Togolese are fed up! Gnassingbe Jnr must go now – Opposition chief

One of the leading opposition figures in Togo, Jean-Pierre Fabre, has fired a warning to embattled president of the country imploring him to quit or face more protests.

“He has to leave now. We will not accept him staying any longer. The Togolese are fed up,” leader of the National Alliance for Change is quoted by Reuters to have said.

Anti-government protests have intensified in the country with the main issue being a call for the immediate end to the Gnassingbe family dynasty that has ruled the country for the last five decades.

What started on Wednesday and Thursday as scheduled protests continued into Friday even though internet has been cut and police fired tear gas to disperse protesters massing up at the presidency on Thursday evening.

Opposition strongholds in the capital, Lome, have been boiling as people mounted road blocks and burned tires in the middle of the roads. Other major towns in the West African country have joined in the protests.

Faure Gnassingbe has been in power for the last 12 years taking over after the death of his father Eyadema who governed for 38 years. He has won the last three elections – 2005, 2010 and 2015 because term limits have been scrapped.

The cabinet with hours to start of the protests issued a legislation proposing amendments to the laws but opposition groups called it a means for the president to buy time and extend his stay in office.