President Bola Tinubu says he is watching the unfolding events in Gabon and is deeply concerned for the country’s social-political stability.
Briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, said the President affirmed that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to the constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not at any time be allowed to perish.
The President reiterated that power belongs to the people and not the barrel of guns.
According to him, “President Bola Tinubu is watching developments in Gabon very closely with deep concern for the country’s social-political stability and at the seeming autocratic contagion apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent.
“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.
“The president affirms that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to the constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not at any time be allowed to perish from our great continent.
“To this end, the president is working very closely and continuing to communicate with other Heads of State in the African Union towards a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forward with respect to how the crisis in Gabon will play out and how the continent will respond to the contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent.”
The President’s reaction came hours after a group of Gabonese military officers appeared on national television on Wednesday announcing they were “putting an end to the current regime” and canceling an election that President Ali Bongo Ondimba won.
They said the general elections of August 26, 2023, which gave President Bongo a third term, did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the people of Gabon.
READ OTHER STORIES:
President Tinubu Appoints New Board, Management Team For NDDC
Private Sector Encouraged With President’s Bold Decisions, Tony Elumelu Says
Gabon President Under House Arrest
Endless Queue To Get Passports Must Stop- Interior Minister Tells Agency Head
Coup: Gabon Army Officers Say Election Result Cancelled, ‘Regime’ Ended
