Nigeria says Togo power handover "unacceptable"
  
   ABUJA, Feb 8 (AFP) - Nigeria's Foreign Minister Olu
Adeniji criticised the controversial presidential
succession in Togo as "unacceptable", in comments on
state-run television .
   Faure Gnassingbe was sworn in Monday as Togo's
president, two days after the death of his father,
long-time west African strongman Gnassingbe Eyadema.
Togo's military picked Gnassingbe to succeed his late
father, sparking widespread criticism.
   "What they have done is clearly unconstitutional,
illegal and therefore unacceptable," the minister said
on NTA television late Monday.
   The African Union, which described the handover as
a "coup detat", threatened Monday to impose sanctions
on Togo if constitutional order was not quickly
restored. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is the
chairman
of the continental body.
   The 15-nation Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), currently chaired by Niger's
President Mamadou Tandja, has called a summit in
Niamey to discuss the crisis on Wednesday.
   The small west African country's strongman died on
Saturday. The army moved swiftly to ensure that his
place was taken by one of his sons, a government
minister, pending elections instead of by the speaker
of parliament, as provided for under the constitution
before the last-minute amendment.
   Eyadema, who ran Togo for 38 years without naming a
successor, died en route overseas for emergency
treatment for a still undisclosed illness.
               
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