Amb. Rasheed Akinkuolie

Rasheed Akinkuolie

The Commander of the presidential guard of the republic of Niger ( Niamey)
General Abderahman Tchiani on Wednesday 26 July, 2023 took President Mohamed Bazoum hostage in the presidential palace in Niamey and declared himself Head of State of the country.

General Tchiani, who is 62 years old took this preemptive action to stop his retirement from the army, after serving as commander of the presidential guard for over a decade.
President Bazoum, a Niger-Arab was elected in 2021 to appease the minority Arabs, Touaregs, Berber, Fulani ethnic groups, who have never ruled the country since independence in 1960. Rather, the majority Hausa and Songhai/ Djerma ethnic groups have alternated governing the country for most of 63 years, either by staging coups or through rigged elections.

The overthrow of President Bazoum will inevitably lead to renewed war with the Arabs, Touaregs and other minority ethnic groups. Rhissa AG Bula, former minister and Touareg warlord has left the government to join the insurgency and several lives have been lost, since the resurgence of hostilities.
After staging several coups, all of which were inimical to the peace, stability and development of Niger republic, the armed forces at a point in time, resolved to accept democracy and end the era of military rule.

This position was maintained for 23 years, until the July 26, coup d’etat, which will bring back the dark days of instability, violence and war, if the coup is not suppressed.
The armed forces of Nigeria republic had in the past intervened to restore democracy, whenever it was threatened by the military or civilians, with two notable cases. When General Bare Mainassara overthrew the civilian government of President Mahamane Ousmane in 1996, Mainassara was shot dead by his guards in April 1999, with a high caliber machine gun to ensure that he died.

It was after this gruesome murder, that President Muhamadu Tandja was elected in December,1999 and re-elected for a second final term, which ended in February, 2010. But, when President Tandja attempted to amend the constitution to extend his tenure, he was overthrown, but not harmed.

This paved the way for the election of President Mohamed Issoufou in 2011, who ruled for 10 years until, 2021 and was succeeded by President Bazoum in 2021, until he was overthrown by General Tchiani on 26 July 2023.

This coup d’etat is one of several previous ones, which produced regimes that stunted the development of the country.

The first military intervention in the country was in 1974, when President Hamani Diori, of the Songhai ethnic group and father of the country’s independence was overthrown in a bloody coup d’etat and his wife was killed.

The country started to derail from that point, after losing the guidance and leadership, which President Diori would have given the country, like his contemporaries in Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Tanzania, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and other successful African countries.

Incidentally, the coup d’etat of General Tchiani is of interest to ECOWAS community, which forbids unconstitutional change of government in member states.

The community gave the junta an ultimatum, to restore President Bazoum to his office or face severe sanctions, which may include the use of force.

General Tchiani commands only 700 officers of the presidential guard in an armed forces of 33,000 soldiers, comprising of the army, national guard, gendarmerie, national police and air force. It is expected that the other arms of the military will sooner or later oust the junta, if constitutional order is not restored within the shortest possible time.

The state of instability, coups and ethnic clashes experienced in Niger republic today has its roots in the political system the country inherited from France. Niger republic was created from several ancient empires and ethnic groups in the Sahel region notably; Hausa, 53% of the population, Songhai, 21%, Touareg/Arab 12 %, Fulani 7%, Kanuri 6%, ruled by France, as one country under a centralized unitary system.

After independence in 1960, the ethnic groups were embroiled in fierce competition to take over the governance of the country from France. But, the unitary political system of the colonial era, could not apply in the new independent state, without creating frictions among the ethnic groups, who have diversified interests, ways of life and would like to be free of another colonial Lord, even if it is indigenous and African.

The best way to address this anomaly, would have been to create regional autonomous administrations in areas, where each ethnic group is predominant. The regional governments will be free to control their cultural affairs, maintain traditional institutions, develop their infrastructures, provide health services, control local security services, manage their finances; all except the right to secede from the rest of the country, as an independent country.

The federal or central government on the other hand, with the capital in Niamey, will control common institutions and assets such as; the central bank , national currency, customs service, immigration service, foreign policy, maritime services, armed forces. The President of the country will relate with the regional administrators or governors, as first among equals. This arrangement will be similar to the political system of the United kingdom and Nigeria during the first republic.

In conclusion, General Tchiani staged the coup of July, 26 without any justification, other than to satisfy his personal ambition. If allowed to succeed, Africa will go back to the long and inglorious era of military rule.
The expulsion of the french contingent from Niger republic, an irrational decision, will weaken the resistance to Alqaida and ISWAP incursions to Niger and other West African countries.

A hostile military regime in Niger republic is a threat to Nigeria and this cannot be tolerated. On the basis of these and other factors, the military junta in Niger republic must unconditionally restore constitutional order to the country or face the consequences.

*Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie was Nigeria’s Consul in Cameroon and former Director of Trade and Investments, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja Nigeria