Togo Opposition Leader On Hunger Strike…Pickets At Ghana High Commission

Mr. Habia Ayao Nicodeme – Leader of Democratic Party of Togo

The Leader of the largest opposition party in Togo Mr. Habia Ayao Nicodeme has pitched his camp right at the front office door of the Ghanaian Embassy in Togo to execute his protest for the implementation of the ECOWAS Roadmap for reforms in Togo through a hunger strike.

President Akufo-Addo is currently the Captain of the team drawn from the ECOWAS heads of State and charged with the responsibility to lead mediation for the restoration of Togo’s own 1992 Constitution.

Per information available, the ECOWAS Team has already rolled

out a roadmap to be followed by the Togolese government in restoring their constitution and organizing a free and credible elections but it appears President Faure Gnassingbe is not respecting and having none of that.

In an interview with the New Crusading GUIDE newspaper from Lome`, the leader of the Democrats Party Mr. Habia Ayao indicated that he is firstly calling on the Togolese government to release the 43 politicians and civil servants who were arrested during their last demonstration to press home demands for restoration of their 1992 constitution.

The opposition leader who is already seven days into an indefinite hunger strike at the Ghanaian High Commission in Togo stated that “we are humbly asking President Akuffo Addo and his counterpart Buari of Nigeria to enforce the roadmap on the government because if the man is disrespecting the planned roadmap then he is disrespecting the whole regional body”

“We are only asking for a free and transparent elections, we want to be like Ghana, we want a democracy like Ghana and that’s our right and we will fight for it. We don’t want ECOWAS to act as though Fuare is bigger than the whole regional body.

We have seen ECOWAS do the same elsewhere when they exercised the collective will of the regional body to restore democracy or correct an otherwise dictatorial or bad system in countries like Gambia and the rest why not Togo?”

President Nana Akufo-Addo and President Faure Gnassingbe

“For the image and the credibility of the ECOWAS they have to put pressure on Fuare Gnassingbe because they cant rule Togo for 50 years and if one person will not respect the ECOWAS that’s enough damage to their integrity and no one will respect them anymore”.

“…. See right now here in front of the embassy, if you have all these young guys who have come to show solidarity are all doing nothing because there are no jobs except riding motor bikes around as the business they have, this is not fair for this small and very rich country. Today is the seventh day and until they respond am not relenting or backing down,” Mr. Habia Ayao told this reporter.