Former President Goodluck Jonathan has described the recent political turmoil in Guinea-Bissau as a “ceremonial coup,” insisting it does not qualify as a traditional military takeover.
Speaking to journalists on Friday in Abuja after returning from Guinea-Bissau—where he was briefly trapped amid the confusion—Jonathan said the circumstances surrounding the announcement by President Umaro Embaló were “strange and disturbing.”
“What happened in Guinea-Bissau, I wouldn’t call it a coup,” he said. “Maybe some would describe it as such for want of a better word. I would call it a ceremonial coup.”
Jonathan pointed out that Embaló himself announced the supposed coup before soldiers appeared on television claiming control of the state. Even more unusual, he noted, was that Embaló continued to call media houses during the event, claiming he had been arrested.
The former president, who once served as ECOWAS mediator in Mali during an actual military takeover, questioned the logic behind Embaló’s actions. “Who is fooling who?” he asked, noting that no genuine coup allows an ousted leader to freely give interviews.
He said the development was more painful to him than the day he phoned then-candidate Muhammadu Buhari to concede defeat in 2015, adding that Guinea-Bissau appeared to be sliding back into its “dark days.”
Jonathan, in Guinea-Bissau as part of the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) election observer mission, insisted that the presidential election was peaceful and that results from all nine regions had been collated before Embaló announced the alleged coup.
He urged ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) to tally and publicly release the results, stressing that observer missions already have the authentic figures.
“They cannot force the military out, but they must announce the results,” he said. “Let the world know who won that election. They owe the world that responsibility.”
Drawing parallels with Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010 crisis, Jonathan urged West African leaders to be courageous and defend democracy. He also expressed disappointment with Embaló, a former ECOWAS chair and ex-military officer, saying he should have been the last person to allow such instability under his watch.
Jonathan backed the suspension of Guinea-Bissau from ECOWAS, calling it a necessary step to uphold democratic norms, while urging the bloc to improve its protocols to earn greater citizen trust.
He predicted that all countries currently under military rule in West Africa would return to democratic governance within a decade.
The former president also called for the immediate and unconditional release of opposition leader Fernando Diaz, insisting he had committed no offence.
He urged the international community to pressure Guinea-Bissau’s military authorities not to drag the country back to the instability of 2011–2014.