President Alpha Conde: A long  Road to become President ….

Prof Alpha Conde, who clocked 83 last march, is a survivor of many catastrophes, ranging from unsuccessful and failed presidential ambitions while in opposition, to coup and assassination attempts, since he came to power in 2010.

A cat with 9 lives, Prof Conde’s survival strategies proved worth while today, as he has apparently overcome another military putsch, upheaval and assassination attempt on his life, the last one was a devastated shelling of the Presidential Villa in 2010, few weeks after assumption of the presidency. He came out un hurt and un harmed!

His controversial 3rd term presidency was also fraught with stiff opposition, particularly from his main presidential challenger, Cellou Diallo, resulting in the deaths of scores of Guineans, mainly the Fullahs, who see themselves as politically marginalised but are in dorminant control of the economy

Today’s sad development in Guinea, though now calm and in control, proved the strong survival suavity of Prof Conde in a volatile political terrain of Guinea since the days of late Ahmed Sekou Toure, who, singlehandedly defied the French assimilation and domination of Francophone West Africa

Prof Conde, now the darling of the Russians, particularly in the mines, Guinea’s economic power pot , seem to be the distaste of the French, the colonial masters

Some political pundits see a close and unalloyed loyalty between Prof Conde and Mali interim junta coupist, Col Assimi Goita, particularly the Russian connection

ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali and former Nig Ores Goodluck Jonathan has long expresses apprehension on looming tensions. This was put paid by former Liberian Pres Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Abuja recently, stating that “… West Africa will see tensions and crises in the coming months before general elections”

In Guinea, today, though calm has gradually returned, access routes to government ministries and the Presidential villa have been sealed

There have been growing tensions in the Guinean military particularly in conditions of service, exacerbated by ethnic sentiments promoted by Prof Conde’s ethnic Mandingo tribe

Guinea has enormous mineral deposits but the vast majority of Guineans live in abject poverty

The mounting grievances of Prof Conde’s twisting of the constitution that enabled him scaled through a 3rd term presidency recently, is the beginning of a rough road in the Guinean political terrain, with its implied effects on West African Countries, particularly its immediate neighbours