Nigeria has granted asylum to Guinea-Bissau opposition presidential candidate Fernando Dias da Costa, after a sudden military takeover in Bissau halted the release of results from the country’s 23 November presidential election.
Dias, the main challenger to incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, sought refuge at the Nigerian embassy in the Guinean capital after armed men attempted to arrest him.
According to the BBC, Nigerian authorities said the asylum offer was made to “protect Guinea-Bissau’s democratic process” and called on Ecowas to deploy peacekeepers to secure the embassy compound.
The military seized power three days after the election, suspending the electoral process and blocking publication of results.
Junta officials claimed they acted to “prevent destabilisation,” but provided no evidence to support the assertion.
In its first decrees, the military banned public demonstrations, imposed new restrictions on political activity, and appointed Gen.
Horta N’Tam as head of a one-year transitional government.
Ecowas, the West African regional bloc, swiftly condemned the takeover and suspended Guinea-Bissau from all decision-making bodies, calling for the “immediate restoration of constitutional order.”
Tensions remain high in the capital. Security forces raided the headquarters of the opposition PAIGC party, arresting its leader Domingos Simões Pereira. Both Dias and Embaló had declared victory before the coup.
Embaló has since left the country and has not commented on allegations by some regional figures and civil groups, made without evidence-that the military intervention was staged to prevent publication of unfavourable results.
Guinea-Bissau has long struggled with political volatility, enduring at least nine coups or attempted coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.
The latest upheaval raises fresh concerns about democratic backsliding across West Africa, a region already grappling with multiple military takeovers in recent years.
Credit: BBC
