By Reuben Abati

INTERNATIONAL organisations and other stakeholders commenting on the coup that took place in Niger on February 19 have been making the right diplomatic and politically correct noises. While all that familiar stuff about a military coup being an aberration and a major setback for the democratic process in Africa is acceptable, the truth is that this is a perfect case of good riddance to bad rubbish in Niger. Mamadou Tandja had become a nuisance, holding that poor nation and its people hostage for more than a year to pursue a selfish ambition that saw him getting an additional three years in office last November. Tandja’s two-term tenure of five years each expired in December but long before then, he came up with the idea of prolonging his tenure in office by another three years, obviously the first step towards life rule. Everyone who opposed him was hounded into silence or exile. He sacked the Constitutional Court.

Members of his Cabinet who dared to raise a voice were expelled too. The media was harrassed. Civil society activists were intimidated and blackmailed. Tandja put together a team of sycophants who shouted Tazarce: continuity. He suspended the Constitution, started ruling by decrees and issued arrest warrants for opposition leaders. The referendum that was held in August 2009 was a kangaroo exercise with a predictable outcome. Tandja had his way. But he underestimated the people. For a whole week leading up to the coup that took place on Friday, civil society protesters took to the streets in Niamey and elsewhere. When the military junta struck, there was dancing in the same streets. Tandja is said to be in a military facility and the coup plotters have announced that he is in good health. Whatever pains he may be going through is self-inflicted. He is the victim of his own greed.

One of the first assignments of the junta should be to put Tandja and his cohorts on trial. His self-perpetuation gambit was based on the funny script that his government had done so much for Nigeriens, and that he needed to consolidate the gains of his government’s economic reforms. A lie. What reforms? Tandja’s economic reform brought Chinese investors and more money into the pockets of crooks. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. For the ten years that Tandja reigned, that country’s development index travelled consistently Southwards. At 71, Mamadou Tandja had no fresh ideas, no new tricks that he could play to promote the people’s interests. He was acting out a bad script that had been authored before him in Nigeria, and it failed on stage, and even in those countries where the leaders became monarchs hoping to die in office, the ultimate outcome was one of shame. Remember Mobutu Sese Seko, Kamuzu Banda, Houphouet-Boigny, Idi Amin Dada: Africa ’s despots.

The more important value of what has happened in Niger lies in the strong message that it sends to African leaders, many of whom may be tempted to copy the Tandja experiment. The coup is not merely a military coup, it is a triumph of sorts for the Nigerien civil society. It produced in that regard an interesting paradox, with the leaders of the “revolution”, Col Djibril Adamou Harouna and Major Salou Djibo promising that they intend to ensure Niger becomes “an example of democracy and good governance.” The ousted Tandja rode on the back of the military to power in 1999; he has taken the same route out of power. His exit sends another message: that dictatorship creates the conditions for its own failure.

Following his decision to force himself on the people of Niger, both ECOWAS and the African Union suspended the country. The US and the EU withdrew aid. On Thursday, Nigeria, Niger ’s neighbour, and the regional power, quickly rushed a statement to the press condemning the coup. Former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar is the leader of a team to Niger holding talks with the coup makers. Where was Nigeria all this while? Tandja was able to flourish in part, because Nigeria looked the other way.

Now it is being speculated that the coup in Niger has a Nigerian element: not necessarily the fact that certain persons in the international community thought they heard Nigeria instead of Niger , with an immediate effect on oil prices, but that the coup is meant to test possible international reactions to a similar incident in Nigeria . Mischievous as this may sound, it should not be discountenanced, more so as there has been a copy-cat pattern to military interventions in West African politics. Besides, for more than two months, the Nigerian political leadership has been engaged in a death-wish. When politicians suspend the Constitution as Tandja did, and as the Nigerian leadership appears to be doing, they write a long letter to trouble. Political leaders should not seek to remain in power because it suits their animal instincts, they are required to respect the law, and not succumb to the temptation to bend or change it for selfish reasons.

Col Djibril Adamou Harouna told Nigeriens: “The army loves the people and will always stand by Niger .” The best way to demonstrate that love and commitment is for the junta to make its intervention brief. It should set about initiating fresh elections within the shortest possible time, and ensure that Niger returns quickly to the path of democratic governance. I recommend six months. It must live up to its assumed name: “Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy,” and turn its intervention into an opportunity for a new beginning. The long-term challenge however, will be to rescue that country from the claws of poverty, instability and insecurity.

In addition to the ECOWAS framework, Nigeria should see the urgent need to contribute to the task of bringing stability to our neighbour to the North, a country with which Nigeria shares not just a border but intertwined lives and cultures. Poor governance combined with elite greed poses the biggest threat to Africa ’s democratisation process in addition to ethnic/religious differences and mass illiteracy. As these transform into elements of state failure, more African states, from Guinea to Zimbabwe, to Kenya and Angola may implode. This is a terrible burden for a continent left behind by the development clock. The democratisation project in Africa is in as great a need for protection and promotion now as was the case two decades ago. Too many African states are pseudo-democracies, Nigeria inclusive; and although there has been considerable growth in civil society responsiveness and the role of international actors, altogether the conflicting spectacle of progress and failure invites much pessimism about now and the future.

If You See The Saudi King…

THE six-man delegation appointed by the Executive Council of the Federation is travelling today to Saudi Arabia to do two things: visit the sick Nigerian President whose ill-health held the entire country hostage for more than 70 days before the National Assembly organised a “civilian coup”, and then thank the Saudi King for his hospitality. Shopping, disappearing to take care of personal issues, staying back to pursue family interests- all of this is not part of the trip and we are hoping that all six men will return before the next meeting of the Executive Council on Wednesday with useful information.

It has been reported that one Nigerian, Mrs Turai Yar’Adua, who also happens to be the first wife of the President, is the one who determines who sees the President or not. Too many fruitless trips have been made to Saudi Arabia by government officials with all the emissaries unable to see the President because Madam Turai says no. We can give her the benefit of the doubt: the President is probably being hidden from visitors on doctors’ advice. But doctors also ought to recognise extra-ordinary situations. If leprosy is not one of the cocktail of ailments that they are treating, they should allow the six-man delegation from Nigeria ’s Federal Cabinet to see our President. They are coming to the hospital as “the eyes and ears” of all Nigerians. They don’t have to say a word to him; they can just wave and nod, and observe carefully. Nigeria today stands at a crossroads: not too many countries have been so affected by Presidential ill-health.

The King of Saudi Arabia has been identified repeatedly in the last 72 hours as the good host who is picking up President Yar’Adua’s bills. Some reports suggest that President Yar’çdua is no longer in a hospital but in a special facility provided by the Saudi King. The Saudi Arabian authorities must clear the air at once: to reassure Nigerians that in purporting to act as Yar’Adua’s keeper, they have no intentions of violating Nigeria ’s sovereignty. For it is this country’s sovereignty that is being compromised if the head of another sovereign nation is allowed to keep our President as a willing medical hostage, without allowing access to him.

The six men going to Saudi Arabia have all obtained their visas. Given the importance of the trip to Nigerians, and we hope the Saudi Embassy in Nigeria is awake to its duties, this can be taken as sign that the Saudi King has been duly informed, diplomatic protocols have been sorted out and the six envoys will get a chance to deliver their message. Anything short of that will amount to an unfriendly act. My fear though is that a low-ranking officer may be assigned to attend to the “nosey” folks from Nigeria ! Should that happen, and an insult posted to Nigeria’s 140 million people, the Jonathan administration should immediately invite the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Nigeria for very serious discussions.

King Abdullah recently hosted the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to a buffet lunch, showing that when he wants to play the diplomatic game, he sure knows how to do it. If the Federal Government delegation succeeds in having an audience with the King, they shouldn’t be more interested in bowing and scraping, they should tell him Nigeria’s immediate future hangs in the balance, because its President is stranded in Saudi Arabia and the people have no information about him. The Nigerian team, comprising five Ministers and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation should not return empty-handed.

Tiger Woods’ Apology

SO Tiger Woods has now apologised, publicly and properly for being “irresponsible” and “selfish”: kudos to his media handlers who want him back in the good books of all conservative elements who think his infidelity is worse than the original sin. But they want more than that: they want the withdrawn endorsements and goodwill back. Fine. I think Tiger Woods has paid enough penance. This hand-wringing over sexual dalliances, in addition to sex addiction therapy, strikes all the necessary moral notes, but can we go back to golf before Tiger Woods begins to imagine himself an eternal victim? No one is asking all the ladies who “stole” him from his wife to offer any apologies. If guilt is to be shared they are just as guilty.

By apologising, Tiger Woods has reassured everyone who invested faith and energy in his talents and success that he is aware and appreciative of the burden he bears as role model and public figure. A strong sense of his humility and humanism is well-conveyed. It is a necessary lesson for all public figures about the moral compass that defines their role-playing, a compass that is beyond their control.

Postponing Tiger’s return to competitive golf extends his saga needlessly. He is a champion on the golf course: that is the best place to work all of this out. Tiger Woods’ mother probably has the best perspective. Shortly after her son’s press conference, she told reporters: “Sometimes think there is double standard. He didn’t do anything illegal. He didn’t kill anybody. But he try to improve himself. He try to go to therapy and help. He change that and making better. When he do all this thing, he will come out stronger and better person…I am so proud to be his mother, period.” Momma is right.