Goodluck arrives safely in Abuja claiming Guinea-Bissau elections were free and fair

FORMER president Dr Goodluck Jonathan has arrived safely in Abuja after the Nigerian government evacuated him and other election observers from Guinea-Bissau following a military coup there earlier this week.

Dr Jonathan had been the head of the Economic Community of West Africa (Ecowas) election monitoring team overseeing the presidential elections in the country. However, following disputes over who won the polls, the military decided to strike, seizing power and overthrowing the government of President Umaro Embaló.

Amidst the chaos, President Bola Tinubu sent an aircraft to Bissau and it managed to airlift the former president and return him safely to Abuja. Speaking upon his arrival Dr Jonathan urged Ecowas and the African Union (AU) to immediately publish the authentic election results already collated before the military intervention.

Dr Jonathan said: “Since I left office, I’ve always been scared talking to the media but in this particular case, I decided to speak, first, to thank Nigerians. While we were in Bissau and this so-called coup happened, the information we got was that the whole country was agitated, young and old, irrespective of religious or political divides. I sincerely appreciate Nigerians.”

He revealed that both President Tinubu and Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara had prepared aircraft to evacuate him and his delegation at the height of the tension. Dr Jonathan, who was part of a joint observer mission deployed by the AU, Ecowas and the West African Elders Forum to monitor the presidential and legislative polls.

“I thank President Tinubu and President Ouattara as both presidents were to send aircraft to lift us. Their swift intervention showed that Africa still has leaders committed to protecting democratic processes.”

He dismissed reports that President Embaló was toppled in a military coup, insisting that the scenario did not fit the classic definition of a forceful takeover. Dr Jonathan, who has played a significant role in stabilising Guinea-Bissau over the years, said the situation pained him deeply.

“What happened was not a coup, maybe a ceremonial one. Two things made it bizarre - it was President Embaló himself who first announced it and while this coup was happening, he was using his phone to address media organisations across the world, saying he had been arrested. I’m a Nigerian close to 70, I know how heads of state are kept when a coup takes place. This one does not fit.”

“I feel more pain than the day I called Buhari to congratulate him in 2015. Guinea-Bissau was in crisis. I worked physically with them. I saw a military man walk into the office of a prime minister and slap him. Now, it looks like we’re going back to those dark days,” President Jonathan added.

According to Dr Jonathan, the election was peaceful, credible and properly observed. He noted that results from all nine regions had been fully collated before the disruption, so insisted that the results should be published, so everyone knows that happened.

Dr Jonathan added: "Counting was smooth, security behaved and electoral officials were professional. The results were ready, they were collating them in the capital and then suddenly, the president announced a coup and claimed he was arrested, yet nobody arrested him.

“My conviction is this - Ecowas and the AU must announce the results. They have them, they were in all the regions and they cannot change those results. They owe the world that responsibility.”