Goodluck Jonathan, the former president, has doubts about the recent coup in Guinea-Bissau. He thinks it’s weird that the president who was overthrown, Umaro Embalo, announced the military takeover.
He said that what happened in the West African country was a “ceremonial” coup.
I wouldn’t call what happened in Guinea-Bissau a coup. There was no coup. For lack of a better word, I would argue that maybe it was a ceremonial coup because it was President Embalo who proclaimed it first, and then the military man came out to tell the world that they were in charge of everything.
“Embalo had already announced the coup, which is strange. Not only did he announce the coup, but he was also using his phone and talking to media organizations around the world while it was happening,” he stated in an interview that Symfoni uploaded on YouTube Tuesday.
The former governor of Bayelsa also noted that what happened in Guinea-Bissau was very upsetting to him as a guy who believes in democracy.
“I’m a Nigerian who’s almost 70 years old, and I know how they keep heads of state safe during a coup. I was recently a mediator in Mali, where I was an ECOWAS mediator. During that time, there was a military coup.
“The military doesn’t take over nations, and the president who was overthrown will still be able to hold press conferences and say that he was jailed. Who’s tricking who?
He went on to say, “In fact, I feel worse than when I called [former President Muhammadu] Buhari to congratulate him when I lost the election as president.”
Jonathan said that the elections in Guinea-Bissau were peaceful and asked for the results to be made public.
“The elections went off without a hitch. We were outside. I was a member of the West African Elders Forum. We usually don’t send out observation teams to look at what we see in the south, the capital, and nearby communities.
“But at the meeting of all the leaders of observation missions, when everyone told their story, no one said anything unusual. The elections went off without a hitch, and the counting of the results at the polling places was also peaceful. This was true for the electoral authorities, the security, the party agents, and the voters.
“It was a good election, and many were expecting the results to be made public.
“And when they were almost done and we were all waiting for the result to be announced, Embalo said that there had been a coup, that they had taken control, and that they had arrested him.
“But it looks like no one arrested him. He said, “I believe this, and I tell ECOWAS and AU to announce that result.”
•General Horta N’Tam of the Guinea Bissau Army (C) stands with other military leaders.
On Wednesday, Guinea-Bissau’s military officers took “total control” of the country, stopping the elections and closing the borders just days after the presidential and legislative elections.
General Denis N’Canha, who was in charge of the presidential military office after the coup, claimed that a command “made up of all branches of the armed forces” was taking over the country’s government “until further notice.”
The officers apprehended President Embalo, who was expected to win the election on Sunday, but he had already left for Senegal.
The military chose General Horta N’Tam, the Chief of Staff of the Army, to be the country’s new leader for a year the day following the coup.
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