Coups motivated by bad governance – Prof Bolaji Akinyemi

Nigeria’s former External Affairs Minister and Professor of political science, Bolaji Akinyemi, has said that Coups are motivated by bad governance.

Prof Bolaji Akinyemi stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on the backdrop of the ongoing military takeover in Niger Republic.

He said, “Coups have been motivated by bad governance. Not only bad governance, there is something that has crept into the language of political scientists, which is called civilian coups.

“This is when you have the sitting president who manipulates the constitution for term elongation. Some even scrapped the concept of term limitation.

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“The Central African Republic has done so, having completed the regulation two terms he now introduced a new constitutional amendment having seven years starting with him.

“He removed members of the supreme court and assembled new judges and called on his people to have a referendum. His people adopted the referendum. This is a civilian coup, which deserves to be condemned.

“President of Senegal toyed with the idea of term elongation until when people poured into streets and got killed, property destroyed. He then backed. Even when they keep within the term, the corruption is so endemic that politicians get pats, while the people lose weight. The devastating state of our economies in Africa, we don’t deserve that because of our resources.”