African countries are generally recognised as having produced some of the worst leaders the world has ever seen, both during and after colonisation. African dictators are among the world's wealthiest people while the people they rule are among the world's poorest and remain mired in poverty. They persecute and even kill and starve their people with impunity while lining their own pockets. Most of these dictators seized power in military coups and some have ruled with an iron fist for decades after rapidly consolidating their grip on power to make it very difficult to remove them.

Africa has generally drawn very little benefit from the continent's untold mineral wealth and it remains one the poorest on the globe, engulfed in corruption and cursed with inept leadership. These are some of the West African leaders responsible for dragging their countries into an abyss of poverty and squalor.

1. Omar Al-Bashir, ex-leader of North Sudan: 

Thirty-years ago (1989), Al-Bashir came to power through a bloodless military takeover against the administration of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi- a democratically chosen leader by the citizens of Sudan. Soon after grabbing power, Al-Bashir disbanded all political factions in his nation, dismissed the country’s parliament and closed all privately-owned media outlets. His rule has been marked by civil conflicts in which 300,000 to one million people have been murdered, while roughly around 3 million of his citizens have been relocated.

His human rights record is one of a century.

He is a madman. His crimes range from stealing the country’s oil money (stashing away $9 billion into his secret bank accounts in the UK), rape, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Bashir is the only recent ex-African President with an arrest warrant from the ICC.

2. Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 

One of the Africa's longest-serving president is Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema, 72, a former soldier who leaded the oil-rich nation for over 36 years. He took power in a 1979 coup against his uncle Francisco Macias Nguema, whom he had executed. 

3. Sani Abacha of Nigeria 

During the mid-twentieth century, Nigeria was in constant political instability due to an important amount of coup d’etats. In November of 1993, Sani Abacha seized power and became the president and subsequent dictator of Nigeria until 1998. Throughout his five years of rule, Abacha was involved in a series of corruption scandals, however, it was not until he died when it was discovered that he had taken around USD $3,000 y USD $5,000 millions from Nigeria’s public resources.

According to Nigeria’s authorities, Abacha’s family, associates and he himself had deposited the money in some of the most important banks in London (Pallister & Capella, 2000).

Nigeria’s government managed to recover recuperar USD $1,000 millions thanks to the Abacha’s son, Muhammad, who confessed his father gave him USD $700 millions in cash for a two-year period (Pallister & Capella, 2000). According to UD Department of Justice, the money stolen by Abacha was laundered through purchase of government bonds which were backed by US financial institutions (Transparency, 2014).

Moreover, Nigeria’s government estimates that USD$2,300 million were taken by the Central Bank, USD $1,000 million are related to public procurement and USD $1,000 million were taken through foreign company extorsions. Abacha’s associates cashed out the money and deposited into US financial institutions and late Abacha and his finance minister bought inflated government bonds through a company controlled by Abacha himself (Transparency, 2014).

4. Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe

Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a man who divided global public opinion like few others. To some, he was an evil dictator who should have ended his days in jail for crimes against humanity.To others, he was a revolutionary hero, who fought racial oppression and stood up to Western imperialism and neo-colonialism.On his own terms, he was an undoubted success. First, he delivered independence for Zimbabwe after decades of white-minority rule.

He then remained in power for 37 years - outlasting his greatest enemies and rivals such as Tony Blair, George W Bush, Joshua Nkomo, Morgan Tsvangirai and Nelson Mandela. And he destroyed the economic power of Zimbabwe's white community, which was based on their hold over the country's most fertile land. However, his compatriots - except for a small, well-connected elite - paid the price, with the destruction of what had once been one of Africa's most diversified economies.

In the end, this came back to haunt him.

The outpouring of joy on the streets of Harare which greeted his forced resignation in November 2017 echoed the jubilation in the same city 37 years earlier when it was announced he was the new leader of independent Zimbabwe.

5. Former president Conde of Guinea

The September 5 coup, the latest bout of turbulence in one of Africa's most volatile countries, saw the overthrow of 83-year-old president Conde. The deposed leader is being held at an undisclosed location.

The putschists took control in just a few hours with the media reporting that between 12 and 20 people lost their lives. Conde became Guinea's first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015. But last year he pushed through a controversial new constitution that allowed him to run for a third term in October 2020. The move sparked mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed. Conde won re-election but the political opposition maintained the poll was a sham.

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