In a compelling post, Fani Kayode, a renowned Nigerian political commentator and writer, delved into the concerning surge of military coups unfolding across the African continent.

He disclosed this in a series of tweet titled  “WHEN REBELLION IS A VIRTUE (PART 1)” via his X account on Sunday morning.

Fani Kayode expressed deep concern over the alarming trend of seven successful military coups in as many African nations within the past three years.

He highlighted the critical questions surrounding the legitimacy of these coups and the mandates of the leaders they unseated.

The post reads in part “Unfolding events in Africa continue to intrigue the world & the fact that no less than seven military coups have been successfully effected in no less than seven African countries in the last 3 years gives cause for concern.

“What is the cause of these violent acts of mutiny & rebellion and can there be any justification for such behaviour?

“How legitimate were the mandates of those that have been toppled & are the soldiers that have carried out these ostensibly illegal acts of insurrection, revolution & treason & taken power by the barrel of a gun criminals & rebels that should be shot at the stake or God-sent & divinely-inspired heroes, liberators & deliverers of their respective countries & people?

“Can their actions be justified in some cases or are they appropriate for all & can such a course of action ever be deemed appropriate for our country Nigeria? When is rebellion a virtue & when is it a curse? When is mutiny, revolution & a call to arms appropriate & when is it not?

“What does one do with civilian dictators & sit-tight Presidents who have sold and mortgaged the future & destiny of their nation to the Western imperialists & neo-colonial powers & who torment their people & refuse to leave office.

“These are just some of the questions that yours truly seeks to answer in this contribution. Enjoy the ride! On the 13th March 1962, in his address on the first anniversary of the Alliance For Progress, President John F. Kennedy of the United States of America, said the following:

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”.

“In the history of humanity few have enunciated such a profound yet obvious home truth as President Kennedy has done with these famous words.

“Sadly even fewer have learnt anything from them. Those that doubt this have much to learn. Consider the following.

“Pres. Paul Kagame of Rwanda & Pres. Paul Biya of Cameroon have ruled their African countries for 23 & 42 years respectively.

“Approximately 1 week ago they were both constrained to sack, retire, redeploy & replace much of their Military High Command, senior Army commanders & thousands of commissioned & non-commissioned officers in the light of the wave of military coups that have swept West & Central Africa & just one day after the one that took place in Gabon.

“This was clearly a panic measure on both their parts. They did it out of rabid fear & in a desperate attempt to thwart, pre-empt & prevent a military coup & stave off an anticipated mutiny in their respective Armed Forces.

“Unfortunately for them such peripheral & ineffectual remedies & desperate attempts to ward off all opposition & dissent in an attempt to hold on to power forever will not work because their so-called “mandates” lack legitimacy & they do not have the backing of the people.

“Worse still they are both oblivious of & totally blind to the rationale & ethos of mutiny & armed rebellion & are clearly ignorant of the essence & motivation for military coups.

“Simply put, no matter who your senior military commanders are, whether the old or the new & no matter how many times you sack, retire, redeploy or change them, when you are an illegitimate, depraved & evil leader who crushes, murders, persecutes & incarcerates members of the opposition & who rigs elections, refuses to leave power, torments the people & imposes a corrupt, bloodthirsty & blood-lusting dictatorship & dynasty of barbarism & tyranny on his nation, coups, mutiny, rebellion, revolution & insurrection become inevitable: it is only a question of time.”

“Is it any wonder that sit tight rulers and life-long dictators like Kagame, Biya and others are scared of their own shadow, are shivering under their beds and enjoy no peace?

“If you do not stand up, resist, fight back and “breed unnatural troubles” when confronted with wickedness, injustice and tyranny, you cannot expect to ever enjoy your God-given right of freedom and neither will you ever witness emancipation from subjugation and oppression.

How else would you remove and replace power-obsessed dictators like Ali ‘Make Some Noise’ Bongo of Gabon, Field Marshall Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, Papa Doc and his son Baby Doc Duvalier of Haiti and the mentally-ill Jean Bedie Bokassa of the Central African Republic (who declared himself the Black Napoleon and Emperor for life and who kept the freshly decapitated heads of his enemies in his fridge)?

“To move against such monsters and topple them by ANY means possible is surely a divine duty and obligation and one which every single one of the Holy Books not only encourages but also insists on. Can we be expected to do anything less?

“Is it not the injustice and tyranny that the French, the Russian, the American, the English, the Chinese and many others were subjected to hundreds of years ago that pushed them to the wall and inspired and provoked them to take up arms and unleash some of the most violent and bloodthirsty rebellions and revolutions in the history of humanity?

“Was this not the right and proper thing for them to do and had it not been for their resistance to such barbarous oppression and subjugation from their erstwhile oppressors and slave masters would they be the free, civilised, great and powerful nations that they are today?

“Had it not been for Flt. Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings’ revolution and coup d’etat in 1979 and 1983 respectively would Ghana be the great and stable nation and flourishing democracy that she is today?