The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has urged African leaders to focus on the cause of the recent spike in military coups across the continent.

Atiku stated this while reacting to the Gabon coup on his official X handle on Thursday.

Expressing his worries over the trend of military takeovers in Africa, he noted that the Gabon coup is the eighth in Africa since 2020.

“The coup in Gabon stands condemned. Democracy and democratic governance have come to stay as a preferred form of government.

“The latest coup brings the number of military takeovers in Central and West Africa to 8 since 2020. This is worrisome. We may have to focus on dealing with the disease and not the symptoms that birth coups,” he tweeted.