Hours after soldiers seized power in Gabon, a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, appeared to have mocked the President of Nigeria Bola Tinubu asking if he would through the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, threaten to invade the Central African country.
Gabonese army officers on Wednesday announced they had seized power from President Ali Bongo, who was declared the winner of the Saturday election for a third term.
The coup is coming barely a month after army officers also ousted the democratically elected government in the Niger Republic, led by President Mohamed Bazoum.
In the wake of the Niger Republic coup, ECOWAS, led by Tinubu, had threatened to invade the West African country if the military junta did not give up power and reinstate Bazoum.
ECOWAS leaders issued a seven-day ultimatum to the junta to reinstate Bazoum but the sub-regional body is yet to send troops to Niger after the expiration of the demand.
The regional body through the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Abdel-Fatau Musah had said weeks later that a ‘D-Day’ for the military intervention in Niger Republic had been agreed.
Reacting to the latest coup in a post of X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, Fani-Kayode wondered whether ECOWAS will also threaten to invade Gabon.
Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was one of the spokespersons of Tinubu’s presidential campaign. Still, he had been vocal in criticising the President’s plan to wage war against the junta in Niger.
“I wonder whether ECOWAS or the African Union will threaten to invade Gabon too?”, Fani-Kayode wrote.
Noting that he was not surprised at the coup, Fani-Kayode said there will be more cases of military takeover of government in Francophone African countries.
“Sadly another coup has taken place in Africa. This time it is in the nation of Gabon where President Ali Bongo (pictured below) has been removed from power.
“It appears that the warning I gave in my last essay, titled ‘Does Killing Nigerien Babies Bring Glory To Our Name?’, was prophetic.
“I am not surprised that this has happened and frankly we should expect more coups in the Francophone countries of West and Central Africa for the reasons I stated in that essay.”