Nigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo has said the reason African youths are in support of coups on the continent is due to their search for liberators.
He stated this in Abeokuta, Ogun state during an interactive session with Africa for Africa Youth Initiative (A4A), a platform founded by Reverend Chris Oyakhilome.
According to Obasanjo, he would not support a coup due to his experience in the hands of late General Sanni Abacha, but noted that he understood the rising military coups in Africa meant the people want to be liberated.
The former Nigerian leader who governed from 1999 to 2007, also pointed out that certain conditions had been encouraging the military seizure of power across the continent.
Since 2020, Africa has experienced coups in seven countries with the most recent ones in Niger and Gabon.
He charged African leaders to entrench true democratic principles with God-given attributes as a way to discourage coups in Africa.
Obasanjo said; “If we don’t have the conditions that encourage them (coups), they may not happen. We should make sure that we do everything to prevent coups from happening.”
He further said the youth particularly, “support most of these coups, the one in Gabon, the Coup Leader, was being carried on the head by the youths, not by old wretched people like me.
“So, the youth are looking for liberators, and we must bear that in mind. Why do we have to allow the youth to start looking for liberators beyond the government of the day? Why?
“And if you have been in government for 40 years and you are not tired, maybe you need retirement”