Mohamed Bazoum’s investment comes in a tense context, while his choice is still being questioned by the opposition, that an attempted coup failed overnight Tuesday to Wednesday and that the country has experienced these fifteen deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years.
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It is this Friday in Niamey that the new democratically elected president of Niger Bazoum Mohamed will be invested. An investment under high security and political tension, never equal to Niger.
Given the recent events, security is needed with an impressive system of the Presidential Guard, the police and the National Guard, around the MahatmaGandhi Conference Center, the seat of the new Head of State.
According to the protocol services, 13 heads of state are expected in Niamey. To prevent traffic jams in the city center, the municipality warns road users that traffic will be severely disrupted on the axis from the airport to the city center, via the motorway, Palais des Congrès., To the presidential villas of the Council for agreement. In the perimeter of the first bridge and the second interchange, traffic is completely closed to users.
The three crises in Mohamed Bazoum
According to observers, today’s ceremony is historic in more ways than one by anchoring democratic change in Niger. This is the first time in 60 years of independence that an elected president has transferred the torch to another democratically elected one.
Mohamed Bazoum is barely installed in his chair as president and has to deal with three major crises. First politician, since the opposition presidential candidate, Mahamane Ousmane continues to proclaim his victory. A situation that can permanently poison the country’s political life. As early as March 25, the 53 members of the opposition boycotted the first parliamentary session.
Then Niger has experienced an unprecedented outbreak of violence in recent weeks. More than 200 civilians were massacred in two terrorist attacks in the Tillabéry and Tahoua regions. A major challenge for Mohamed Bazoum, who was the architect of Nigerian security policy during the presidency of Mahamadou Issoufou.
The attempted coup, a “farce” for the opposition
Finally comes the military issue. The coup attempt carried out at dawn on Wednesday took back old memories. Since its independence, Niger has already experienced four coups. “In the history of the country, the army was tempted as soon as there was instability to intervene,” explains Abdoul Karim Saidou, a Nigerian political scientist. The blockade of the political game, the opposition’s relations with the army, corruption scandals and growing insecurity can create a stir in the ranks, concludes the professor-researcher at Thomas Sankara University in Ouagadougou.
Today, the reactions of the Nigerian political class are divided. On the part of the majority, the condemnation is unanimous. Niger has had enough of military coups and four have succeeded since independence. The latter dates back to 2010 and marks the end of the Mahamadou Tandja era. For Maître Saley Djibrillou, Secretary General of the MNSD, the country has moved on: “It is a regression for a country that strives for stability in democratic institutions. The army must understand that we are no longer in this phase where captains or I do not know who is intervening to question the people’s sovereign choice. “
In a press release published yesterday, the Cap 20/21 coalition, which supports the opponent Mahamane Ousmane’s candidacy, considers this attempt a “farce” organized by the authorities. The aim would be to divert Nigeria’s attention from the election competition. “We had organized step in the morning everything happened. This is just a diversion, as the regime has always had to do. We emphasize that we do not want this to be another opportunity to make arbitrary arrests that have been the case each time, explains Kadaouré Habibou, Chair of the Cap 20/21 Coordination Committee.
► Also read:Mahamane Ousmane, in Niger: “I continue to reject the decision of the Constitutional Court”
Cap 20/21 requires the establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate this coup attempt.
The outgoing president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, sent his last speech to his countrymen on national radio and television waves last night. After thanking them for the trust his people have placed in him over the past ten years, he spoke for the first time about the coup attempt:
It is undoubtedly a desperate attempt to take back power from the hands of those who conquered it at the ballot box. Unfortunately, within them is a compact minority of putschists who raise the flag against the law, who claim arbitration over the sovereign people … These criminals and their internal and external sponsors will be sought, identified and punished in accordance with the law
.
