Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has expressed happiness with the political developments in Gabon in the wake of the couple that ousted President Ali Bongo.
Fayose in an exclusive interview on Channels Television’s Hard Copy on Friday, said even though he does not support military intervention in politics, the recent wave of coups across the continent is the result of the sit-tight syndrome.
“I am very happy with what happened in Gabon, I don’t like military incursions in politics,” he said.
Gabon’s President, Ali Bongo, who has been in power for 14 years, was toppled on Wednesday by the military, hours after he was declared the winner in Saturday’s elections.
Fayose noted that such occurrence would not happen in Nigeria despite the shortcomings in the country’s democratic journey.
“Remember that, now in Nigeria, you can see an interrupted democratic process. You can see that we know after four years there will be an election. Nigeria has gone from one party to another party, one person to another person in the space of time.
“But in a country where one man is spending 30 years, 20 years, 40 years, they must boot him out of the place, whichever way. That’s different from Nigeria’s setting,” he said.
“You can’t spend more than a particular number of years but don’t compare it with Nigeria. I’m not saying anything cannot happen – no coup.
“When you talk here, they will go and report you. They will come and carry you in the house because, the moment you hear about a coup and you do not report it – let me say to you, you deserve to be killed,” he said.
Fayose also compared the oil-rich Central Africa nation’s population to that of Nigeria, saying “Nigeria has a 200 million population, Gabon is 2.5 million, Ekiti is even more than Gabon”.
