Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Gabon military coup leaders have launched for INEC Chairman of Gabon, mr. Michel Stéphane Bonda, who is currently on the run.
Several hundred Gabonese military servicemen have given their backing to Republican Guard head General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema as the country’s next president, France’s Le Figaro newspaper reported, citing a Gabonese TV report.
AGE: General Brice Oligui Nguema IS 45
According to the paper, troops gave him an ovation, shouting “Oligui for president!” The report was broadcast after the military announced that incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been put under house arrest.
The Republican Guard, which has more than 2,500 members, is responsible for the protection of the head of state and other top officials. Some of the guard members took part in a failed coup attempt in 2019.
This time, a group of senior military officers announced that the results of the presidential vote that Ondimba had won would be canceled. Apart from Republican Guard members, there also are security, army and police officers among the rebels.
CNN cannot independently confirm the video, and has yet to reach Gabon’ government for comment.
In the broadcast, the military officer said the election results would be voided and the country’s borders would be shut.
“All the institutions of the republic are dissolved: in particular the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, Economic and Social and Environmental Council, and the Elections Council of Gabon,” the officer said.
“We call on the population of Gabon, the communities of neighboring countries living in Gabon, as well as the Gabonese diaspora, to remain calm.”
In one video obtained by CNN, people can be seen shouting “liberated!” and waving the Gabon flag in the Nzeng Ayong district of the capital, alongside military vehicles.
Criticism started to come in from around the world. France condemned the “military coup d’etat that is underway in Gabon,” government spokesperson Olivier Veran told journalists Wednesday. He added that France was paying “great attention to the evolution of the situation on the ground” and that Paris wishes that “the election results, when they became known, can be respected.”
There have been nine coups in the past three years in former French colonies – Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Tunisia and now Gabon – that have undermined democratic progress in recent years.
NET WORTH: General Brice Oligui Nguema is currently worth $35M.
