Reactions As Sen. Sani Says Togo Has Had 56yrs of Father-to-son Leadership While ECOWAS and AU Sleep

Against the backdrop of the wave of military coup d’etat in countries in the West African sub-region and the attendant reactions from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), Senator Shehu Sani has called out the two bodies for not paying attention to the conditions that precipitate coups in the continent. 

In a post on Twitter (now X), the former federal legislator wrote:

“In Togo, the father ruled from 1967 to 2005 and the son is ruling from 2005 to date. That is 56 years of family democracy. AU is sleeping and ECOWAS is snoring”

The two bodies have essentially responded to the resurgence of coups in the country with condemnation and threat of military actions against the coup plotters. But the former Nigerian federal lawmaker feels they should do more by paying attention to or not overlooking the triggers of coups in the continent, one of which is self-perpetration in power by civilian leaders. 

The penchant of African civilian leaders to sit tight in their positions by manipulating the constitution and democratic process to suit their schemes is legendary. The situation, more often than not, would breed discontent and trigger coups. 

Understandably, all of those who reacted to the senator’s tweet agreed with him, noting that the responses of ECOWAS and the AU to the leadership challenge on the country are more often than not reactive mostly when a coup has taken place. They berated the organizations for lacking proactive initiatives to tackle the issues that precipitate the coups in the first place. 

Read some selected reactions here:What is your take on the senator’s tweet?

Ifyafrica (
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