Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the recent military coup in Gabon and urged African leaders to address the root cause of the recent spate of coups across the continent.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 elections, made the remarks in a statement on Thursday.
He said the coup in Gabon, the eighth in Africa since 2020, “calls for introspection” and that African leaders must focus on “dealing with the disease and not the symptoms that birth coups.”
Atiku also called on the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union to open a window of diplomatic engagement with the coup leaders in Gabon to pave the way for the soldiers to return to the barracks.
“Democracy and democratic governance have come to stay as a preferred form of government, and everything should be done to enthrone, nurture, and sustain it,,” Atiku said.
The coup in Gabon is the latest in a series of military takeovers in Africa in recent years. In 2020, there were coups in Mali, Guinea, and Sudan. In 2021, there were coups in Burkina Faso and Chad.
The recent spate of coups has raised concerns about the stability of democracy in Africa.
