential guard detained president Mohamed Bazoum, and presidential guard commander general Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed himself the leader of a new military junta, shortly after confirming the coup a success.
The military takeover is the fifth successful coup in the West African nation’s history since it gained independence from France in 1960, with other unsuccessful attempts in between. Many supporters of the coup chanted pro-Russian slogans. Thousands of people took to the streets of Niger’s capital, Niamey, in a peaceful solidarity walk, backing the coup.
Ex-President Jonathan in a video on Facebook supposedly at a dinner held in Nigeria, from the faces captured, Jonathan warned that today’s society is way more sensitive than what obtained in the past.
He also advised powerful people like presidents, governors, and top security officials not to take the masses for a ride “because the society is changing” and that certain things powerful people used to get away with in the past have become very sensitive big issues today.
Jonathan also advised the power holders not to take advantage of the conservative nature of judiciary officials to squeeze or arm-twist them into doing their bidding.
In his admonition, he also noted that even the civil society organisations are more powerful and aware than ever before and their inputs should not be underrated or disregarded by the powerful politicians just because they are in power.
He cited the instance of an incident in Burkina Faso in the past to buttress his point.
He admonished:
“Let me use this opportunity to advise us who are politicians and those who are high up in the security service, that while we are doing the job, let us not because the judiciary is very conservative take advantage of that to blackmail or squeeze them.
Sometimes when we have political power we get blinded, like they said wisdom gets consumed in confidence. We bear the big names of presidents and governors, and we become blind, especially in the security services when we hold powerful positions. However, society is changing and we must admonish ourselves and blend in. And civil society is becoming very active and there are certain things we used to get away with that we will not get away with tomorrow.
If we take laws into our hands and try to squeeze society, the young people will react.
It happened when I was president in a sister country, Burkina Faso where their law provides that when the president is not there, the speaker of the parliament takes charge and manages the country because their law doesn’t provide for a vice president.
The president wanted to amend the law and go for a third tenure. In the thinking of the public and society, the speaker of the parliament was already comprised and would do the bidding of the president.
The young people of the country and civil society mobilised and marched in to kill the speaker of the parliament. They were overwhelming that the security forces couldn’t defend the speaker or stop the masses. The speaker ran away and the mob burned down the state parliament.
The mob moved from there to the president’s home. The president’s security squad which was even more powerful than the national army could not stop the masses movement, otherwise they would kill everybody.
The president ran to Cote d’Ivoire. The country went into a leadership quagmire. The constitution says that the speaker of parliament should take over in the absence of the president. Now, the speaker is on the run. The president is on the run. There was nobody to take over power and the military had to step in.
So we politicians in power should learn from this and not forget that things have changed so much and let us do everything based on the rule of law.”
Credits: Africachinapresscentre/Aljazeera
