Wednesday, October 8, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About TimeAfrica Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » News » In post-coup Niger, many salute ‘liberation’ despite outcry

In post-coup Niger, many salute ‘liberation’ despite outcry

The coup leaders have also announced the suspension of the constitution, banned demonstrations and arrested several of Bazoum’s ministers, although there have not been mass arrests

August 9, 2023
in Featured, News
0
A woman walks across a road in Niamey on August 8, 2023.

A woman walks across a road in Niamey on August 8, 2023.

540
SHARES
4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

NIAMEY, Niger: The coup that shook Niger nearly two weeks ago triggered an international outcry and curbs on domestic freedoms, yet many people in the capital say the change is a breath of fresh air.

Around 30,000 people turned out on Sunday for a rally in a Niamey stadium to support the soldiers who on July 26 toppled Niger’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.

For foreign and local critics, the event was a stage-managed show, designed to back the coup leaders in their faceoff with the West African bloc ECOWAS, which is waving the threat of force to reinstate Bazoum.

But within the stadium, and on the streets of Niamey, there were plenty of people who seemed genuinely relieved to see the end of 12 years in government by Bazoum’s Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS).

“It’s liberation!” said Ousseini Tinni, a mechanic.

ReadAlso

AfDB, Niger sign $144.7 million agreement to boost energy access, economic competitiveness and resilience

‘TRIANGLE OF SHAME’: Niger Where Girls Are Still Bought Cheaply As ‘Wahaya’

“Given the situation that this country has been in for decades, we feel free,” said Alhassane Adamou, an office administrator in the private sector.

Niamey has long been known as a stronghold of the opposition, and domestic critics of the coup and its impact on rights have kept their heads down.

ADVERTISEMENT

The coup leaders have also announced the suspension of the constitution, banned demonstrations and arrested several of Bazoum’s ministers, although there have not been mass arrests.

In this context, many of the people who spoke to AFP said democracy under the PNDS had been a sham.
“I support the soldiers 100 percent,” said Samaila Abdourahim, a trader.

“Under the old regime, they talked about democracy but it was merely words. We weren’t experiencing a democracy but a dictatorship.”

Bazoum is feted abroad for his election in 2021 that ushered in Niger’s first-ever peaceful transition of power since gaining independence from France in 1960.

But there is often a different view of Bazoum in Niamey, where many people nurse bitterness or disappointment.

They point to the condemnation of opposition leader Hama Amadou to a one-year jail term on charges of child trafficking — a sentence that made him ineligible for the election.

Riots broke out in the capital after Bazoum’s victory that led to two deaths and 468 arrests.
In its 2022 Democracy Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit placed Niger among countries with “authoritarian regimes.”

“We were afraid of expressing ourselves. As soon as you expressed your opinion, they came and arrested you,” said Tinni.

Others spoke out about cronyism, corruption and insecurity that they said had flourished under the PNDS.

“This is what prompted the public to support the putsch,” said Adamou, whose words drew nodding heads of support among the onlookers surrounding him.

Part of the hostility is directed toward France, whose support for Bazoum — a key ally in the French anti-jihadist strategy in the Sahel — is deemed to be proof of complicity.

Ken Opalo, an associate professor at Georgetown University in Washington, drew a parallel between the coup in Niger and military takeovers in neighboring Mali in 2020 and Burkina Faso in 2022.

Foreign allies prioritized “stemming the flows of migrants, accessing natural resources, fighting jihadist(s) in the Sahel so they don’t have to fight them in Western cities, and maintaining overall geopolitical influence in the region,” he wrote in a blog.

“Democracy and economic development have mostly been subordinated to these larger objectives.”

“President Bazoum launched a sincere effort to reform institutions and governance… but his capacity for changing the real practices of the state and its representatives was restricted by the need to balance the political forces that brought him to power,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said in a report on Monday.

The question is whether General Abdourahamane Tiani, Niger’s latest strongman and a reputed confidant of former president Mahamadou Issoufou, will change things.

According to an opinion poll published in March 2022 by the survey firm Afrobarometer, more than half of the Nigeriens interviewed said they were dissatisfied with the functioning of democracy.
However, 61 percent said they preferred democracy to other forms of government — and 84 percent opposed dictatorship.

“If the military start to turn into politicians, we will rise up against them,” said Abdourahim.
“If we tolerate them today, it’s because it’s in our interest for them to be there. Because now, it’s us, the people, who will be making the decisions.”

Source: Arab News
Tags: Coup d'teteNiger
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

41 dead in migrant shipwreck in central Mediterranean

Next Post

Nagasaki marks 78th anniversary of atomic bombing with mayor urging world to abolish nuclear weapons

You MayAlso Like

News

Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology Resigns

October 7, 2025
News

Nigeria’s Anglican Church Rescinds Ties with Canterbury Amid Controversy Over ‘Pro-Gay’ Female Archbishop

October 7, 2025
News

Chief Uchenna Okafor Celebrates Asagba Prof Azinge at 1st Coronation Anniversary

October 7, 2025
News

Trump Is Losing His Geoeconomic War

October 6, 2025
News

Survivors of wartime sexual violence in DRC finally get justice 

October 6, 2025
News

Moody’s Affirms Africa Finance Corporation’s (AFC) A3 Rating

October 6, 2025
Next Post
Concern comes after widespread reaction to social media posts about “Barbenheimer” summer blitz

Nagasaki marks 78th anniversary of atomic bombing with mayor urging world to abolish nuclear weapons

A street vendor pushes his cart past burned cars outside the headquarters of president Bazoum’s Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism in Niamey on August 7, 2023. (AFP)

Diplomacy ‘best way forward’ in Niger, use of force still on table, says President Tinubu

Discussion about this post

Kingdom in Crisis: Ogwashi-Uku Rejects Obi’s Land Grab, Villages Ready to Declare Autonomy

Faked or Factual: UNN Contradictory Claims on Minister Uche Nnaji Certificate Raise Questions of Credibility

Woman appointed Archbishop of Canterbury 

A Minister of Lies?: Uche Nnaji’s Certificate Scandal and the Collapse of Credibility in Nigerian Governance

Certificate Scandal: University of Nigeria Declares Minister Uche Nnaji Never Graduated

Uche Nnaji Finally Breaks Silence on Certificate Forgery

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1242 shares
    Share 497 Tweet 311
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1067 shares
    Share 427 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    974 shares
    Share 390 Tweet 244
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    904 shares
    Share 361 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    735 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0

Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology Resigns

October 7, 2025

Nigeria’s Anglican Church Rescinds Ties with Canterbury Amid Controversy Over ‘Pro-Gay’ Female Archbishop

October 7, 2025

Chief Uchenna Okafor Celebrates Asagba Prof Azinge at 1st Coronation Anniversary

October 7, 2025

Trump Is Losing His Geoeconomic War

October 6, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About TimeAfrica Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.