President Bola Tinubu has denounced the recent coup executed in Gabon during the early hours of August 30.
A faction of Gabonese military officials appeared on television, declaring the termination of the existing regime and invalidating an election in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been declared as the victor.
Addressing State House reporters, Ajuri Ngelale, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, conveyed President Tinubu’s conviction that preserving the rule of law and a steadfast commitment to resolving electoral conflicts through constitutional means should not be allowed to fade away in the African context.
“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.”
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”.
He added that President Tinubu 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 our continent”.
