I’m delighted about Gabon coup – Fayose

A former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on Friday, expressed his excitement about the recent coup that happened in Gabon, a Central African country.

A dozen soldiers had appeared on Gabonese national television on Wednesday, announcing the cancellation of election results said to have been won by Ondimba Ali Bongo and the dissolution of “all the institutions of the republic.”

The announcement came after President Ali Bongo, 64, was re-elected for a third term, extending his family’s half-century rule over the oil-rich Central African country of 2.3 million, but the opposition described the poll as a ‘fraud orchestrated’ by the ruling party.

The Bongo family, one of Africa’s most powerful dynasties, has been in power since 1967.

While speaking on Channels Television’s Hard Copy, Fayose said he does not endorse military intervention in politics, adding that the recent surge of coups in Africa is a mark of the sit-tight syndrome.

He said, “I am very happy with what happened in Gabon. I don’t like military incursions in politics but I want to say to you that Nigeria is different, we have a reasonably stabilised democracy.

“We have our flaws but you can see the uninterrupted democratic process. After four years there will be an election… Nigeria has gone from one party to another party.

“One person to another person within a space of time. But in a country where one man is spending 30, 40 years. You have to boot him out of the place in whatever way.

“That’s different from the Nigerian setting. Nigeria has submitted but we are not there yet in the final order.”