Top West African leader President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria pushed Togo's new military-installed leader on Thursday to step aside, telling him democracy was needed in the nation blighted by Africa's longest one-man rule.But Togo President Faure Gnassingbe — appointed Feb. 5 within hours of his father's death of a heart attack after 38 repressive years in power — showed no sign of yielding.
Togolese leaders repeated to Obasanjo that the son's summary appointment to the presidency had been essential "to prevent a descent into anarchy," said Remi Oyo, the Nigerian leader's spokeswoman. Gnassingbe was meeting with Obasanjo in the Nigerian capital on his first trip out of Togo since taking power. None of the ceremonies normally accorded a visiting head of state was performed. Gnassingbe's appointment — retroactively made legal by Togolese lawmakers in a series of constitutional amendments — dashed hopes that Eyadema's death would usher in democracy to Togo. In a case that's become a test of African leaders' willingness to crack down on one of their own, Obasanjo asked Gnassingbe and his aides Thursday "to retrace their steps and return to the position of constitutionality," Oyo said.