Only Ghana, Nigeria are immune to coups in West Africa - Nigerian politician explains

Femi Fani Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation in Nigeria, has offered reasons why his country and Ghana have the most robust anti-coup systems across West Africa.

His comments come at a time the subregion is grappling with a spate of coups that have seen four countries under military juntas between 2000 and 2003.

Kayode averred in an Instagram post thus: "There are only two countries in the West African sub-region in which the military are disciplined and professional enough to ensure that there are no coups. The first is Nigeria and the second is Ghana."

He listed democratic credentials of the two countries to buttress his point speaking highly of the current presidents of both countries.

"Both are Anglophone and not Francophone countries, both have legitimate, accountable democratically-elected and constitutional Governments and Presidents with term limits, both have imbued and encouraged the culture of free speech and the rule of law, both have an independent and virile judiciary and finally both have President's that are rational, reasonable and progressive who are neither stooges or puppets of western imperialist and neo-colonial interests or corrupt sit tight dictators and monsters who wish to remain in power for life and then hand over to their children."

He concluded: "It is for this very reason that the very idea of a coup, the truncuation of democracy or the imposition of an unconstitutional Government in either of these two countries is not only unacceptable and repugnant but would also be resisted with every fiber of our collective being."

Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and more recently Niger are under military governments after democratically-elected presidents were overthrown.

The regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its bid to reverese the Niger coup threatened to deploy a standby force, which plan has since stalled as the junta in Niamey digs in.

Gabon, in Central Africa, is the latest African country to experience a coup after the military ousted president Ali Bongo on August 30, 2023.

SARA

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