Thank you very much for sharing, Professor. There is much that I agree with in there. Your critique of neoliberal democracy. The appraisal of ECOWAS. The stinging comments on military coups. And more. Here I am with you all the way.

On Niger specifically, you express views I have encountered several times. A few questions, therefore:

1. How exactly has it been established that the masses are supporting the coup? According to Al Jazeera, the largest gathering of pro-coup supporters brought together an estimated 30,000 people. A founder of an influential African media house has said that the average attendance at pro-coup events is 2,000.

Are the masses in support of the Nigerien coup mythical? I have asked this question on many Pan-Africanist platforms.

2. What do you propose should be done if diplomacy and dialogue fail to get the coup makers to yield to reason? One side cannot keep trying to negotiate infinitely.
3. Should Bola Tinubu, whatever his own shortcomings, faults, errors and even sins are, be asked to explain why ECOWAS did not take certain actions in the past? He has only recently become Chairman of ECOWAS and President of Nigeria.

Is it not worth mentioning too, in the interest of fairness, that he sent many envoys to the coup makers?

4. The military does not stage coups as an establishment. Therefore, this is a dense and opaque band of conspiratorial actors that are in charge.

Who can guarantee that after spewing Anti-imperialist stuff they do not end up as tragic monstrosities? Sanni Abacha was initially welcomed on the stage by even some of the pro-democracy actors.

What then happened? Institutional pillaging; mass murder; incarceration without trial; theft and looting on an industrial scale.

Jerry Rawlings mouthed Anti-imperialist slogans in the beginning too. But with SAP/ERP, proceeded to implement a rabidly neocolonial development programme. While effectively discrediting the Ghanaian Left. Many on the Left were killed, jailed, harassed and persecuted during that time.

Just two examples. A few more questions.

• Where did these coup makers source funds for staging the putsch?
• What do they stand for as far as Niger, the subregion and Africa go?
• How will they be held accountable for what they claim to stand for?
• What is the guarantee that the ambivalence and lukewarm, perfunctory remarks of slight discomfiture with coups is not going to usher in another Abacha?
• They have asked for three years. To do what exactly? Who can guarantee they will stick to any timetable? I have gone on long enough.

The African people are not forced into a binary construct. Between coups and corrupt civilians, there are a range of more wholesome options.

Let us think about how to use the latter.

Best wishes,
Yaw Nsarkoh,
26 August 2023.