Former President Goodluck Jonathan has described the recent military takeover in Guinea Bissau as more distressing than his loss to former President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 election.
In a video interview obtained by Saturday PUNCH, Jonathan said the incident was particularly upsetting due to his long-standing involvement in promoting democracy in the West African nation.
The former president had travelled to Guinea Bissau as part of the West African Elders Forum to monitor presidential and parliamentary elections. While observer missions from ECOWAS, the African Union, and other bodies were still assessing the polls, the military seized power, leaving Jonathan and his team stranded and concerned for their safety. He was later evacuated and returned to Nigeria on Thursday.
“What happened in Guinea Bissau is quite disturbing to me, a person who believes in democracy. In fact, I feel more pain than the day I called Buhari to congratulate him when I lost the election as a sitting president,” Jonathan said.
Recalling his previous efforts in Guinea Bissau, he added, “I have been quite particular about Guinea Bissau. As a sitting president then, Guinea Bissau was in crisis. It started around 2012. In 2011, we had to go physically and work with them and made sure that the 2013 elections were conducted.”
Jonathan described the situation as unusual, noting that the announcement of the takeover by President Umaro Embaló himself did not align with typical coup patterns. “It is painful for me that President Embaló was the one announcing a military takeover of government. It is totally unacceptable. What happened in Guinea Bissau, I would not call it a coup; it was not a coup. For lack of a better word, I will say it was a ceremonial coup because it was President Embaló who announced the coup before the military later came up to address the world that they were in charge of government,” he said.
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He further highlighted the oddity of Embaló announcing his own “arrest” while speaking to international media. “Not only announcing the coup, but Embaló, while the coup took place, was using his phone and addressing media organisations across the world that he had been arrested. I’m a Nigerian close to 70 and I know how they keep Heads of State when a coup takes place. They cannot be playing pranks; nobody should call others fools. There is no way there will be a military coup at a time they were about to announce election results and the president was the person who announced the coup. It doesn’t happen anywhere,” he added.
Jonathan advised against engaging the military in a confrontation and urged ECOWAS and the AU to release full election results. He also called for the immediate release of the main opposition leader, Fernando Dias, asserting that Dias had committed no offence.
Recounting his evacuation, Jonathan explained that the Ivorian government airlifted him and his team. “Both Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire had made arrangements to send aircraft to evacuate me and my team, but the Ivorian government secured clearance ahead of Nigeria. The Ivorian aircraft was already en route when Nigeria finally received approval to deploy its own plane. Once we were informed that the Nigerian aircraft was preparing to take off, my team advised Abuja not to proceed since the Ivorian plane was already close,” he said.
Jonathan’s comments underscore his deep personal concern over Guinea Bissau’s political instability and highlight his continued advocacy for democracy in the region.