Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has lamented that coup d’état, election fraud and political violence and instability is crippling Africa growth.
In their separate speeches at the opening session of a high-level dialogue organised by the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, both Obasanjo and vice president Yemi Osinbanjo warned that unless political instability in some parts of the continent is halted, it would resulted in the recession of democratic values in Africa.
Obasanjo said, “In recent years, we have witnessed a return of coup d’état, election fraud and political violence, resulting in instability and threatening the developmental gains we have made in the last couple of decades.
“I feel very sad and it gives me great concern when I see the democratic system we have painfully built collapsing. And I believe that there must be a solution, because the problem is human and all human problems can be solved by human beings. That is why the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, under my chairmanship, and the OOPL have brought all of us together today to discuss pertinent issues affecting governance in West Africa, including the challenges and then to seek the way forward.
“Achieving this may not be easy, but it is a must if we want our nation to make progress; it must entail responsible management of diversity, which makes everyone feel a sense of belonging and be a significant part of the whole.”
Osinbajo on his part said, “This is a moment of peril for democracy in our region because we are navigating a perfect storm of adverse circumstances, a world economy that is reeling from recessional shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, price and supply disruption from the war in Ukraine, the emergency of armed non-state actors, and poor challenges associated with catering for the youngest population in the world.
“We must not allow our continent to become as it was in the cold war era. A fetter of proxy wars and great power conflict, we know from experience that this would result in a deepening or the recession of democratic values in Africa.”
