John Adoyi, PBA Journalism MenteeThe wave of military coups in West Africa is still on as the Gabonese military on Wednesday announced on television that they have cancelled the country’s election and have seized power.
This comes as the West African country was wrapping up voting in the Saturday, August 26 general elections.
The military officers who called themselves CTRI (The Committee of transition and restoration of institutions), said “Today our country is going through a grave political crisis” due to “irresponsible, unforeseeable governance that has resulted in the steady degradation of social cohesion which risks leading the country to chaos.”
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So “[…] we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in power,” the military officers said.
This brings an end to the regime of Ali Bongo who became the president of the country in 2009, succeeding his Father, Omar Bongo.
Ali Bongo was seeking a third term in office and was announced by the country’s electoral commission as the winner of the Saturday polls with 64 Percent of total votes cast. The opposition and the military rejected the outcome, saying it was fraudulent, hence the coup.
This has joined the wave of coup that has taken place in Africa. Other coups include the one in Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sudan and Mali.
The military announced that it has dissolved all state institution including the parliament, electoral commission, the constitutional court and the presidency. They also said the country’s border will be closed till further notice
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