Is it possible for someone to reach the periphery of glory only to sink into the abyss of scorn? If your answer is no, consider the almost very rosy but sorry story of President Laurent Koudou Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire who got as close as becoming another shining example of leadership in Africa, only to fall out of grace, due to his impertinence and unwillingness to cede power to the democratically-elected president of Cote d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara.
Rising without any prior political structure, it was Laurent Gbagbo’s ideas and activism that endeared him to millions of Ivoirians. He stood in opposition to the regime of Ivoirian’s most beloved leader, Felix Houphouët-Boigny, and unsuccessfully contested election against Houphouët-Boigny himself. He won the confidence of the people and went ahead to win the presidential seat. Insecurity and fears of violence would not allow for the conduct of elections several times, Laurent Gbagbo who first became president in 2000 and whose term should have ended in 2005 was given the go-ahead to preside over the nation for another 5 years, until 2010 when elections were eventually held.
Laurent Gbagbo was carried away by the trappings of power that he did not step down when it became clear that he had lost the election. He has now led Cote d’Ivoire back into the civil war; old wounds have been reopened; enemies have been made; economy has been damaged; millions have been displaced; lives have been lost. Unfortunately for Gbagbo, he is one professor of history who failed to learn from history.
Biography
Born in the village of Mama, near Gagnoa in 1945, Gbagbo studied in Cote d’Ivoire and France, obtaining his doctorate at Paris Diderot University in 1979. He became a history professor and an opponent of the regime of President Félix Houphouet-Boigny. He was imprisoned from March 31, 1971 to January 1973.
In 1980, he became director of the Institute of History, Art, and African Archeology at the University of Abidjan. He participated in a 1982 teachers' strike as a member of the National Trade Union of Research and Higher Education, and at this time he formed what would become the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). He went into exile in France in 1982, only to return to Côte d'Ivoire on September 13, 1988 and at the FPI's constitutive congress, held on November 19–20, 1988, he was elected as the party's Secretary-General.
Politics
Laurent Gbagbo was elected into the National Assembly of Cote d’Ivoire at different times. He contested the presidency, against Robert Guie, the sitting president who had disqualified Henry Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara in October 2000. Guie claimed victory but it took street protests by Gbagbo supporters to install him as president. Guie fled, Gbagbo led.
A coup attempt in 2002 soon led into a civil war, and the mutineers, mostly soldiers of the northern extraction soon became the rebels, morphing many times to become the New Forces. Truce was signed, there was relative peace, but arms were still held. As a result of this, Gbagbo could still hold power for another five years. This was power not won, but bestowed on him by mediators – AU, UN, the French government – and approved by his countrymen.
But when the elections were contested and lost, Gbagbo failed to appreciate the benevolence of the Ivoirian people to allow him to led them at all. He stood adamant, directing his forces and militia to win the victory for him on the street just like they did against Robert Guie. This time, it was misplaced. He had won the 2000 election (by 59.4 percent), and so he had a claim to the throne. This time around, he had lost and has no claim to the throne.
History repeats itself
Many are the voices that support Gbagbo’s decision to stay put. We have seen the effects of his staying adamant to claim a crown he does not deserve. But the question we should be asking is this: What is possible if he had handed over power willingly to Alassane Ouattara?
The 2010 election cycle was not much different from the 2000 elections which Gbagbo won. The sitting president then Robert Guie was reluctant to leave power. Laurent Gbagbo had to call his million supporters into the street to force Guie to recognize him as president. One departure point however was that Guie did not impose a blockade on Gbagbo, as Gbagbo had done on Ouattara.
If he took over from Robert Guie this way, why can’t Ouattara take over from him in a similar way?
Had he ceded power…
We could only theorize on what the situation would have been if Gbagbo had not chosen the path he chose. The following were possible if Gbagbo had ceded power to Ouattara:
• The animosities arising from the 2002-2004 civil war would have ended totally. One of the grouses of the northern rebels was that they were marginalized. A northerner (Ouattara) becoming a president would have healed those wounds.
• There would not have been a return to arms. Security would have been maintained.
• Many lives would not have been lost, nor would many people be displaced.
• The economy would have been saved.
• There would not have been reasons for ‘interventionist forces’ – French army and the UNOCI – to shell their arms on the Ivoirian soil.
• Gbagbo would have been acclaimed as a great leader, who had the interest of Cote d’Ivoire at heart. Successors, however much they disagree with their predecessors, always have initial words of praise for them.
• Gbagbo would not be holed up in his residence now. He would still have been cheered in the streets.
• He would not be negotiating asylum/exile in another country/OR CAPTURED LIKE A RAT.
• He would not be afraid of being murdered.
• He would still have had the chance to contest the polls again.
• Maybe he would by now be a potential recipient of the Mo Ibrahim African Leadership Award.
However, Gbagbo did not step down while he had the chance; so, all the above are no longer possible. He has now been captured, and has against his will surrendered to Alassane Ouattara. Rather than enjoy a status as an elder statesman, Gbagbo will now face a court for his crimes. His credibility as a leader who seeks the broader interest of his nation and its people has been dented. He can no longer be praised for his great services for the Ivoirian nation.
And so, Laurent Gbagbo has lost his laurels.
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