The presidency is watching closely with “deep concern” developments in Gabon where Africa’s latest military coup led to the ousting of President Ali Bongo earlier on Wednesday, according to presidential spokesman, Chief Ajuri Ngelale.
Alain Bernard Bongo or Ali Bongo Ondimba (better known as Ali Bongo), 64, has been in power since 2009. He succeeded his father, Omar Bongo, who ruled the central African country from 1967 until his death in 2009.
The president was placed under house arrest where he made a video appealing for intervention.
The military personnel, who executed the coup, hinged their plot on observed flaws in the 26th August general election in the country.
The officers said the organisation of the general elections did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot hoped for by the people of Gabon.
They had also cited irresponsible and unpredictable governance, resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion, with the risk of leading the country into chaos.
Ngelale said that the presidency is watching closely “the seeming autocratic contention apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent”.
Ngelale said President Bola Tinubu, 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”.
He said 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 continues to communicate with other Heads of States in the African Union towards a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forward with respect to how the power in Gabon will play out and how the continent will respond to contagious autocracy we have seen spread across our continent”.
