Africa-Press – Gambia. Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who served as an international observer during the recent Guinea-Bissau presidential election, has described the country’s military intervention as a “ceremonial coup” and called on the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to release the official election results.
Jonathan noted that AU and ECOWAS observers were deployed across all regions of Guinea-Bissau during the vote, saying the organizations have the authority and responsibility to compile and publish the results independently.
“Even though they cannot force the military out, they can at least let the world know who won the election,” he said.
The former president highlighted two developments he found particularly irregular. First, he questioned why incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embaló was the one to publicly announce a coup before the military addressed the nation—“a very strange” sequence of events, he remarked.
Second, Jonathan said it was unusual that President Embaló was able to use his phone to speak with media outlets around the world to claim he had been arrested. Drawing on his experience as a former head of state, Jonathan stressed that such communication is typically impossible during a genuine military takeover.
“What happened in Guinea-Bissau is quite disturbing to me as someone who believes deeply in democracy,” he said. “In fact, I feel more pain today than I did when I called Buhari to concede after losing the election as a sitting president.”
Jonathan added that voting had proceeded peacefully and that the results were expected shortly before Embaló announced he had been detained. “From all indications, nobody arrested him,” he said.
The situation continues to draw scrutiny across the region, with calls mounting for clarity on the election outcome and the manner in which the alleged coup unfolded.
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