Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s hit song ‘Shakara oloje ni’ of the late 1980s succinctly captures the way and manner African regional blocs, the ECOWAS and African Union, AU are handling the resolution of the political impasse in Gabon and Niger.
The incursions of military adventurists into civil governance in both African states raised a lot of dust but the final result was laced in ‘shakara oloje ni’.
EXPLANATION: ‘Shakara oloje ni’ when literally translated simply means threat backed by inaction.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) Africa’s most authoritative news platform in this brief analysis will take swipe at the pronouncements made as the July 26th and August 30th coups in two African countries, the Gabon and Niger Republic took African leaders by surprise. .
It was like joke when suddenly the presidential guards in Niger Republic woke up one morning and President Mohamed Bazoum became a prisoner in his palatial presidential palace.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu who is also chairman of ECOWAS immediately summoned an emergency meeting of the regional bloc on the next line of action to restore democracy.
The economic sanctions, standby troops, invasion and what have you are all ‘shakara oloje’.
The noise was so loud that ECOWAS defence chiefs also held various meetings in different states of the sub region. The bottom line was that a standby joint military troop was on standby to invade Niger Republic and teach the coupists a bitter lesson.
ECOWAS leaders in ‘agbada’ threatened and one would have thought that within two weeks all the coupists must have been smoked out and properly given military drills.
Sanctions were imposed, electricity disconnected yet the citizens volunteered to fight side by side with the coupists.
Till date nothing has happened, “all na shakara oloje’. There was no invasion not even the popular Christmas knockout was not shot at the direction of the Republic.
While African leaders were still contemplating on what to do in Niger, Gabon military officers too struck. AU mounted a loud speaker across Africa denouncing the take over from a democracy turned into monarchy where it’s the government of the father and by the son.
“This time there was no ‘shakara oloje’ as there was no threat of military invasion.
As at today, the Gabonese have announced a transitional government without a date while our Niger brothers have announced a three year transitional government.
President Tinubu is still begging the Niger adventurists to try the Abdulsalami Abubakar’s nine months transition model to make it faster.
Charity begins at home, before the Abdulsalami Abubakar’s model the military had been in civil governance since 1983 in Nigeria from General Mohammadu Buhari to General Ibrahim Babangida and who again please? General Sani Abacha.
Tinubu is now singing a new song that military invasion of Niger is no longer on the table. It’s now a subtle appeal not even diplomacy to resolve the political impasse. All na ‘shakara oloje’.