As you well may know,President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia has refused to give up his Presidency despite losing in December in a presidential election he initially accepted its results. This is despite the threats by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to forcefully remove him from office on if he remains if he refuses to hand power to President-elect Adama Barrow on Thursday.
It is also in the news that Gambia’s parliament has extended Jammeh’s term, which is due to end tomorrow by 90 days. The parliament also approved his decision to declare a 90-day state of emergency in the tiny West African state.
A military source told newsmen that a Nigerian warship was sailing towards The Gambia as a show of force ahead of possible military intervention.
Nigeria’s air force was contributing 200 “supporting” troops for the regional force, navy spokesman Capt Dahun Jahun told the Associated Press news agency.
Yahya Jammeh has been president since 1994, for a bit of context, that is the same year Rashidi Yekini scored Nigeria’s first ever World Cup goal! But he is only the latest in the line of African leaders who have sit-tight tendencies.
Thesheet.ng brings you 5 other African leaders who refused to leave office after their term limits.
1. Robert Gueï of Ivory Coast
Gueï was an Ivorian military leader who headed the first successful coup d’état in his native country in 1999. His rule lasted only 10 months, but it marked the beginning of years of conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, which had previously been known as a haven of stability in West Africa. Gueï became chief of staff of the army in 1990 under Pres. Félix Houphouët-Boigny. In 1996 Houphouët-Boigny’s successor, Henri Konan Bédié, fired Gueï on unproven charges of fomenting a rebellion. On Dec. 24, 1999, following a mutiny by soldiers who were demanding back wages and improved living conditions, Gueï staged a bloodless military coup that toppled Bédié. Although he claimed to have come to power reluctantly, Gueï entered the October 2000 presidential elections, he was soundly defeated by Gbagbo, but refused to recognize the result. It took a spate of street protests to bring Gbagbo to power. Gueï was found dead in Abidjan during an army mutiny.
2. Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast
Laurent Gbagbo, is the former president of Ivory Coast who refused to step down after losing the presidential election to his main rival, Alassane Ouattara, in 2010. Gbagbo came into power after 20 years in the opposition in 2000 when military leader Robert Guei’s attempts to rig elections were defeated by street protests in the main city, Abidjan.
In April 2011, Mr Gbagbo was himself forced from office – captured in a bunker at the presidential palace by UN and French-backed forces supporting his rival Alassane Ouattara, internationally regarded as the winner of elections five month earlier.
3. President Joseph Kabila of Congo DR
Joseph Kabila assumed power as the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001 after his father’s death, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, was murdered in a bloody coup.
A year after he oversaw the signing of the constitution, 15 million Congolese voted for a government for the first time in more than 40 years.Though it was far from a perfect or peaceful election, it was a landmark moment. Kabila was duly announced the winner with 58.05% of the vote, formally ending the so-called 1+4 transition period that brought the government and dozens of rebel leaders together in a loose coalition.
Five years later, in 2011, Kabila organised another election, which he won again, but this time amid allegations of fraud. Fast-forward to the present and Kabila, who is constitutionally barred from running again, appears to have changed his mind about democracy.
He is refusing to hold an election and cede power, attacking anyone who calls for him to stand down. Despite months of warnings from the US, Britain and the EU that he should organise a free and fair election, and proudly allow for Congo’s first peaceful and democratic transfer of power, he continues to stand firm.
4. Pierre Nkurunziza, Burundi’s president
In Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza’s insistence in 2015 to run for a third term, despite constitutional term limits, caused serious and ongoing conflict. Citizens are risking life and limb to oppose his long stay in power.
Burundi’s instability is seen as an example of what can happen when leaders fail to stick to term limits. It is also considered a litmus test for continental institutions in dealing with the fallout from term extensions. So far, all efforts by the African Union have failed.
5. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe
As the oldest serving president in the world, Mugabe has become a caricatured leader who clings to power at all costs, ignoring the principles of democratic change of power.
The latest wave of protests against Mugabe’s rule was prompted by the economic meltdown and the inability of the government to pay salaries – the final straw for those who have suffered through years of hardship as a result of Mugabe’s policies. Elections have been marred by serious violence, especially those in 2008. No succession plan is in place either. This is creating instability and fears from the international community of a violent transition should Mugabe die while in office.
SEE ALSO: Gambia’s Political Lockjam: Should Yahya Jammeh Be Forcefully Removed?
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The post Like Yahya Jammeh… 5 Other African Presidents Who Refused To Vacate Office After Their Tenures Ended [SEE] appeared first on The Sheet.