Paul Ohia
29 June 2009
column
Lagos — On May 26, President Mamadou Tandja of Niger Republic dissolved the country's parliament after the country's constitutional court ruled against plans to hold a referendum on whether to allow him a third term in office.
Tandja was due to step down by December 22 but has been manoeuvring for months to stay on in a legal conflict that has alienated even some of his closest allies
According to the constitution, a new parliament will now have to be elected within three months but this appear not to be the plan of the Tandja because he plans to perpetuate himself in office. Last Friday, he made a televised announcement in which he assumed emergency powers claiming that the independence of the country is threatened.
The strongman of Niger wants to replay a script acted out by former African heads of state like Late Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo Zaire, Late Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo and Late Omar Bongo of Gabon.
Other leaders in recent years who have succeeded in clinging to power through constitutional changes include Lansana Conte of Guinea, Zine El Abdine Ben Ali of Tunisia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Idriss Deby Itno of Chad, Paul Biya of Cameroun and Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria.
Tandja's action threatens to throw many pan-Africanists into a state of despondency because one had thought that the coming of the new millennium and the launch of the African Union would have ushered in an era of democratic developments.
But from time to time, the leaders tend to remind the entire human race that the human-animals born on the continent are not able to use the superior intelligence inherent in other human-animals on other continents to govern themselves well.
This writer believes that this has its foundation in inferiority complex because if those born here do not see themselves as inferior to Asians, Europeans and Americans, they would be ashamed of themselves whenever they find themselves in other lands with their levels of advancement.
If not so, how can the head of state of a sovereign country, instead of stepping down when his term has expired, claim that colonial powers are trying to take over his country once more.
The institutions within the country represented by the constitutional court have demonstrated that they have advanced beyond Tandja by toeing the part of the country's law and stating that a referendum to change the constitution was illegal.
Issoufou had called on "the security and defence forces to refuse to obey the orders of a man who has made the deliberate choice of violating the constitution and who has now forfeited all political and moral legitimacy."
The opposition leader, Mahamadou Issoufou who is also head of the Front for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), a grouping of opposition parties has called for mass resistance, including military disobedience.
The FDD also urged international powers to "take all possible measures to restore a state of legality and democracy" following the president's move after weeks of high-stakes political drama in the troubled west African nation.
Tadja's assumption of emergency powers allows him to rule by decree without parliament, which new elections have been scheduled for August 20.
Now, the Democratic and Social Convention (CDS), which is the main party backing him, has announced that it was withdrawing its eight ministers from Niger's government in protest.
Aligned with a milieu of strikes by thousands of workers against the president across the country, the CDS has warned of "the real risks that these events represent to political and institutional stability and peace."
Just yesterday, a similar scenario was witnessed in Honduras, a central American country when troops arrested President Manuel Zelaya and flew him to Costa Rica from an airport base in the capital, Tegucigalpa.
He was elected for a non-renewable four-year term in 2006 but got so obsessed with power that he sought a referendum to extend his time. The state's congress opposed it, the Supreme Court ruled against it and there was resistance within his party.
The story appeared to have ended in a melodrama but in the case of Niger, only the coming days would determine if it would end like this or in a tragicomedy.
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“Ignominy” in the eyes of whom? The west? Is that reason the people of Niger should not choose whether or not their leader stays or go. I guess whatever the West says to This Day columnist must be right, the same way they “gbaju e” by bluffing the gullible Nigerians to jettison the greatest leader we ever had in favor of this currently clueless, lazy-bone called “Servant Leader” that has now taken Nigeria back to the stone age (on the excuse that Nigeria will break up by 2015 if power do not go back to the same North that bankrupted… [Read Full Text]
African leaders have a cancerous obsession with power. When they manage to get in our they think they own the country, own the people, own the Central Bank, own all the currencies, own all the foreign exchange, own all the natural resources and can spend any amount of money on what they want, where they want and also employ all their families to hold key cabinet positions or create a new one for the wife. They dont think beyond how they came to power but like all the other morons cling to power and just would not go until forcefully… [Read Full Text]
You don't have to generalize, my bro. Of course, there are bad leaders, in fact, majority of African leaders that hold on to power are awful and often, they are the ones that had the backing of the West. Case in point, Mobutu was favored over Lumumba, why? go figure. There are benevolent ones, too, Tolbert brought some stability and growth to Liberia - we all know the instability and rut that followed after the old man was gone. Rawlings is another, who would've thought Ghana would be what it is today but for Rawlings' necessary brutality towards the corrupt… [Read Full Text]
Threat or no threat of economic sanctions, let the good people of Niger decide what is best for them. For my brethren up there in Niamey, all you need do is to look south of the border to see what the western-style “democracy” has done for the copy-copy “yessir-yesman” Nigerians. If you think that Mr. Tandja has the wherewithal to deliver quality leadership until he can adequately educate the public & politicians, alike about the principles of democracy, rights of the led and the responsibilities of the leaders by putting the public first, and about the electorates picking the right… [Read Full Text]
Who made Mamadou Tanjda lord over Niger? Are you telling me that this man is the only person in that country that has brains and therefore ordained to lead his people to the promised land? What has he achieved in 10 years that should make him think that he alone has the answer to what the people of Niger need?
Your analysis runs hollow and can only come from somebody who does not believe in the rule of law.
The Western democracy is not perfect, neither is it without its shortcomings, but it is the best model of… [Read Full Text]
That is the same logic used by the woefully corrupt Nigerian politicians to truncate the previous effective administration "...who made Obasanjo Lord over us?" "...is he the only one that can deliver quality leadership?" Well, Nigerians now know better that they should have kept what worked instead of this major disappointment. Too late to go back now as more years are been wasted on mediocrity. I won't be surprised if "Prince Charles" of Africa is a politician that has been smarting to lay his sticky-palms on a juicy political job so he too can chop a little at the… [Read Full Text]
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Active Discussions: Niger's Tandja Tries to Extend Rule