Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is reportedly trapped but safe in Guinea-Bissau, after the country’s military announced a takeover on Wednesday, suspending the electoral process and sealing all borders.
Jonathan, who led the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) observer mission for the November 23 presidential and parliamentary elections, was in the capital Bissau when a group of military officers declared they had taken “total control” of the state.
The coup announcement came a day after both incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and opposition contender Fernando Dias separately claimed victory.
The self-styled “High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” ordered the suspension of the vote, imposed a curfew and shut land, air and sea borders, leaving hundreds of foreign observers stranded at the airport.
“I have been deposed,” Embalo told France24, adding that he was being held at the military headquarters.
Reports also indicate that opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira has been arrested and that the military is attempting to shut down internet access.
The coup is reportedly led by Denis N’Canha, the head of the presidential guard.
“The man supposed to protect the president himself has put the president under arrest,” one observer, Haque, told reporters.
Jonathan’s media posts during the week showed him monitoring voting, meeting election stakeholders, and paying a condolence visit to the family of late former President Manuel Sefiro Nhamado.
However, his last update came on Tuesday, before the coup was announced.
Meanwhile his former presidential spokesman, Ima Niboro, confirmed that he is safe but unable to leave” along with other international observers.
