Lagos — This newspaper sheds no tears for Mamadou Tandja, the erstwhile dictator of the Republic of Niger. We award no garlands to his captors either. Rather our heartfelt sympathy goes to the poverty-stricken masses of Niger who have had to endure one tyranny after another.

We are not impressed with Col. Salou Djibo and his band of coup-makers in the self-styled 'Supreme Military Council for the Restoration of Democracy.' We take with a pinch of salt their refrain to turn Niger into an example of 'democracy and good governance' and save its people from 'poverty, deception and corruption.' It's a rather familiar road in Africa, where power-mongers in the barracks have arrogated to themselves the role of the watchdog of democratic governance in the continent. Cashing in on a simmering discontent, political crisis or perceived malfeasance of the political class, they ride to power on a wave of popular support. No sooner would they have settled down in power than they begin to undermine all institutions of (democratic) governance as one sure way of entrenching themselves in power. They sack and ban political parties. They roll out decrees to curtain the inalienable rights of the same people they purportedly came in to save from bad governance. They shut down media houses and muffle, through state-sponsored disappearances, tortures and murders, the voices of dissent. Rights to personal liberty, fair hearing, freedom of thought and conscience and the right to peaceful assembly and association are inevitably violated with impunity.

Military government represents a combination of vainglory, tribalism, nepotism and perfidy. In a bid to consolidate one-man-rule, allegations of attempted coups are thrown up every now and then into the public domain with the aim of employing them to do in perceived rivals and adversaries, some of them former comrades-in-arms. Corruption and laxity soon permeate the entire hierarchy of the military. The soldiers of fortune begin to loathe operational postings. Professionalism is supplanted with high wire fawning and jockeying for political appointments.

In the no-holds-barred macabre game of power consolidation, the leader of the junta begins to collect to himself members of his ethnic stock while systematically eliminating those from other tribes. Thus while the regime parades a carapace of one command structure in the military, discontent actually defines daily life in the barracks. Military regimes also perpetrate brazen acts of corruption. While the politicians they discredited embezzle public funds stealthily in thousands, the barracks messiahs relocate state treasuries to their bedrooms. The late Mobuto Sese Seko, for instance, was reported to have amassed fortunes in excess of Zaire's (now DRC) total national income. While the final word is yet to be heard on the funds stolen by the late Gen. Sani Abacha in Nigeria, Switzerland, at least, has refunded about $500 million US dollars stashed away by the dictator. Departing military regimes usually leave their countries in the throes of instability and sometimes (civil) war. Where the tyrants do not transmogrify into civilians through kangaroo elections, they nonetheless install civilian surrogates only for them to employ the instability and chaos that follow such governments as pretexts to stage new coups. All said and done, military rule has no beneficial effect on democracy in Africa.

While we condemn former President Mamadou Tandja of Niger for foisting a state of anarchy on his nation through his morbid desire for life presidency, we reserve greater condemnation for the putschists who, on the one hand, claim they are 'Supreme Military Council for the Restoration of Democracy' but, on the other, have no immediate agenda on the table for democratic rule. But our greatest condemnation goes to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Africa Union (AU) for their embarrassing refusal to take the bull by the horns by forcing Mamadou Tandja, through all legitimate means, out of power at the expiration of his constitutional term limit.

Finally, we regret the inability of Nigeria, in particular, to exert any positive effect on the Republic of Niger next door. Certainly, a responsible Nigerian President who had emerged through an internationally-acceptable credible, free and fair poll would have been in a better position to show the path of due process, rule of law and constitutionalism to his neighbours. The military rulers in Niger must immediately announce a time-table to return the country to civil rule. The international community must not be seen to accord the military regime any breathing space on this score. The world no longer tolerates military rule.