More Coups May Continue To Happen in West Africa — Sam Amadi Declares, Explains Why

Sam Amadi, the Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, has said that coup attempts in West Africa will persist if no changes are made.

Speaking during an appearance on Arise Television, Amadi opined that coups are caused by incumbents rigging the rules to extend their tenure or making it impossible for the opposition to gain power.

He argued that the first lesson the coup teaches is that more might be coming if the conditions that triggered them are not changed.

“I think the president of the Economy Community of West African States, ECOWAS, has been the only very sane, in my view intelligent voice since this coup attempt.

“You know the rule of solidarity is to always defend regions. So it’s not a surprise. But beyond everything is the fact that everything about metric is about efforts, about incumbents to perpetuate themselves, either by rigging the rules to extend third tenure or four tenure.

“Either by making it impossible for opposition to present competitive election, or either by capturing certain institutions like the election management body, the judiciary, so that there’s just no way but to resort to extra constitutional solution.

“So the first lesson and what this coup teaches us, and there could be many coming. Look, if you don’t change the conditions that triggered them, and that’s what the Parliament said; the only problem is that the ECOWAS has very strong and robust frameworks and protocols, but they hang in the air.

“Interestingly, the ECOWAS specialized commissions and the democratic bodies develop body of work that never feature in mainstream, in the governance of the countries or even the region.

“So you’re going to see this beautiful language not to resonate with the heads of states who are going to make the critical decisions of whether to bomb or not fight,” he said.