Former President Goodluck Jonathan returned to Nigeria on Thursday after being briefly trapped in Guinea-Bissau following a sudden military coup.
Jonathan had travelled as part of a joint AU-ECOWAS-WAEF election observer mission but became stranded when soldiers shut all borders and imposed a curfew shortly after taking power.
The coup followed a tense presidential election in which both incumbent Umaro Sissoco Embaló and opposition candidate Fernando Dias declared victory before results were announced.
The military has now installed General Horta N’Tam, former head of the presidential guard, as transitional leader for one year.
Nigeria condemned the takeover, describing it as an unconstitutional assault on regional stability. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded the immediate restoration of democratic order and the release of detained officials, including electoral workers.
In a joint statement, the observer missions decried the military’s intervention, noting that voting had been peaceful and that both leading candidates earlier pledged to accept the result. They urged ECOWAS and the AU to act swiftly to reverse the disruption.
President Bola Tinubu later joined other West African leaders in an emergency virtual summit as concerns mounted that Guinea-Bissau may become the latest flashpoint in the region’s growing wave of coups.
