Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has condemned in strong terms the Coup D’etat in Niger Republic, describing the pitch as “a retrogressive aberration that is inexcusable and absolutely unacceptable in 21st century Africa.”
CUPP called on the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) as well as the International community to quickly restore democracy back to the country.
Coalition gave this position in a statement made available to newsmen by its Co-National Spokesperson, Comrade Mark Adebayo, expressing surprise over the putch by a military junta in one of the ECOWAS countries.
The Coalition, while maintaining that the coup d’état was retrogressive, inexcusable and absolutely unacceptable, posited that democracy as a system of civilized governance, though not perfect, especially in Africa, remained the only form of government in which the people have a feeling of inclusion in how they are governed and who governs them.
According to CUPP, people cannot have a situation in which they are governed at gunpoint, saying such amounted to robbing the citizens of their rights at gunpoint.
“A military junta silences the people and suffocates the franchise of choice in every way possible.
“It may be true that democracy in Africa is mostly not being properly managed, but a military takeover of government is not in any way a solution to the challenges of democracy in Africa.
“With the benefit of historical hindsight, this is even more so as the military have hardly been any better than the civilians they overthrow. Military governments in Africa have tended to be as corrupt, if not more corrupt and oppressive than the civilians they’ve overthrown.
“In the exchange of political fire between the military and civilian political elites in any given African country, the citizens have always been the victims and often worse off than the previous experience,” the Coalition stated.
“The euphoria of a violent change of government rapidly evaporates in the face of the realities of jackboot repression characteristic of every military government,” it added.
CUPP unequivocally condemned the coup d’etat in Niger Republic, calling on the AU), ECOWAS and the International community to collectively find an amicable resolution of the crisis in the country as well as work towards restoring democracy in there without collateral damage as soon as practicable.
The Coalition argued that military action should not be put on the table yet, but a robust diplomatic engagement that can bring all the parties together for a quick and amicable solution with the ultimate aim of restoring democracy to the country.
Speaking further, the pro-democracy Coalition noted that one of the major causes of military coups in Africa had consistently been bad governance by civilians elected to serve the people but who ended up looting their countries’ resources and impoverishing the citizens thereby attracting high resentment from the populace, adding that such were reasons “the people celebrate coups even though they don’t know what awaits them from the soldiers.”
CUPP, therefore, urged managers of the surviving democracies in the continent to as a matter of necessity make the people’s welfare the fundamental cynosure of their policies, warning that doing otherwise “they will crash the system and the people would have no choice than to support a military takeover.”
According to the group, bad and corrupt governance by civilians easily provokes military interventions, and further called on African politicians to change their ways from the wicked mismanagement of the people’s mandates and their countries’ resources because that’s the only sure way to prevent more coups.”
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