OSAS EMMANUEL
President Bola Tinubu is watching developments unfolding in Gabon very closely and with deep concern for the country’s socio-political stability and the seeming autocratic contagion appearing to spread to other parts of the African continent.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale said the President as a man who has made significant, personal sacrifices in his own life in the course of advancing and defending democracy is of the unwavering belief that power belongs in the hands of Africa’s great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun.
This is coming hours after Gabonese army officers under the aegis of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions announced on national television they had overthrown the government of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba who has been in power for 14 years, hours after he had been declared the victor in Saturday’s elections.
The military leaders said that the vote results had been canceled and all the institutions of the republic dissolved.
The military coup leaders have said Bongo’s son and close adviser, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, his chief of staff, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, as well as his deputy, two other presidential advisers, and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party have been arrested.
They are accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption, and falsifying the president’s signature, among other allegations.
However, President Tinubu has affirmed that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to constitutional instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not be allowed to perish from our great continent.
“To this end, the President will continue to communicate with other Heads of State within the African Union and beyond toward a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forward.”
Similarly, President Bola Tinubu yesterday held a substantive and extended phone conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which issues concerning a deepening collaboration across sectors were discussed.
The Heads of State mutually agreed that the promotion and protection of constitutional democratic governance on the African continent must be a top priority between their two countries and globally.
The two leaders discussed deepening investments in Nigeria in the sub-sector of Agro-processing and the need for greater support of older democracies in undergirding younger democracies in Africa in the fight against terrorism and poverty.
The Nigerian leader encouraged the Canadian leader to facilitate enhanced military cooperation while acknowledging the key contributions that Nigerians continue to make toward Canada’s economic development and public sector leadership.
President Tinubu also shared views with his Canadian counterpart with respect to the crisis in Niger Republic and the unfolding situation in Gabon.
