Nigeria’s former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday, identifies political violence; election fraud and military taking over from democratically governments as the bane of the Africa continent growth.
Obasanjo who is the Chair, Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) Board of Trustees, stated this at the opening session of a two-day high level dialogue organised by the group held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta.
The theme of the event is “West Africa: Rising to the challenges of consolidating Democratic Governance”.
The meeting had in attendance former Nigerian president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; former Vice President of Gambia, Fatoumata Tambajanb, former President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma and the Ogun state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, among others.
Obasanjo in his welcome remarks condenmed military take over of democratically elected governments in some African countries, with a submission that democracy in West Africa and the entire continent needs attention.
He noted that Africa, nay West Africa, are passing through the most difficult periods as a result of political instability.
While hinting that the only way the continent can grow rapidly is through a peaceful democratic process.
He said, “In recent years, we have witnessed a return of coup d’etat, election fraud and political violence resulting in instability and threatening the developmental gains we have made in the last couple of decades.
“I feel very sad and it gives me great concern when I see the democratic system we have painfully built collapsing. And I believe there must be a solution because the problem is human and all human problems can be solved by human beings.
“That is why the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) under my Chairmanship and the OOPL have brought all of us together today to discuss pertinent issues affecting governance in West Africa, including the challenges and then to seek the way forward.
“Achieving this may not be easy but it is a must if we want our nation to make progress, it must entail responsible management of diversity which makes everyone feel a sense of belonging and be a significant part of the whole.
“Peaceful coexistence has been a hallmark of Africans even before the emergence of colonial era and we cannot accept anything less in this modern age.
“We need stable environment to grow our economies and ensure that countries develop in a sustainable way. Such all inclusive democratic environment will fast track developing our economy and will strengthen our security and promote general progress.”
The nation’s vice president, Osinbajo, in his keynote address appealed to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); the African Union (AU) and other organizations in the continent to brace up and tackle the issue of political and economic instability headlong.
Osinbajo equally lent his voice with Obasanjo over millitary incursion into the democratic setting, describing the development as worrisome.
“This is a moment of peril for democracy in our region because we are navigating a perfect storm of adverse circumstances, a world economy that is reeling from recessional shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, price and supply discruption from the war in Ukraine, the emergency of armed non state actors, poor challenges associated with catering for the youngest populations in the world.
“We must not allow our continent to become as it was in the cold war era. A fetter or proxy wars and great power conflict, we know from experience that this would result a deepening or the recession of democratic values in Africa.
“The militarisation of civil society whether by local military regimes or rival foreign military industrial complexes can only set us back by several decades.
“Our commitment to democrisation must be predicated on the aspiration of our people and not from the whims of foreign powers.
“The recent spate of military coups across our continent and attempts at military coups not only potends the risk of a damaging democratic recession, but it also takes us back to the circles of extra constitutional disruptions that plagued us decades ago.
“Since 2017, there has been 12 military coups in Africa and half of them occurred since 2020. Two months ago, the democratically elected government of Burkina Faso was overthrown while only in February there was an attempted coup in Genuine Bissau which was thankfully repealed.
“This much is clear, we know that we cannot secure the Africa that we want by turning back the hands of the democratic clock. We have walked this thorny roads before, we many decades worth of bitter experience and impeachable lesson of our history, a clear lessons of our history is that despotisms cannot guarantee the security and prosperity of our people.
“No matter how dire our circumstances may be, we now have concrete proof that resort to extra constitutional regimes is not the way forward,” the VP added.
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