President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday
appointed former President Olusegun Obasanjo as special envoy to Guinea
Bissau. He also expressed deep concern over the unfolding political
situation in the country.
The political crisis was sparked off by
the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Mr. Domingos Simoes Pereira, and
his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.
The Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement on Friday said in a
demonstration of true African solidarity and brotherhood, Buhari had
sent former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his special envoy to mediate
and help find a solution to the crisis brewing in the country.
Adesina disclosed that Obasanjo embarked
on the first leg of his 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.
He regretted that while the former
president was still consulting with President Sall, President Jose Mario
Vaz of Guinea Bissau proceeded to appoint and swear-in a new Prime
Minister, Mr. Baciro Dja.
This development, he said, had worsened the political situation in his country.
He therefore 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.”
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