Fourth term: Togolese protest in Lagos, demand Eyadema’s removal
Togolese nationals on Thursday marched round Lagos streets to call for the end of the government of President Faure Eyadema.
The protesters, who carried banners with different inscriptions, said Eyadema must be stopped from pursuing a fourth term in Togo.
They called for the intervention of African leaders and the international community, especially the Economic Community of West African States.
The men and women, donned in their national colours, stopped at the ECOWAS office at Onikan, Lagos Island, where their leader, Dr Kossi Sama, read and delivered the protest letter.
Sama, who is the General Secretary of the Pan-African National Party, traced the country’s history to April 27, 1960, when Togo attained its independence.
He explained that former President, Gnassingbe Eyadema, participated in several coups, which led to his installation as president in 1967.
He was said to have started a one-party system.
The Togolese said in 1990, the people’s agitation for democracy was partially realised with the introduction of a constitution in October 1992, which stipulated a five-year term for a president, with a maximum of two tenures.
He said the constitution was violated as Gnassingbe spent 38 years in power and handed over to his son, Faure, in 2005, after several unilateral reviews of the constitution.
Sama said the Togolese people in August 2017 took to the streets to clamour for the return of the 1992 constitution.
After a dialogue with the authorities, mediated by ECOWAS, he said a harmonised constitution and a road map were proposed.
Both recommendations were allegedly rejected by the government.
“The rejection of the 1992 constitution, the refusal to implement the Global Political Accord of 2006, the rejection of the road map and the 2018 constitution proposed by the ECOWAS expert, betray the will of the administration in power to oppose the alternation and resist the harmonisation of Togo with the political governance in effect in the ECOWAS region.
“Thus, the initial problem remains. The regime opposes the alternation and the democratisation of the country by rejecting constitutionalism. The entire period (1963- 2019) is punctuated by serious repeated violations of human rights, which can be found in the various reports produced by human rights organisations and international institutions, including the United Nations,” he added. Punch
