Former President Nana Akufo-Addo, has expressed disappointment that military coup d’etats, which are supposed to be things of the past, are back in fashion and are even seen as the answer to the instability, difficult economic conditions, or unpopular government policies in the sub-Sahara region.
“I feel a deep sense of disappointment that military coup d’etats have come back in fashion in our region, and are seen as the answer to the instability being spread from the Sahel by jihadist activity, and by some as the answer to difficult economic conditions, or unpopular government policies,” the former president stated.
Speaking In Nigeria, at the launch of the autobiography of General Ibrahim Babangida titled; A Journey In Service, yesterday, in Abuja, Nana Akufo-Addo stressed, “It would appear that we have our work cut out for us all over again to try to build and consolidate the democratic structures in our countries to gain the confidence of our populations, especially to show that the road to prosperity would be faster and longer lasting when we are democratic.”
General Babangida’s book, Nana Addo said “reminds us that if a civilian, constitutional government feels under constant threat of destabilization and having to spend far too much time and resources on security, a military government was under even more threat of insecurity.”
He added that “If the predictable problems of how to lift the bulk of the people from poverty and keep food prices down are overwhelming, they turn out to be far more tolerable when compared with the unpredictable things that hit a government in our part of the world.”
He, therefore, praised General Babangida, one of Nigeria’s coup leaders, for being unambiguous in his support for democracy saying that, “He (General Babangida), after all, more than anyone, is best placed to pronounce on what some claim to be the advantages of military government, especially for developing nations in a hurry like us. He certainly demonstrates in his book that a military government, indeed, spends even more energy and resources on security considerations than an elected, democratic one.”
Drawing comparisons between the two countries in a n era of economic hardship, the former president disclosed that, “There should not be many similarities really between the Nigeria of 1985 to 1992, with which the General grappled, and the Ghana of 2017 to 2025, where I have just finished being president after two successive terms. And yet even though three decades separate the two situations, it was interesting for me how often, as I read the book, I came close to telling myself, “Plus ca change, plus ca reste la meme chose.”
He pointed out that, “The accumulation of capital which enabled the industrial revolution to take place in the economies of the West as well as those of the East occurred before universal adult suffrage was obtained in their countries. The industrial revolution in virtually all the countries of the West-US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the others- preceded the achievement of universal adult suffrage. Indeed, women got the vote in the twentieth century, long after the industrial revolution, just as blacks got the vote in the United States barely sixty years ago. Our situation is different, even uniquely so.”
The former president intimated that the democracies of Africa are attempting the structural transformation of their economies in conditions of governance that are underpinned by universal adult suffrage. It poses obvious problems in the social, political, economic and moral spheres that to some extent explains the incoherences and tensions that characterise our present state of development. Our generation is required to find the tools that will enable us to resolve these incoherences and tensions.
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida GCFR GCB (born 17 August 1941) is a Nigerian statesman and military dictator who ruled as military president of Nigeria from 1985 when he orchestrated a coup d’état against his military and political arch-rival Muhammadu Buhari, until his resignation in 1993
