• Protests rage, armoured tanks, others deployed
• Momoh, others differ on possible influence on Nigeria
Egypt's military yesterday made good its threat to remove President Mohamed Morsi if he failed to resign after an ultimatum given him expired.
The coup resolved the question of whether Morsi had come to his final hours as protests for and against him equally raged.
The constitution was suspended and the head of the constitutional court appointed to succeed in the interim.
Fireworks were let off in Tahrir Square, packed with hundreds of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters, as the army delivered a televised address, announcing its "road-map" for Egypt's future.
The army's statement read on state television by the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. el-Sissi, said that Egypt's constitution would be dissolved "on a temporary basis", and then new elections to form a "technocratic government" would take place.
The army's general command said that for months, it had been calling for reconciliation. It said it had hoped for a road-map to be put in place, but that Morsi's speech last night, in which he had talked of his legitimacy as president, was against the aspirations of the people.
Egypt's people were also warned to steer clear of violent demonstrations. "The armed forces swear they will face up forcibly against anyone who acts outside peaceful means," the statement said.
Earlier, state media agency, MENA, reported that the army had told Morsi at 7.00 p.m. (5.00 p.m. GMT) that he was no longer president. MENA also reported that the army's "political road-map" would see a period of transitional rule, and then new parliamentary and presidential elections.
Across the country, the military has been deployed to pro-Morsi rallies, media organisations have been "secured", and barbed wire barriers have been set up around the Republican Guard Barracks where Morsi was located. It has been reported that Morsi has been taken to a "safe location" by the military.
Earlier yesterday, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood said: "I think the military coup is indeed under way. "I think that we are seeing many signs of that at the moment and I don't think that the Egyptian people will tolerate another resurface of the old regime under any banner, and not by bullying of the military machine."
Before the take-over, cheers, fire-works and the waving of the Egyptian flags signalled the end of the ultimatum the military gave Morsi to resign.
Reinforcing its opposition to Morsi, the military in what was seen as a coup had earlier imposed a travel ban on him and several top Islamist allies over their involvement in a prison escape in 2011.
Airport officials confirmed that they had received orders to prevent the leaders, including Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohammed Badie and his deputy, Khairat al-Shater, from travelling abroad.
The nation's political situation changed for the worse after the military chiefs, vowing to restore order in a country racked by protests over Morsi's Islamist policies, issued a call to battle in a statement headlined "The Final Hours". They said they were willing to shed blood against "terrorists and fools" after Morsi refused to give up his elected office.
Thereafter, armoured vehicles took up position outside the state broadcasting headquarters on the Nile River bank, where soldiers patrolled the corridors and non-essential workers were sent home.
Despite the tense scenarios, an aide to the Islamist head of state asserted that he was working normally at a regular presidential office in a compound of the Republican Guard in suburban Cairo.
The aide, Yasser Haddara, a communications adviser, said it was unclear if the president would be free to leave later to return to the palace where he spent the previous night.
The president's message to all Egyptians, as stated in a televised address overnight, was that they should resist the "military coup", Haddara said, but they should do so peacefully, without violence against troops, the police or each other.
In a last-ditch statement a few minutes before the 5.00 p.m. (11.00 a.m. EDT) deadline, Morsi's office said a coalition government could be part of an initiative to overcome a political crisis. But opposition parties refused to negotiate with him and met instead with the commander of the armed forces.
As the ultimatum expired, hundreds of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters thronged Tahrir Square in central Cairo.
The Arab world's most populous nation has remained in turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak as Arab Spring uprisings took hold in early 2011, arousing concern among allies in the West and in Israel, with which Egypt has a 1979 peace treaty.
Despite Islamist talk of martyrdom and warnings of civil war, the dominant mood in Cairo's streets was one of elation rather than foreboding.
Meanwhile, former Minister of Information and Chairman, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Tony Momoh, in his reaction to the situation in Egypt said there was no way it could affect Nigeria negatively because they are two separate nations with diverse backgrounds.
"The problems confronting both countries are different and as a matter of fact, I don't see how the situation there in Egypt can influence our people to react in such a manner. Many things worse than what the Egyptians are facing have happened in Nigeria and yet we remain calm and tolerate our leaders," he said.
According to the CPC chairman, it is only in Nigeria the position of first lady is being celebrated and she goes about with government delegates as if she were on state functions. To him, it is only in Nigeria that the magnitude of corruption could happen with the flagrant impunity and nothing happens. "Honestly, I am not convinced Nigeria could be influenced or spurred to react by the Egyptian protest," he said.
Noting the impunity with which the Nigeria's electoral system is being manipulated by government in power with the support of security agencies and other parastatals in collaboration with the electoral bodies for several years, he said: "We begin to wonder if Nigerians can ever take their destiny in their hands and confront their situation. But in other nations, every institution plays its role separately as the constitution stipulates.
"That is why people refer to Nigerians as a very docile set of people. What the Egyptians are saying is simple and basic, that is supremacy of power relies in the people and not the few in government. But the reverse is ours where some cabals in government saw themselves as supreme above those who elected them to office."
According to Momoh, the Egypt's situation also has to do with religion, which differs from Nigeria's context "although some people are now trying to weave our problems into religion."
But he did not rule out the fact that Nigeria may one day find themselves being pushed to the wall and forced to react.
Also, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations and professor of History and Strategic Studies, Akinjide Osuntokun, said the crisis in Egypt would affect Nigeria's relations with the country because the foreign policy of Nigeria is aimed at supporting democracy.
According to the former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, although Nigeria acts on the policy of non-interference, the situation would have been different if the crisis was in a country within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region "but Egypt is far away from Nigeria and there is little Nigeria can do about the issue."
Osuntokun noted that although Egypt had the record of launching the first military coup on the continent under Abdel Nasser, the development could not have any effect on other African countries.
But while acknowledging that Nigeria and Egypt are two different countries, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said that "we should not make the mistake of thinking Nigerians are too docile to react. The trend is gradually coming and tension is becoming more and more than it used to be."
He noted that Egypt has always been in perpetual crisis since the Arab Spring, adding that "Nigerian leaders should watch it and try as much as possible to conduct a national conference before any other election is organised in the country."
According to former Ambassador to Ethiopia and a member of House of Representatives (Odukpani, Cross River), Nkoyo Toyo, African Union (AU) must review the situation and ascertain whether this is a coup or not.
"If it is a military coup, then the statutes on unconstitutional changes in government will kick in and Egypt government under whatever guise will not be recognised. But that does not hurt Egypt much since the crisis at home is far greater than the opprobrium associated with non-recognition. I think for Africa, the question is what lessons?
"Democratic gains have emerged over the last four decades but sustaining them is not easy. For countries that did not follow the first and second wave of democratic change, they are now being compelled to do so through citizens' action. It may be too hasty to compare Egypt with what is going on in the rest of Africa," Toyo said.
The Guardian