Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who was recently evacuated from Guinea-Bissau has dropped a political bombshell, stating that the military takeover in the country was “not a coup” in the conventional sense, but rather a ceremonial coup.
The former President, who was leading the West African Elders Forum Election Observation Mission, described the circumstances surrounding the incident as “deeply disturbing” and suggested the event may have been staged by the incumbent President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, to derail the announcement of election results.
Addressing journalists in Abuja following his evacuation after the Guinea-Bissau coup, Jonathan noted that the official pronouncement of the coup was made not by the military, but by President Embaló himself, who claimed he had been arrested.
He described the situation in Guinea-Bissau as bizarre, arguing that it did not fit the usual pattern of a military coup.
Jonathan said Embaló’s early announcement of his own “arrest,” while still using his phone to speak to international media, raised questions about the credibility of the claim.
According to him, the Guinea-Bissau elections were peaceful as he cited reports from ECOWAS, AU, and other observer missions.
He expressed concern that while results were being collated, Embaló announced that a coup had taken place and that he had been detained, even though evidence suggested he was never arrested.
“It is painful for me that President Embaló was the one announcing a military takeover of the government. It is totally unacceptable.
“What happened in Guinea-Bissau, I would not call it a coup; it was not a coup. For lack of a better word, I will say it was a ceremonial coup because it was President Embaló who announced the coup before the military later came up to address the world that they were in charge of the government.
“Embaló had already announced that there was a coup, which is strange. Not only announcing the coup, but Embaló, while the coup took place, was using his phone and addressing media organisations across the world that he had been arrested. I’m a Nigerian close to 70 and I know how they keep Heads of State when a coup takes place.
“They cannot be playing pranks; nobody should call others fools. There is no way there will be a military coup at a time when they were about to announce election results, and the president was the person who announced the coup. It doesn’t happen anywhere,” Jonathan said.
Speaking further, Jonathan also described the Guinea-Bissau coup as a deeper personal blow than his own 2015 presidential election defeat.
He stated that the democracy in Guinea-Bissau “disturbed” him more than the day he conceded power to his successor, late President Muhammadu Buhari, nine years ago.
He said: “What happened in Guinea-Bissau is quite disturbing to me, a person who believes in democracy. In fact, I feel more pain than the day I called Buhari to congratulate him when I lost the election as a sitting president.
“I have been quite particular about Guinea-Bissau. As a sitting president, then, Guinea-Bissau was in crisis. It started around 2012. In 2011, we had to go physically and work with them and make sure that the 2013 elections were conducted.”
The former president advised against engaging the military in a battle to take back power and called on ECOWAS and the AU to release the full election results.
Jonathan also called for the release of the main opposition leader, Fernando Dias, from military custody, insisting that he did not commit any offence.
