TWO Nigeria-based pro-democracy groups, the Association of African Writers on Human and People’s Rights (AFRIRIGHTS) and Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), have asked the African Union (AU) to demand that Burundi’s President, Pierre Nkurunziza, steps down immediately his second term expires, as provided for under the extant law.

In a joint statement by the Country Director of AFRIRIGHTS, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Director of Media Affairs of HURIWA, Zainab Yusuf, the rights groups tasked African leaders to intervene on the side of Burundians and stop Nkurunziza from achieving his unconstitutional third term plot, which could trigger another civil war in that country.