President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire: In God he trusts

Cote d'Ivoire's embattled president Laurent Gbagbo, continues to rule the country, despite international calls for him to hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, proclaimed by the independent electoral council as winner of the recent presidential elections.

So Cote d'Ivoire plods on, with two presidents, and rival governments, the imcumbent in the presidential palace and Alassane Ouattara in a luxury hotel in the capital city of Abidjan.

With a stalemate that has dragged on for more than a month now, it seems the one who makes the most noise will end up running the country.

Posturing, by the two (Gbagbo and Ouattara) or their proxies is taking place in Paris, Brussels, Addis Ababa, New York, and other capitals all over the world. Messages are put out as to why each candidate is better than the other for the people of Cote d'Ivoire.

A new twist to this unfolding drama has been the use of God, chiefly by the Gbagbo camp to legitimize his claim to power. The reasoning backing this claim is that power is sacred, and God-given. As such, only God can take away power, not voters through the ballot box or otherwise.

The one spearheading this campaign for the Gbagbos is none other than Simone Gbagbo, wife of the embattled Laurent Gbagbo who is incumbent president.

This self-proclaimed preacher tells whoever may listen that her husband has been chosen by God to lead Cote d'Ivoire.

Her antics smack of a certain Charles Taylor from Liberia, now undergoing trial at the special tribunal for war crimes for the Sierra Leone in The Hague Netherlands.

In the waning days of his rule, Charles Taylor invoked the word of God every chance he got. It held the people at bay. Whole swaths of the countryside was mesmerized by equating the word of Charles Taylor with those culled from the Holy Scripture. He adopted a "Holier than Thou Attitude".

Another habit that these self-proclaimed men of God love is to dress in all-white garb. As if to prove to the whole world the purity of their hearts or intentions, they insist on wearing all white clothes. It was the case with Charles Taylor in the last days of his regime. Gbagbo is not on his way out yet, but his dressing suggests he has taken a page from the playbook of Charles Taylor.

Now, are these tactics useful? Do they work? To put this question in context, we have to recall that West Africa is chocked full of many unemployed youth. These are the same who take to the streets when it is time for protests. It matters to channel the energy and focus of these young people into something abstract, such as religion. That way, any ill that befall them or their loved ones can be blamed on the hand of the devil - or in the case of Mssrs Taylor and Gbagbo, the opposition and International community.

Religious activism is the new frontier of crowd control of sub Saharan strongmen. It won't be too long before we see some of them facing reelection become self-proclaimed evangelical Pastors.

Watch Paul Biya and Ni Fru Ndi of Cameroon closely. They may soon ditch the Catholic Church, to connect more in an organic fashion with the masses in one large evangelical party, a sort of political campaign- cum -religious experience, and at the end of the sermon, the man in white who will be the master of the people's palace, will still be the same old African dictator, but in sheep's clothing.
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