Burkina Faso coup, a threat to democracy in Africa, says NLC

IF the coup d’état in Burkina Faso is allowed to stand, it could jeopardise democratic rule in most African countries, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said.

A statement signed by the President of the Congress, Ayuba Wabba in Abuja yesterday, said last Wednesday’s coup should not be viewed as endangering democracy in Burkina Faso, but the African continent which deserves strong condemnation by all well-meaning people throughout the world.

Wabba said: “More worrisome, and an indicator to scuttling the democratic process in Burkina Faso, is the insistence by the coupists that its installed Head of State, Gen. Gilbert Diendere, a long-time associate of ousted President Blaise Compaore, should head the Interim Government. This is against the recommendation of the mediators on the crisis, the Presidents of Senegal and Benin Republic, that the Interim President should lead the country to the polls come the new date of November 20 this year.”

Wabba, who stated that it is obvious that the military in Burkina Faso does not want to relinquish power to a democratically-elected government, said the insistence that the military would head the transition process, even when their ostensible reason for the coup, which was the exclusion of allies of ex-President Compaore, has been addressed by the mediators for a more inclusive participation tantamount to hypocrisy and an apparent attempt to reinstate Compaore or his proxies through the back-door.