Fresh coup: Tinubu working with AU leaders for consensus response – Ngelale

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is working very closely with other Heads of State in the African Union (AU) towards a comprehensive consensus response after the military coup in Gabon.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said this Wednesday afternoon while briefing on the development in Gabon.

He said the president was watching closely with deep concern for the country’s socio-political stability and the autocratic contention spreading across different regions of Africa.

He quoted President Tinubu as saying the rule of law and a faithful recourse to the constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not be allowed to perish from the continent.

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Ngelale said: “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, 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. “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 State in the African Union towards a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forwards 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.”

The coupists struck in the early hours of Wednesday, annulling Saturday’s election, which Bongo was declared to have won.

The soldiers announced the dissolution of all the institutions of the republic, the parliament, and shut down Gabon’s borders, saying their actions were on behalf of the central African nation’s security and defence forces.

Noureddin Bongo Valentin, one of the sons of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, has been arrested for “treason”.

The ousted president has also been placed under house arrest alongside some of his family members.

Bongo’s son and close adviser, his chief of staff, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, as well as his deputy, two other presidential advisers and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) were arrested.

A military leader said they were accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president’s signature, among other allegations.