Jonathan alleges Guinea-Bissau President staged coup to avoid election loss

ABUJA – Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has leveled a stunning accusation that the recent military takeover in Guinea-Bissau was a “sham” orchestrated by President Umaro Embaló to avoid losing a presidential election.

Jonathan, who led the West African Elders Forum Election Observation Mission to the country, returned to Nigeria after being evacuated following the coup.

He told journalists on Friday that he would not categorize the event as a conventional coup, but rather a “ceremonial coup” staged to derail the announcement of election results.

“What happened in Guinea-Bissau, I would not call it a coup; it was not a coup,” Jonathan stated. “It was President Embaló who announced the coup before the military later came up to address the world.”

He expressed deep skepticism about the authenticity of the takeover, pointing to President Embaló’s ability to freely communicate with international media via his phone while allegedly in custody.

“I know how they keep Heads of State when a coup takes place… 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 argued.

The coup occurred just a day before the electoral commission was set to announce the winner of the presidential election, which pitted Embaló against leading opposition candidate Fernando Dias. Embaló was seeking a second term.

Jonathan’s claims were echoed by other figures. Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, also described the coup as a “sham” and demanded the electoral process continue.

Furthermore, the coalition supporting Embaló’s main rival condemned the takeover, calling it a last-minute bid by the president and his allies to stop the announcement of results, which they argued would have confirmed his defeat.

Adding to the intrigue, Embaló’s close ally, Horta Inta-A, has since assumed power as the transitional President, while the newly sworn-in Armed Forces Chief of Staff is also considered an Embaló ally.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled:  Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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