The United States Consul General in Nigeria, Will Stevens, said the growing trend of military takeover of government in Africa was because some leaders in the continent refused to relinquish power after their tenure in office.
Stevens expressed concern that Africa is facing challenges like climate change and food insecurity, saying only democratic stability could help in resolving the problems.
The Consul General spoke on Wednesday at the launch of the ‘Recycling Waste to Wealth Challenge’ competition for secondary school students at Abeokuta Window on America, located at the Youth Development Centre of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The programme is a US Government supported enterprise competition for students in vocational and technical colleges in Ogun State.
In his words, Stevens said leaders of Africa must embrace the real tenets of democracy by ensuring peaceful transition of power.
According to him, Nigeria has enjoyed 25 years of uninterrupted peaceful democratic transition, urging other African nations to learn from Nigeria.
He said, “(Olusegun) Obasanjo served two terms and left power, he set the precedent in Nigeria of you serve and then you step aside for your successor.
“Nigeria has enjoyed 25 years of presidential succession. President Buhari just did the same thing.
“There are Presidents of neighbouring countries that have been there for a very, very long time, 20, 30, 40 years, this leads to democratic instability, it leads to coup.”
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