It was the immortal Winston Churchill who once described democracy as the worst form of government except all other governments that have been tried and discarded in the past. The truism is obvious. It accentuates the Lincolnian classical definition of democracy.
Despite its flaws , democracy offers the best hope of man in a conflicted world. It gives room for free expression, liberty, freedom, the engagement of power without fear, without any shuddering.
All men of goodwill should naturally condemn the rule of the dungeon and the stake as symbolized by the military goon squad which is beholden to no one except the grand monstrous Caudillo who plays god. The Chinese, the Russians are not representative of the good order.
Yes, the West is flawed. Who is not? But even in the flaws of America, the United Kingdom and the rest, they are more benign in historical values and ideological guidance.
The communist economies like Russia and China, which Churchill famously told us cannot command the grains to grow, are resolved in the bruising flourish of the truncheon and he stake. They are distant, cold, indifferent, sworn to revenge and outright malice.
President Bola Tinubu is right like all democrats in condemning the coup in Niger. But the path to military intervention is even worse. We must climb down. It is apparent from the streets of Niamey that the ousted president Bazzoum was hardly representative of the people’s will. His victory was imposed. He lacked the popular Will.
I had covered two wars as a young editor both in Liberia and Sierra Leone. I was at the killing fields of the Rubber Plantation with the ECOMOG Field Commander the late General Tunji Olurin, General Victor Malu and General Bashir Magashi where the field of ogre was woven in the most indescribable evil.
I remember that Magashi called me to the side and said this should never happen at home.
I agree.
Here we are. The coupists are apparently popular. The Nigerien population is 60 percent Hausa . It is not 50 per cent as some people claim. We have the Sabarumo, the Fulani and other tribes who are equally our brethren in Nigeria.
A great dilemma. This is are our own people back home. Do you turn your guns against your brothers?
Diplomacy is the only way out. The giddy provocation of the informed towards war is ruinous and self consuming.
With our economic travails at home, we can’t afford another front of destabilization. I am sure President Tinubu will make the right choice . He must succeed, God willing.
Prince Shodipe-Dosunmu, the Oloriekun of Olowogbowo and Apesinola Okolaba Ekun, is a political activist and seasoned journalist
