“First they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the trade Unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one to speak for me”- Martin Niemoller, German Lutheran Pastor.
When the madness started in Niger, the Africa Union, the ECOWAS, the US, the UN and almost all the civilized world kicked against it. They all called on the junta to release the kidnapped Head of State and restore democracy immediately. The Africa Union gave the junta two weeks for the junta to hand over power and that too was treated with ordinary contempt.
The ECOWAS gave a week timeline for the junta to relinquish power or face a military intervention. That too was thrown to the dogs by the junta.
Delegates upon delegates went to Niger to impress on the soldiers to step down and give democracy a chance but they refused. The ECOWAS recently sent a delegation to Niger to again impress upon the junta to step down but the power-hungry said they will not handover power until three years later.
Even then they said they will be only ready for a power sharing deal. How stupid! After overthrowing an elected government, these hotheads are telling us that they will cling on to power for three years. We are not deceived by their pretences of patriotism and the opposition hired crowd demonstrating in Niamey because we have seen their likes before.
In 1966 when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown, almost all Ghanaians came out in their numbers to jubilate. Today, see how the same Ghanaians are praising the Osagyefo. Here in Ghana, Rawlings and his junta seized power from Dr. Hilla Limann and named their regime Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC). Something which was supposed to be provisional took close to two decades to end.
What General Thiani and his usurpers of power in Niger want to do is to buy time in order to get the opportunity to dig in and stay in power like Rawlings and his junta did in Ghana. We ain’t going to allow that. The activated ECOWAS Rapid Reaction Force must get in quickly, get the job done and get out. Simple.
If ECOWAS fails to take military action to serve as a deterrent to others, in no time many countries and their elected governments will fall victims like they did in the seventies. Africa and West Africa for that matter have suffered a great deal under military regimes and the time has come for us to say NO to military adventurism.
Anytime Africa takes one step forward, the soldiers push us two steps backwards. Since Ghana started her 4th Republican democratic dispensation we have had many General Elections. When Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo lost the 2012 General Election, his party, the New Patriotic Party did not demonstrate nor did they call the military to intervene.
When a few disgruntled members of the party gathered at the Obra Spot in Accra to demonstrate, the leadership of the party instructed them to stop and watch what the party will do next. Candidate Akufo-Addo went to court as the constitution of the Republic dictated.
When the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled against Candidate Akufo-Addo, he told journalists at the forecourt of the Supreme Court that even though he was not happy with the verdict, he accepted the verdict since the apex court of the land had spoken.
He went ahead to congratulate Mr. Mahama and thereafter, hit the road again, thanking those who voted for him.
Again, when John Mahama lost the 2020 Presidential Election, he too took the matter to court even though some hotheads in his party demonstrated and destroyed public properties.
The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision ruled against Mr. Mahama. The fact that Mr. Mahama has since then refused to congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo has not changed anything. Mahama will forever live with disturbed conscience for refusing to congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo more than three years along the line. He has sown a dragon’s teeth and surely history will write his name in bronze for setting such a bad and ungentlemanly example.
The truth is that it is becoming abundantly clear that Russia under Vladimir Putin, is on the prowl in Africa. His aim is to plunder the natural resources of the people of Africa to booster his war chest. He is using the Wagner Mercenary Group to exploit the mineral resources of Africa under the pretext of fighting Jihadists. Luckily for him, he has found collaborators in the armies of some Africa countries to execute his evil plan.
Buried under the earth in Niger is Uranium, a mineral Russia needs badly to continue the manufacture of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The gold mines in Burkina Faso and Mali are being exploited by the Wagner Mercenary Group at the expense of the poor folks in these poor countries.
In the early eighties, the late Colonel Mammar Ghaddafi looked down south and found that the Auzu strip of land in Chad was full of Uranium, a raw material for the development of nuclear weapons. Ghaddafi, in his quest to develop nuclear weapons saw it as an opportunity to seize that strip of land. He unjustifiably waged a senseless brutal war against Chad and thousands lost their lives.
Ghaddafi did not succeed. France, the colonial masters of Niger has been literally pushed out of that country and soon the Wagner Group will take over. The repartitioning of Africa is being re-enacted
Eric Bawah