Democracy in West Africa is regressing due to poor governance and bad leadership, providing excuses for military coups, former INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega has warned.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the “Reflection Conference on Democratic Elections in West Africa,” organised by Yiaga Africa, Jega said elected officials have “essentially converted public resources into personal fortunes at the expense of citizens’ needs and aspirations.”
He pointed to recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger as signs of growing public discontent, warning that the region risks further instability unless governance improves.
“The reversals or obstruction of expected gains of democratisation, occasioned by these persistent challenges, have given the excuses needed by coupists to stage a comeback, a dangerous phenomenon which could potentially engulf the region,” he said.
Jega also criticised elections in the region, saying they have become “largely farcical rituals designed to ensure retention of the incumbent president and party.” He warned that identity politics, driven by ethnic and religious divisions, has made multiparty democracy “fractious, conflict-ridden, often violent, and divisive, rather than accommodative or unifying diversity.”
To reverse the trend, he called for urgent reforms to strengthen institutions, promote accountability, and ensure that elections truly reflect the people’s will.
