Hours after military leaders seized power in Gabon, ousted President Ali Bongo has issued a plea to the public from where he is being held under house arrest.
Bongo called on the people of Gabon to “make noise,” saying in a brief video he has been illegally detained at his residence.
Bongo was accused of high treason by the group of high-ranking officers who deposed him.
The group added that other government officials as well as Bongo’s son, Nouredine Bongo, had been arrested.
Earlier, the military leaders in Gabon announced they seized power, days after the Central African nation’s presidential election which confirmed President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s third term.
The election results had been falsified, a group of officers said.
State institutions had been dissolved with immediate effect, the election results annulled and the country’s borders closed, said the group, which called itself the Committee for Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI).
The announcement came a few hours after the electoral authority declared Bongo the winner of the election with 64.27 per cent of the vote.
Meanwhile President Bola Tinubu has expressed concern over the coup as Gabon becomes the latest country in Africa to suffer a coup, only weeks after mutinous troops seized power in Niger.
Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing State House Correspondents in Abuja.
He said Tinubu would consult with other Heads of State and Government in the African Union on the Gabon crisis with a view to determining the way forward for the natural resource-rich country.
‘’President Bola Tinubu is watching closely with deep concern for the country’s social political stability and at the seeming autocratic contention apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent.
‘’The president as a man who has made significant sacrifices in his life in the course of advancing and defending democracy is of the belief that power belongs in the hands of Africa’s great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun,’’ he said.
Gabon is rich in natural resources such as timber, manganese and oil and it is the fifth largest oil producing nation in Africa, which has helped drive its strong growth.
The country’s oil sector now accounts for 50 per cent of its GDP and 80 per cent of its exports.
Ngelale said Tinubu affirmed that the rule of law and recourse to the constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute needed to be used in the matters of democratic challenges.
‘’To this end, the President is working very closely and continues to communicate with other Heads of State in the African Union.
‘’This is 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 spreading across the continent,” he said.
TheNiche had earlier reported that military officers announced the takeover of democratically elected government of Bongo on Wednesday after a disputed election.
They also announced the cancellation of recent election results and the dissolution of “all the institutions of the republic”.
The army officers are said to be meeting later on Wednesday to decide who would lead the transition authority.
The Commonwealth has also expressed fear about the military takeover in the country with Secretary-General Patricia Scotland saying the situation was “deeply concerning”.
“The Commonwealth Charter is clear that member states must uphold the rule of law and the principles of democracy at all times,” Scotland said.
Tinubu also spoke with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Tradeus on the Gabon crisis, where the two leaders agreed on the need to safeguard democratic institutions in the continent.
Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba is under house arrest and one of his sons has been arrested for “treason”, military officers said Wednesday.
The announcement came hours after the military officers said they had overthrown the government.
In a statement read out on state TV, the military officers said Bongo was under house arrest “surrounded by his family and doctors”.
Bongo has been in power since 2009, when he succeeded his father, Omar Bongo, who ruled Gabon for 42 years.
