The ECOWAS Duo Dinosaurs Strikes again.

Sep 26, 2024

Let's open this piece with this quotation from 1 Kings 12:11: And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'"

The unfortunate people of Nigeria and Ghana must be asking what offense they committed that elderly presidents to not only compound their economic woes but now to set their security agents on them when they want to vent their anger and frustration.

The past week has been terrible for the citizens of these unfortunate countries.

First, it was Tinubu in Nigeria who set the tone. In a move that would have brought smiles of joy to his predecessor, the taciturn muscular dictator Muhammadu Buhari.

For reasons that were best known to him, the Nigerian president, who campaigned on his record as an apostle of the late MKO Abiola and a dogged fighter against military tyranny, decided to slap the charges of, ye, gasp, TREASON against people whose offense was to organize a protest against the unbearable State of economic affairs in a once prosperous Nigeria that used to call herself the "Giant of Africa."

Webster's dictionary defines Treason as: "treason - the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family."

Treason is the most serious of crimes a state can level against its opponent. It beggars believe that a man of Tinubu's age and stature would treat it with such levity!

This is how Human Rights Watch trumpeted it: Nigeria: Protesters Charged with Treason (Drop Charges; Ensure Due Process; End Crackdown on Dissent): "(Abuja) – Nigerian authorities have charged 10 protesters who were arrested during protests across Nigeria in August 2024 with Treason, which carries a possible death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should drop the charges.

According to legal sources consulted by Human Rights Watch, the 10 protesters are among the 124 people arrested in Abuja and other states, including Kano and Kaduna, after civil society-led protests, tagged #EndBadGovernance, began on August 1, calling for an end to economic hardship. On September 2 at a Federal High Court in Abuja police announced the charge of conspiracy to commit Treason, for attempting to destabilize Nigeria, seeking to remove the president, waging war against the government, and inciting mutiny, among other reasons.

"By charging protesters with treason, the Nigerian authorities are sending a troubling message about their intolerance for dissent," said Anietie Ewang, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Instead of equating protesting with a crime punishable by death, the government should uphold Nigerians' right to freedom of expression and listen to their grievances." https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/06/nigeria-protesters-charged-treason

Our man in Ghana, President Nana Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, has not gone that far yet. While he was blowing the impeccable Queen's English at the 79th UNGA in New York, his police were busy arresting and molesting citizens whose offense was to organize a protest against the environmental degradation and the pollution of the country's major rivers by illegal miners. Overzealous police officers roped in innocent bystanders.

Report: "The two hospitalized suspects are among 39 remanded by an Accra Circuit Court after the arrest of no fewer than 42, during a demonstration at the 37 Intersection in Accra on 22nd and 23rd September 2024. The protest, organised by the Democracy Hub, sought to draw attention to the ongoing illegal mining crisis, commonly referred to as galamsey, and alleged economic mismanagement by the government.

Following their arrest, the protesters were brought to court on Tuesday, 24th September, where their bail requests were denied. According to the police, 28 of the protesters have been remanded into police custody, while 11 have been sent to prison custody. The court has set their next appearances for 8th October 2024 for 30 of the accused, and 11th October for the remaining nine." - https://www.pulse.com.gh/news/local/2-of-39-remanded-democracy-hub-protesters-receiving-treatment-at-police-hospital/kb805ld

The activities of illegal miners and the havoc they have wrecked on the country's river bodies have been trending on Ghana's blogosphere for weeks - we tackled it in this article: https://femiakogun.substack.com/p/not-in-defence-of-chinese-galamseyers

Like his counterpart in Nigeria, President Akufo-Addo made his name and mark as a Human Rights fighter during the regime of JJ Rawlings.

It can never be explained why leaders in Africa continue to believe as Louis XIV did with his proclamation: L'État, c'est moi "I am the state."

Why do Tinubu and Akufo-Addo believe themselves to be the State? And why are there no people in their entourage to caution them that a people who fought and defeated a sad parade of military dictators will never succumb to the authoritarianism of some aging and clueless dinosaurs?

Why is it escaping these two corrupt, myopic agents of Western imperialism to learn from what their ineptitude engendered in the Sahel? And the MOAQ (Mother of All Questions), why don't African leaders care about their legacies?

Almost sixty years after his demise, Ghanaians/Africans still mourn Kwame Nkrumah, for what will Ghanaians remember Nana Akufo-Addo in six years?

Lest we forget, it was under the leaders of Tinubu and Akufo-Addo that the regional organization, ECOWAS, lost three of its most important members.

©️ Fẹ́mi Akọ́mọ‌láfẹ́

Farmer, Writer, Published Author, and Social Commentator.

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