Voters go to the polls in Uganda today. Their sitting president, Yoweri Museveni, 81, has been in power since 1986 and is now contesting a seventh term. According to one report, “Nobody doubts that he will be declared the winner, no matter how Ugandans vote.”
The situation is hardly unique in Africa. Paul Biya, 93, his Cameroonian counterpart, has held power since 1982 and won re-election last year. Even Biya is surpassed by a single person as the longest-serving leader on the continent and in the world: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 84, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea since 1979.
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| Yoweri Museveni |
Despite Nigeria’s many shortcomings as a democracy, I respect our elected executives for one crucial reason: they have largely honoured constitutional term limits. Only Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally permitted two terms. He failed. The rest did not even try. They all vacated their offices when their terms ended.
According to The Economist, Museveni’s “most obvious successor is his erratic son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who commands the army and likes to boast about torture on social media.” Imagine a Nigeria where such dynastic ambitions could take root!
Given factors such as our large population, sharp geopolitical divisions between South and North, and deep ethno-religious sentiments, it would be impossible for any civilian president to pull off this kind of autocratic nonsense in Nigeria. The country would burn. Even the “world community” would not allow it.
This is one area where Nigeria, despite our challenges, has gotten something right. Term limits are not merely constitutional niceties—they are safeguards of democratic dignity and national stability.
Wake up, Africa.
Muhsin
Yes of course, there are transitions of powers in Nigeria, but only from bad to worst.
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