Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday briefed President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on developments surrounding the Guinea Bissau elections.
Jonathan explained that what was initially described as a coup in the country was not, in his view, a real coup but rather a “ceremonial coup” carried out by the head of state.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, the former Nigerian President said the election results were already known before the incident and that the arrest of the opposition candidate was unnecessary.
He said, “I came this evening to brief Mr President on what happened. That is the tradition for former Presidents.
“All these regional and continental issues, whenever you are involved, when you get back home you have to brief the President because ECOWAS leaders will meet and I will not be there. So he will be able to get first hand information.
“Just like I mentioned in the press briefing, the key thing is that the election was concluded and collation of results was almost concluded. In fact, the results are known, and the key thing is that the winner of that election must be announced.”
Jonathan said there was no question of removing the military because of the implications for stability, but insisted that the outcome of the election must be respected.
“So what I am asking the ECOWAS leadership to do is to reach out to the leadership in Guinea Bissau. Talk to them. They are human beings, they know the right thing to do.
“First, they should release the opposition man because the man has not committed any offense. He did not announce himself as the winner of the election. If he had done that, they would say it is a treasonable offense. So there is no reason to arrest him.
“And then they should announce the result. If the military would agree, the person who won the election should be inaugurated as the President of the country.
“We are tired of this in Africa. Every day it is a negative story. What happened in Guinea Bissau is not what some people would call a palace coup. It was not a palace coup. We know real coups. Palace coups we know in Nigeria.
“This was not even a palace coup. I was looking for the appropriate word to describe it, I could not get one, that is why I called it a ceremonial coup.
“It was a ceremonial coup conducted by the head of state himself. That is why I say it was ceremonial.”
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