President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed deep concern over the unfolding political situation in Guinea Bissau.
The political crisis came on the heels of the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Mr. Domingos Simoes Pereira, and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement on Friday, said in demonstration of true African solidarity and brotherhood, Buhari had sent former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his special envoy to mediate and help find a lasting solution to the crisis brewing in the country.
The statement disclosed that the ex-president embarked on the first leg of his trouble-shooting mission by consulting with the current Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Macky Sall of Senegal, in Dakar on Thursday.
It, however, regretted that while Obasanjo was still consulting with the ECOWAS chairman, President Vaz proceeded to appoint and swear-in a new Prime Minister for Guinea Bissau, Mr. Baciro Dja.
This development, the statement noted, has worsened the political situation in the country.
Adesina quoted Buhari as appealing for calm and restraint in the country.
The statement read in part, “President Buhari appeals for calm and calls on the leadership in Guinea Bissau to exercise utmost restraint and ensure the maintenance of law and order as efforts continue to resolve the current crisis.
“The President particularly urges the leadership in Guinea Bissau, including the military, to ensure respect for constitutional order, sanctity of life and safety of citizens, and avoid taking any further action that can threaten the fragile democratic institutions recently established in the country”.
