Fayose: Why I’m happy with Gabon coup

Ayodele Fayose, a former governor of Ekiti State, has said he is in support of the coup in Gabon.

On Wednesday, military officers in Gabon announced that they had seized power and placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest.

The coup was carried out after the Central African state’s election body announced Bongo had won a third term.

The officers declared on television that the election results were canceled, borders closed and state institutions dissolved, after a tense vote that was set to extend the Bongo family’s more than half century in power.

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In an interview on Channels Television’s Hard Copy on Friday, Fayose said that while he does not support military intervention in politics, he believes the recent wave of coups across the continent is the result of the sit-tight syndrome.

“I am very happy with what happened in Gabon, I don’t like military incursions in politics,” he said.

However, the ex-governor said he doesn’t see such happening in Nigeria despite the shortcomings in the country’s democratic journey.

He said: “Remember that, now in Nigeria, you can see an interrupted democratic process. You can see that we know after four years there will be an election. Nigeria has gone from one party to another party, one person to another person in the space of time.

“But in a country where one man is spending 30 years, 20 years, 40 years, they must boot him out of the place, whichever way. That’s different from Nigeria’s setting.

“You can’t spend more than a particular number of years but don’t compare it with Nigeria. I’m not saying anything cannot happen; no coup.

“When you talk here, they will go and report you. They will come and carry you in the house because, the moment you hear about a coup and you do not report it, let me say to you, you deserve to be killed,” he said.

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