African Affairs analyst, Victor Okhai, has said that the ousted Gabon President, Ali Bongo, through his civilian dictatorship, “has bought all the ingredients for a coup which has been served to him.”
Okhai said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday while reacting to the video of the Gabonese president pleading for his “friends to make noise” about the situation.
“It is things like this that provide ingredients for cooking coups and he has bought all the ingredients for a coup and it was served to him.
“Ordinarily, the people would have had enough. Ordinarily, Gabon is one of the countries with a more stable democracy but when a dictator insists on it must always be his way or the highway, this is what you see. The last election that was concluded a few days ago was the last straw.
“First of all, foreign observers were not allowed in, foreign journalists weren’t allowed in, the internet was shut down, for what? just so you can have your way over people and against their will. That is what happens to civilian dictators who enforce their will against the will of the people.
“Coup plotters derive their oxygen from the heartbeat of the people. It depends on the pulse of the people. this is the third coup in Gabon and the one thing that has been consistent is the French imposing their will on the people and that’s not democracy,” he said.
Okhai also said the president’s plea for intervention is close to fruitless as he has disabled any avenue immediate help would have come through.
“So far, you can see the people are very clearly happy about it. He is asking people to make noise. He has shut down the noisemakers. he has taken the internet from them, those who should make noise for him, he has shut their mouths. So, there is literally no voice for him.
“There is something I suspect that may happen. France may begin to do preemptive coups now in some of its territories. Our eyes are on some of them. they will now put their own puppets there and I think the people should be very smart and alert because these people are desperate,” he said
He also expressed disappointment at the silence of the African Union in the ongoing development. He said they do not have any credibility.
“By now, the African Union should have weighed in on some of these things that are happening but they are all now a bunch of compromised leaders. Many of them are puppets and so they take their dictation from somewhere other than Africa and because of that they can’t even talk. It they don’t even have credibility anymore. “ he said.
Chioma Kalu
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