NIGER MUTINY REVEALS THE TRAP OF COUP MENTALITY
Niger’s junta came to power in 2023. They said politicians had failed. They said insecurity was unbearable. They said only the military could save the country.
Three years later, soldiers turned their guns on the government.
Not jihadists. Not foreign powers. Their own soldiers.
This is the trap. A coup can change the man in power. It cannot change the condition of the country.
It cannot automatically secure borders. It cannot defeat insurgents. It cannot keep soldiers loyal when things go bad.
Today the military says politicians failed. Tomorrow another group of soldiers says the military has also failed. The country keeps changing governments without changing its problems.
Niger’s crisis is not just Niger’s problem. Nigeria shares a long, porous border. Weapons, fighters and refugees move both ways. Whatever destabilises Niger will eventually reach Nigeria.
Democracy can fail. Military governments can fail too. The real question is not who sits in the palace. It is whether the state can protect its people.