The Situation In Niger Republic Was Predictable – Ezekwesili

A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili has stated that the unrest presently occurring in the Niger Republic should not come as a surprise.

Ezekwesili opined that the situation was predictable.

Naija News recalls that the Nigerien Presidential Guard had detained the President of Niger Republic, Mohammed Bazoum and later declared General Abdourahamane Tchiani as the nation’s new leader.

Tchiani, who has headed the Presidential Guard since 2011, said he was the new “President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland.”

The military also issued a warning about “the consequences that will flow from any foreign military intervention,” saying, “Certain dignitaries…are in thinking of confrontation,” which “will end in nothing but the massacre of the Nigerien population and chaos.”

Speaking on the development via Twitter, Ezekwesili argued that the corruption in West Africa is the resultant effect of the unrest in the region.

She wrote, “The contagion effect we are experiencing in West African democracies- Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad and now Niger – was entirely predictable.

“Acute systemic corruption has massively eroded the functional capacity of most African States to deliver basic services to citizens from one election cycle to another.

“Therein sadly lies the deep Gap of Legitimacy that made Nigerienes to welcome the coup in their country.

“I once spoke of this as “The ‘Unsustainability’ of Failure”.