While President Bola Tinubu and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) work tirelessly to restore democracy in Niger Republic, Military officers have appeared on national television to say they have seized power in Garbon.
This comes after President Ali Bongo was re-elected to a third term in office in the Central African nation.
The officers said they were annulling the results of Saturday’s election which the opposition had denounced as “fraudulent”.
The Announcement
Twelve soldiers appeared on television to announce that they were cancelling the results of the election and dissolving “all the institutions of the republic”.
“We have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime,” one of the soldiers was quoted as saying on TV channel Gabon 24.
The soldier cited “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos”.
The Election
The Gabonese Election Centre (CGE) had declared Bongo winner of the election on Wednesday with 64.27% of the votes cast.
Michel Bonda, CGE head, said Bongo’s main challenger, Albert Ossa, had polled second with 30.77%.
Bongo’s team however rejected Ossa’s allegations of electoral fraud and irregularities.
Tensions have been running high in Gabon with fears of unrest, following the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Family Business
Bongo’s overthrow would end his family’s 53-year hold on power. He became president when his father Omar died in 2009.
Bongo suffered a stroke in 2018 which sidelined him for almost a year and led to calls for him to step aside.
In 2019, there was a coup attempt on Bongo. Soldiers who led the failed putsch were sent to prison.
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Both ECOWAS and African Union (AU), which have rejected the coup in Niger, are yet to react to the coup in Gabon as of the time of filing this report.
