President Bola Tinubu has strongly condemned the military takeover in Gabon. He expressed deep concern about the political situation and socio-political stability in the country. Tinubu’s response came shortly after a group of Gabonese military officers announced on television their intention to end the current regime and cancel the election results that declared President Ali Bongo Ondimba as the winner.
Ajuri Ngelale, the President’s spokesperson, conveyed that Tinubu believes in upholding the rule of law and resolving electoral disputes constitutionally, emphasizing the importance of preserving these principles in Africa.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is watching developments in Gabon very closely with deep concern for the country’s sociopolitical stability and 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 cause of advancing and defending democracy, has all of the unwavering belief that power belongs in the hands of Africa’s great people, and not in the barrel of a loaded gun,” he said.
Ngelale added that Tinubu affirmed that “the rule of law and a faithful recourse to constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not at any time be allowed to perish from our great continent”.
According to him, 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 into how the continent will respond to the contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across the continent”
