In Defence of the Coups: Apologetic Rhetoric, Democratic Recession and the Popular Allure of Putschists in the Sahel

As one of the world’s terrorism hotspots under jihadist control, West Africa is home to the nascent inter-state military Alliance of Sahel Countries. United in rebellion against democratic praxis, the putschists aim to exterminate terrorism on the homestead and confront the coloniality of power. However, despite their popular appeal, scholars are yet to parse the apologetic rhetoric employed by the Sahelian military heads of states to defend their grip on power and justify their actions. This article unpacks the messaging of performative disobedience crafted by Niger’s Abdourahamane Tchiani, Mali’s Assimi Goïta and Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré. Using the twin rhetorical theory of apologia and kategoria, the work examines televised speeches of the coup leaders at the maiden summit of the Alliance organised in July 2024 in Niamey, Niger’s administrative capital. Analysed through the lens of postcolonial deconstruction, the speeches showed that the putschists legitimise their authority, by deploying tactics of a three-tiered stasis, emotive kategoria, othering, erotema and image repair whose perlocutionary force affirms the urgency for self-rule. This droit divin , the analysis revealed, is anchored on the coup leaders’ sophistry that interrogates the culpability of imperial forces in exacerbating insecurity and under-development in the sub-region.