Former Nigeria president, Olusegun Obasanjo has urged President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo to step down following anti-government protests which have continued for three days.
The protest which began with a call for Gnassingbe to resign has turned violent as clashes between opposition supporters and police have escalated.
The opposition wants President Faure Gnassingbe to step down after 12 years in power. He succeeded his father who governed for 38 years.
Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke to the BBC’s Peter Okwoche about the crisis and questioned whether President Gnassingbe had anything new to offer.
Obasanjo believes that he “must have exhausted whatever ideas he has.”
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According to Obasanjo, “I believe that President Gnassingbe will have to do something about it (the protests),” he said.
“I believe they should have a new constitution that will have a limit to the number of terms anybody can be president and he should abide by that.
“I [also] believe whatever he has to do in terms of development, whatever ideas he has, he must have exhausted them by now.
“Unless he has something new that we don’t know.
“After twelve to fifteen years, some of them (African leaders) up to thirty…and maybe, if you don’t leave office, office will leave you.”
Gnassingbe was immediately installed as President of Togo following the death of his father President Eyadéma in 2005.
He was made president with support from the army.
Doubts regarding the constitutional legitimacy of the succession led to heavy regional pressure being placed on Gnassingbé, and he subsequently resigned on 25 February.
He then won a controversial presidential election on 24 April 2005, and was sworn in as President.
He was re-elected for a second term in 2010.
In the April 2015 presidential election, he won a third term, defeating his main challenger, Jean-Pierre Fabre, by a margin of about 59% to 35%, according to official results.
