From Paul Osuiyi, Asaba; Joe Effiong, Uyo; Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi; Tony Osauzo and Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
With the recent military coup in the country, Niger Republic has joined Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea as West African nations being ruled by the military. Yet all over the world, military governments are now seen as misnomers.
Some Nigerians shared their views with Saturday Sun on why the military has been seizing power in West Africa.
Military takes over on basis of bad governance -Prof Terkura Tarnande, lecturer
The military take-overs have both internal and external triggers. They often try to take over either on the basis of corruption or bad governance. There is this saying that the worst civilian administration is better that the best military rule. That may not be true in all cases.
Most civilian governments are not democratic at all. Except the fact that they have been elected, they don’t execute popular policies that will affect the lives of the masses positively, and some of them have become dictators; staying in power longer than necessary, making their people to suffer unnecessarily.
Some African countries have not practiced democracy the way it ought be – Prof Gabriel Nyityo, lecturer
The truth is whether it is a military or civilian rule, it is driven from outside. When the people find a government to be too strong or government with anti-people policies, they go for military and when the military becomes too strong, they go for democracy.
If we do not have that military mentality in a democracy, democracy will still be the best option of government.
But in all, some African governments have not practised democracy the way it ought be and that is the reason for all you are seeing because true democracy is based on popular sovereignty. People’s wishes should always be the main hallmark but where they begin to bring up policies that do not support the will of the people, then popular sovereignty is in jeopardy and there can be no democracy when the people cannot express their popular will.
West Africa leaders have abandoned democracy for selfish interests – Dr Tony Garba, activist.
We thought that democracy should be government of the people, by the people and for the people, where we would all have participatory, transparent, fair and open leadership and governance, but we have seen diametrically the opposite. It is few people who know how to rig by hook or crook, that are calling themselves democrats and that democracy is now how much you can rig.
The truth is, the military cannot sit and watch these things because it affects them too. You are your first human being before you are a soldier. They cannot be defending the integrity of a nation that is not ready to defend itself and is putting them on undue pressure. So what is responsible for this is simply that the leaders in West Africa have abandoned democracy for other things of selfish interest and if any country is not ready for democracy, if the players are not playing it accordingly to the rules, they are simply saying military come and take over and that is what has happened in those countries. Bad governance and greed of coupists are responsible for the spread of coups in West Africa
Bad governance aiding spread- Monday Lewis Igbafen, lecturer
There has not been any concrete improvement on the well-being of Africans and development in West Africa and African continent in general. Simply put, democracy has failed, particularly, in West African states as evident in wide-spread squalor, insecurity, kidnapping, and poverty; impunity, lawlessness, corruption, official fraud, maladministration, and bad governance, complete collapse of infrastructure and general loss of hope by the people. There is no need to search for reason or answer for what is currently going on in Niger Republic in this context.
African leaders have failed their citizenry – Dr Collins Kediehor, lecturer
The first reason is that African leaders have failed their citizenry who elected them into power and military coup d’etat is one way to show this misappropriation and mismanagement of the huge natural resources deposited in these countries. Second is the greed and tussle for power by African leaders, selfish personal aggrandisement and sit tight syndrome of our leaders. The third reason is the hand of the West, especially Russia and France. The Western countries find a way to support coupists who would in return pay with mineral resources of which they (the West) are in dire need.
Politicians don’t keep their campaign promises – Prof. Eddie Erhagbe, lecturer
The resurgence of coups in the West African sub-region is due to the politicians’ inability to keep to their electoral campaign promises and lack of performances in office. The other aspect is the desires for our political office holders to keep themselves perpetually in power which we also call the sit-tight-syndrome. So, this whole idea gets the citizens to be angry and want to topple the government of the day.
It is connected to bad leadership – Abel Johngold, public affairs analyst
It is connected to the bad leadership, which the elected leadership has been providing, because if you look at those countries, if the elected presidents were ruling well, there would not be need for coup. You don’t change a good shoe; it is only when your shoe is bad that you change it. The leadership has been poor; the African leaders have not been behaving well. Military takeover is supposed to be a thing of the past but when the government is bad and you are supposed to right the wrong through the ballot box and vote in credible candidates but the politicians are using influence and position to manipulate the voters and as such, it is not working. That is why military coup is now a welcome development in those countries. If you cannot remove the bad government through the ballot, citizens will now support the military government.
African leaders not showing leadership – Timothy Agbaragu, lawyer
It boils down to one thing; it is leadership. Leaders of West African countries, to some extent, have not imbibed good leadership culture. Perhaps we don’t even know how to practise democracy. In advanced democracies you discover that if the aspiration of the majority of the people is met, they will be less agitated. But in Africa, the issue is that people see power as if it is a one-man show. If there is a credible election and people accept you, everybody will key into the administration and there will be less agitation. And if there is less agitation, nobody will conceive the idea of a coup. Actually coup is not the best option to correct an anomaly. The change of government should come through the ballot box but people are afraid that if they go to the poll again, it will be hijacked. Those are the fundamental issues that bring about coups in African countries.
African leaders are fond of oppressing their people – Churchill Oyowe, civil servant
We should get one thing clear; democracy is not government by civilians alone. Democracy is government by the people and for the people and of the people. If the people who call themselves democrats are not true democrats and they allow power to get into their heads, it will not stop the military from coming back. If you look at the developed world where we got our democracy from, they know how to checkmate themselves, they know when they are overstepping their bounds and they know how to advise themselves to be aligned with the people’s wishes. But in Africa, we are fond of oppressing the people. So when the people cannot curtail their excesses, sometimes you see the military come in.
It’s due to insincerity of civilian leaders – Dr Usiere Akpan, lecturer
The military returning to power in African countries cannot be unconnected with the insincerity of the civilian public office holders to conform to the constitutional rules of the law operating in the affected countries.
It has become the norm in African countries for political leaders to act above the laws in the implementation of policies. Aside from that, most public office holders believe that the positions occupied are for themselves to make wealth rather than to serve the people or the society. African politicians are not servants to the public but masters. Specifically, in Nigeria, they are openly called and addressed as leaders from the wards, local government councils, states and at the national levels.
By being assumed leaders, they expect the citizens to be at their gates begging for food and other essentials of daily living.
Mis-governance calls for alternatives – Prof Aniekan Brown, lecturer
The situation is political. Politics grants answers to who gets what, when, and how? Principally, therefore, government is political irrespective of the form (military or democratic).
Mis-governance calls for alternatives. If it fails in regular/periodic elections, further alternatives may be justifiable. Military coups may have become obsolete, but civilian rule never really presented themselves as fruitful alternatives.
There have been a lot of failed expectations- Akparawa Offiong Bassey
Well, for me, the region being one of the last regions to undergo a demographic transition, there have been a lot of expectations bordering on the challenges of meeting up with the basic needs of the ever-growing population of this region.
And so, when governments fall short of these expectations, it is natural that the people get impatient and possibly agitated, reasons we keep having strikes and protests here and there.
Unfortunately, the military takeovers, though extreme, appear to be a response triggered by the continuous frustrations experienced by the governed.
