JUST IN: Presidency Reacts To Gabon Coup

President Bola Tinubu has warned that the rule of law and democratic instruments for resolving electoral disputes must not be allowed to perish in Africa.

President Tinubu’s warning is coming on the heels of the military coup in Gabon, which deposed President Ali Bongo on Wednesday.

The president said he is watching the unfolding events in the Central African country and working with other leaders of the African Union to achieve a consensus position on the matter.

Briefing State House correspondents at the presidential villa, Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, who conveyed the president’s position, said Tinubu affirmed that power belongs to the people and not the barrel of guns.

According to him, “President Bola Tinubu is watching developments in Gabon very closely with deep concern for the country’s social-political stability and at the seeming autocratic contagion apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent.

“The president, as a man who has made significant personal sacrifices in his own life in the course of advancing and defending democracy, is of the unwavering belief that power belongs in the hands of Africa’s great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun.

“The president affirms that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to the constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not at any time be allowed to perish from our great continent.

“To this end, the president is working very closely and continuing to communicate with other Heads of State in the African Union towards a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forward with respect to how the crisis in Gabon will play out and how the continent will respond to the contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent.”