Osinbajo demands effective measures against coup in Africa

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Sunday demanded international collaboration against coup in Africa.

Osinbajo, according to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, made the call during a bilateral meeting with his Tanzanian counterpart, Philip Mpango, in Arusha.

The Vice President is expected to speak at inaugural session of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights for the year 2022 on Monday.

At Sunday’s meeting, the duo discussed issues of interest to Nigeria and Tanzania, including infrastructure development, trade and investment, technology, climate change and democracy.

Osinbajo said the West African sub-region had witnessed four coups including several attempts in less than one year.

He said: “It is something that we think has to do with more cooperation. The African Union has been very forthcoming (in condemnation) in saying that we cannot tolerate unconstitutional seizures of power.

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“But sanctioning these coupists without any proper ‘teeth’ has not been particularly effective.

“There might be a need for us to reach out to some of the regional bodies, development financial institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Union (EU).

“The EU has been quite responsive but we think that we can do a lot more just in terms of cooperation, so there is an effective deterrent if everyone agrees that undemocratic change of government is unacceptable.”

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