@Democracy Under Siege: Rejecting The Mirage Of Military “Salvation”

@Democracy Under Siege: Rejecting The Mirage Of Military “Salvation”

The recent, failed coup attempt in the Benin Republic, our close neighbour, is yet another troubling echo of a dangerous wave sweeping across West Africa—an echo that should awaken sober reflection, not reckless celebration. It is deeply myopic and morally appalling that some Nigerians, driven by political frustration or misplaced loyalty to sidelined idols, now clap for coups and even boldly call for military takeover in Nigeria—the very country their so-called heroes claim they want to govern. This is the tragic contradiction: cheering the destruction of the same democratic platform that could one day carry their preferred leaders to power. When despair overtakes discernment, people begin to mistake chaos for change and tyranny for rescue.

Military rule is not the medicine for democratic fever; it is a poison disguised as a cure. History shows us that coups do not repair broken systems—they silence them. They suspend constitutions, trample civil liberties, gag the press, crush dissent, and replace citizen participation with decrees from the barrel of a gun. The soldier on the throne answers to no electorate and feels no obligation to public accountability. What emerges is not reform but repression, not renewal but regression, as fear replaces freedom and uniformed authority substitutes for the citizens’ voice.

Most of the so-called military messiahs who overthrow political elites soon reveal themselves as worse custodians of power than the very class they vilified. Without checks and balances, they gorge on unchecked authority, deepen corruption behind closed barracks, destroy institutions instead of strengthening them, and pass the landed nation from one uniformed strongman to another while development remains stranded on the runway of promises. The illusion of swift discipline quickly collapses into the reality of prolonged stagnation, where progress is paused and wounds multiply.

True national healing does not come through coups; it comes through courageous civic engagement, persistent institutional reform, and the patient strengthening of democracy—not its assassination. To embrace military takeover is to trade long-term hope for short-term emotional relief, to sacrifice the future on the altar of frustration. West Africa does not need more gun-point “saviours”; it needs awakened citizens who defend democratic processes, demand accountable leadership, and build systems that outlive individuals. Your freedom, voice, and destiny flourish not under boots, but under ballots.

Yours in fulfilment,

*@Otunba Femi Abiola, CMIE, MCE*

*@President*

*@Project Youth Fulfil*

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