A former vice president Atiku Abubakar has urged African leaders to tackle the root cause of coups on the continent.
He said this on Thursday about a day after the military took over power in Gabon, the latest country in Africa to experience a coup.
In a tweet on his handle, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, called on leaders to nurture democracy.
“The coup in Gabon stands condemned. Democracy and democratic governance have come to stay as a preferred form of government, and everything should be done to enthrone, nurture, and sustain it,” Atiku said on X, previously called Twitter.
“As I suggested in the case of the Niger Republic, the ECOWAS and African Union authorities should open a window of diplomatic engagement that will pave the way for the soldiers to return to the barracks.
“The latest coup brings the number of military takeovers in Central and West Africa to 8 since 2020. This is worrisome and calls for introspection. We may have to focus on dealing with the disease and not the symptoms that birth coups.”
The coup in Gabon stands condemned. Democracy and democratic governance have come to stay as a preferred form of government, and everything should be done to enthrone, nurture, and sustain it. As I suggested in the case of the Niger Republic, the ECOWAS and African Union…
— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) August 31, 2023
Earlier, President Bola Tinubu described the wave of coups in Africa as a “contagious autocracy”. Since the development, world leaders have condemned the move.
Already, Gabon’s President Ali Bongo has called for his “friends” to “make noise” after military officers in the oil-rich Central African state staged a coup.
“I’m sending a message to all friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise for (…) the people here who arrested me and my family,” he said, looking worried, in the clip posted on social media. AFP was not able to determine where or when the video was captured.
Hours earlier, a group of Gabonese military officers appeared on television announcing they were “putting an end to the current regime” and cancelling Ondimba’s election.
