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You are not invincible: lesson from Gabon's coup d'état

 Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18. If you think you are better than others, more important than others, wiser than others, something will happen to you that make you look foolish. The president of Gabon has just found out about the dangers of pride the hard way. Military coup d'états have been making a comeback in the continent of Africa 🌍. There has been around 8 military coups in Africa in the last 3 years. A military coup is the overthrow of a government by the country's army or security forces.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The president of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, knew well the threat of military coups in his part of the world. But he swore one wouldn’t happen to him.

“While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilization. Never,” Bongo declared this month as the central African nation marked 60 years of independence from France, almost all of that time with his family in power.

Now, according to a group of mutinous Gabonese security forces who spoke on state television early Wednesday, he is under house arrest, accused of “unpredictable, irresponsible governance.” The soldiers who claimed authority said people around Bongo had been arrested for “high betrayal,” embezzlement and corruption, though it was not clear whether the president himself faced those charges.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Bongo said in a brief video shared with media outlets hours after the soldiers’ predawn announcement. In the richly carpeted room where he sat, an image of former South African President Nelson Mandela sat on a bookshelf.

A longtime politician and one-time funk musician, the French-educated Bongo, 64, is a member of one of Africa’s political dynasties. He took office in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled oil-rich Gabon for 41 years, and continued security partnerships with France and the United States.

His family’s longevity, perhaps, gave Bongo confidence in the face of the military coups shaking other parts of French-speaking Africa.

Ali Bongo thought he was different than the other leaders who have been overthrown.  He thought he was wiser, stronger than others, even though his country was facing some of the similar problems such economic inequalities etc.. The man who claim political chaos would never happen under his watch now says " he doesn't know what's happening. " Such is the frailty of human strength. Ali Bongo trusted in himself, trusted perhaps in his family history,had confidence and is now under house arrest by his own soldiers. Such is the result of pride. Many of us have faced or will face similar falls unless we repent and put our trust in God.  We may see our neighbor doing something that lend them into trouble, but we conclude to ourselves that we are wiser than our neighbor and such thing can never befall us. Pride goes before a fall!

Friends, anything that happens to others can easily happen to us if not for the grace of God. The Bible says "God resist the proud,but give grace to the humble." Do not put your trust in self, in family history etc.. but put your  trust in God. Only God can keep you safe in this world, only God can keep you on the right path. Seeing that there's no safety in pride, no safety in self, let us flee from any and all evil paths, less the Lord forsake us and we soon fall. "Pride goes before a fall, but God give grace to the humble." Let us walk humbly with our God and He will keep us in perfect peace unto the perfect day. Lord remove pride from my heart is my prayer 🙏🏾.


https://apnews.com/article/gabon-bongo-mutiny-soldiers-president-a3322deaf184616dddc0314c61d79f03

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We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6