Paper long abstract:

‘Men fall from great fortune because of the same shortcomings that led to their rise.’ It is a comforting thought that flawed leaders will eventually self-destruct.” (Jean de la Bruyère)

Serious political assault on their countries’ democratisation efforts is what first, Zambia's unsuccessful Chiluba, Togo's Eyadema, Uganda's Museveni and most recently Nigeria's Obasanjo and Cameroon’s Biya are most associated with. These however are only a small clique of an increasing pattern of similar action by African incumbents. What is most troubling to democratic transition enthusiasts is a concerted effort by these African leaders to throttle their faltering young democracies in the name of their continued ‘service’ to the people. This paper seeks to analyse why African leaders are dumping term limits in favour of open-ended tenures or seeking ‘presidential careerism’. The article argues that while most of these states have been cited for embarking on some semblance of democratic rule, their rulers have utilised their weak democratic institutional structures, co-opted the elite and rallied the ‘mob’ to commit democracy ‘infanticide’.