Lagos — THE controversy and protests trailing the March 4, 2010 elections in Togo, which saw incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe being declared winner, must quickly be resolved in favour of the people of Togo, so that democracy in the country and in the continent generally can be best served.

The opposition insists that the poll was flawed and that Gnassingbe's victory is unlawful but observers have adjudged the poll as relatively free and fair.

The street protests that erupted in Lome, the capital of Togo, are being suppressed by armed security agents who have been firing teargas canisters at the protesters, including opposition leader, Jean Pierre Fabre.

43-year-old Gnassingbe took over power in Togo in 2005, after the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled Togo for 39 years (1967-2005). The people of Togo insisted on democratic election then and the international community supported them for the poll which was won by Faure.

His tenure has not been without its challenges, including the power tussle between him and his brother, Kwache Gnassingbe who was the defence boss, but the last election has, indeed, proved a major headache for Gnassingbe's government.

There were expectations that the opposition would pose a major challenge to the ruling party, but some confusing situations close the election date, including a shift in the date of the polls, the late replacement of Gilchrist Olympio (the son of the assassinated first President of Togo) with 57-year-old Fabre as Presidential candidate of the leading opposition party and the inability of the opposition to present a consensus candidate must have thrown a spanner in the works.

These circumstances could have caused the leading opposition party candidate to lose some ground, but he and his supporters insist that the declaration of Gnassingbe as winner with a whopping 60.9 per cent of the total votes cast (or 1.2 million out of the 2.1 votes cast) was unacceptable, stressing, for instance, that some of their supporters were intimidated into staying away from polling stations.

The fact is that elections in Africa have almost always been fractious because of allegations of one form of malpractice or the other. This is because most of those who seek elective offices do so with the "do-or-die" mentality which is often motivated by the desire to gain office for the selfish purpose of looting the treasury of the states.

The votes of the electorate scarcely count hence those seeking offices care less about serving the people so as to be re-elected, preferring to force themselves upon the people they seek to lead.

This trend must be reversed if the nations of the sub-region and of the continent generally must move forward.

The people must become the focus of leaders and aspiring leaders. Votes must count and where there is any attempt to subvert the will of the people, such must be resisted, peacefully but resolutely.

Now that the Togo election has been held, the results released and the opposition has courageously registered its grievances, we advise that all the stakeholders should embrace dialogue and save the Togolese people from further trauma of violence.

The opposition did well by registering their protest in a lawful manner and we suggest that, short of remaining on the streets and further endangering the lives of hapless citizens, the opposition should argue their case at the election petition tribunal as vigorously as possible.

This should be one of the hallmarks of true democracy. We also encourage the judges at the tribunal to use this opportunity to prove that they can be impartial. If they do so and show strength of character by delivering judgments that are true, bold and generally acceptable, they would not only have written their names in gold, but would have helped democracy to take root in Togo and by extension, in Africa.

We also advise that all issues relating to the poll should be resolved quickly so that some misguided, gun totting miscreants will not exploit the situation to disrupt civil rule in Togo, as happened in Niger Republic recently. This will neither be in the interest of any of the feuding parties nor that of the Togolese people.