Sulaimon Olanrewaju reports that despite the dethronement and death of Muammar Gaddafi, former Libyan ruler, which has further decimated the rank of Africa's despots, the continent's remaining dictators show no sign of relinquishing power even after being in the saddle for decades.AT the initial stage of his 42-year reign in Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was the common man's hero as he pandered to the whims of the people. He brought visible changes to the country and made life meaningful to the average citizens. He was said to have provided electricity, housing, education, infrastructure, health care, employment, executed world's largest irrigation project, shared part of the oil receipts with the people and more. But he ran into problem with his people because he denied them their fundamental right; the right to choose their own leaders.Throughout his 42-year reign, he successfully reined in opposition. He brooked no contrary opinion; everyone who voiced a converse concern was treated as an enemy because dissent was pronounced illegal in 1973 and those found guilty of the law either ended up six feet below the ground level or hundreds of miles away in foreign lands. In 1974, the former Libyan ruler also declared that anyone found guilty of forming a political party would be executed. Thus, Gaddafi steadily depleted opposition groups until he came to see himself as Lord over Libya. By then, he had reached the peak as Libya's maximum ruler, but that also was the beginning of his decline.As more people who Gaddafi perceived as enemies escaped from Libya, the exiles began to gather outside their homeland to form a force against Gaddafi. The exiles, working in concert with dissatisfied Libyans within the country, formed an interim government known as the National Transition Council (NTC), which capitalised on the delay in the delivery of housing units promised by the government to cause unrest by staging series of protests in January this year. The government promptly reacted to this by floating a 20billion euro investment fund to provide housing and development.Though the government's gesture scaled down the level of protest, it did not last as there were fresh outbreaks of violence in February. Aided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces, the Libyan crisis escalated daily until it became a civil war. Initially, Gaddafi discountenanced the protesters, but with the fall of Benghazi in February, followed by Tobruk, Misrata, Bayda and other cities, the heat became very fierce on the maximum ruler. But there was no respite until he eventually lost Tripoli to the rebels and was later captured in his home town of Sirte before being killed.Gaddafi was the hero of many African despots because he was seen to be firmly in control of his country and had enough resources to ward off unwanted foreign meddling even as he helped many dissidents to power in other countries. Therefore, his conquer should have sent a signal to other dictators that they cannot have their way perpetually. However, this has not been the case as many of them believe they are invincible and stubbornly hold on to power despite rebellion in their homesteads. Teodore Obiang MbasogoThe Equatorial Guinea strongman became the country's president in 1979 after staging a coup that ousted Francisco Macia Nguema. With the coming of a new constitution in 1982, he was elected in an election where he was the sole candidate as president for a term of seven years and was re-elected in 1989 also as a sole candidate. Even after other political parties were allowed to participate in the election, he was re-elected in 1996, 2002 and 2009.One of the rationales for the coup that brought Mbasogo to power was that his predecessor was brutal and had embarked on genocide. Though, initially Mbasogo was seen to be moderate, in order to have absolute control on the state, he is also said to have embarked on 'unlawful killings using security forces, government-sanctioned kidnappings, systematic torture of prisoners and detainees by security forces, life threatening conditions in prisons and detention facilities, impunity, arbitrary arrest, detention, and incommunicado detention.
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