History has been made today after a protracted peaceful protest by the Egyptians that saw their despotic self-styled maximum ruler of 30 years, handed power over to the military, an institution he has used over these years to protect his stay. That feat was a fall-out of the scenario that played itself out in Tunisia weeks back. It is a further confirmation of the fact the people decide who rules them.
For too long African leaders are typified for their stay-put attitude in power. Once they come to power, they turn themselves into civilian presidents through manipulated elections and continue to renew their tenures of office with landslide victory election after election. Mubarak is not a child of circumstance; what happened to him today that witnessed his fall from glory to grass is a seed his had sown long before today. His firm grip on the North African Red Sea nation since the 1981 when Aswar Sadat was assassinated has brought more and more hardship on the people of Egypt than socio-political and economic benefits.
He turned the government to personal fiefdom where he nursed the plan of presenting his son as a presidential aspirant in the next general elections. It was not known till today if he would have run again for the highest office he had monopolized in the last three decades. Unlike the proverbial cat, he never has nine lives that could take him to next tenure he had envisioned. The people decided today that he must bow to the popular will, a process that began young people embarked on self-immolation in the face of hardship, abject poverty in the midst of plenty, high unemployment and high inflation rates in the country. The popular Tahir Square was the main stage for the over two weeks protest.
To Africa leaders, the fall of Ali-Ben Bongo of Tunisia weeks ago, and that of the former Egyptian strongman Mubarak should serve as a warning sign that it is not business as usual. In specific terms the other so-called ‘strongmen’ like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, M. Gaddafi of Libya and recently Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast should know that the coast is not clear for their sit-tight attitude. My. Gbagbo has held on to power for about a decade and refused to relinquish power to the rightful winner of the presidential election despite international pressure. They should note it down in their dairy today that the era of complacency on the part of the ordinary people is over. The African people can now assert their right and at any time, they will decide who govern them.
Godfrey Eloho is Public Affairs Analyst based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria[ad#Adsense-200by200sq]
2 Sam 1.27 says how has the mightly fallen? In this case, it is arrogance, selfishenss and stupidity
If Mubarack just knew when to leave, is departure would have been more graceful than this. A glorious way for dictators to fall. Power belongs to the people, the governed, not the government