President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday decried the rate of coup d’état in Africa.
Since August 2020, Africa has recorded mutiny in four countries – Mali, Guinea, Sudan and Burkina Faso.
In January 2022, Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore was arrested after soldiers accused his government of failing to support them during a deadly insurgency.
In August 2018, mutineers in Mali, headed by Colonel Assimi Goita, removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Elite soldiers in Guinea, led by Col Mamady Doumbouya, ousted President Alpha Conde in September 2021.
A coup was executed in Sudan in October 2021 after an initial failed attempt. The military later reinstated civilian authority but remains involved in government.
On Friday, Buhari told the Portuguese Parliament that Nigeria will continue to seek consensus on the full resumption of democratic governance in West Africa.
He received commendations from the Parliament’s President, Augusto Santos Silva on the role Nigeria is playing to stabilize West Africa and Guinea Bissau.
Buhari regretted that three countries have slipped back to undemocratic rule, saying that Portuguese ex-colony Guinea Bissau was lucky to have survived those attempts.
The President said Nigeria will continue to work within the framework of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to reverse the unwanted situation.
On the failed attempt in Guinea Bissau, Buhari expressed confidence that the country and the continent will overcome the problems.
The leader, however, commended the growing trade and political relationship between Nigeria and Portugal.
“This visit will put in place the firm foundations of a special relationship between our two countries, the national governments and the citizens”, he said.
