Friday 16 January 2009

Vigilance against Africa's 'patriotic coups'


Yesterday January 15 was the 42nd anniversary of Nigeria's first military coup that later led to a civil war which ended with a surrender by Biafra on January 15, 1970.


Writing in the NEXT newspaper, Jibrin Ibrahim recounted the theory of people like Samuel Huntington that was behind Western support for the military coups that plagued post-colonial Africa for the better part of the last half-century.


Dr Ibrahim wrote against an acceptance of the re-emergence of military coups in light of former Nigerian military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida's recent endorsement of the coup in Guinea. Concluding his letter, he said:

"Following the coups in Mauritania and Guinea, the ideology of "good coup" is returning. We must remain vigilant."

As if taking that as a cue, Babangida's longtime Press Secretary, Duro Onabule penned a column today titled - Mauritania, Guinea, probably more, so what? in which he went to great lengths in justifying Babangida's statements. That was expected, but he also went further in talking down the AU and ECOWAS response saying:

"If Kenyans and Zimbabweans could be chocked out of any hope for democracy, what should be so rigid against military coup in Kenya and Zimbabwe anytime in the future? If the head of the army in Zimbabwe could so partisanly declare publicly that he and his men would not support any regime unless headed by Robert Mugabe, where was African Union? "

Thank you Jibrin Ibrahim, you could not have spoken soon enough.
File Photo: Babangida and Guinean Army Chief Kefalla Camara in Feb 2007 (Source: AFP)

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