A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that the coup that ousted President Ali Bongo from office in Gabon did not come as a surprise.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain said this in a Facebook post hours after it emerged that the military had seized power and cancelled the result of a contentious presidential election in the Central African nation.
Reuters reported that a group of senior military officers, claiming to represent all Gabonese security and defence forces, seized power in the early hours of Wednesday, minutes after the nation’s election body announced that President Ali Bongo had won a third term.
The soldiers said all borders were closed until further notice and state institutions were dissolved.
The Gabon coup comes weeks after a military junta ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and seized power in Niger Republic.
Reacting to the latest coup, Fani-Kayode said he predicted the situation in a previous article. Read the article here.
In his post titled, “Sadly another coup has taken place in Africa,” Fani-Kayode wrote, “This time it is in the nation of Gabon where President Ali Bongo (pictured below), who together with his late father Alhaj Bongo, had been in power for the last 53 years has been toppled and removed from office.
“It appears that the warning I gave in my last essay, titled ‘Does Killing Nigerien Babies Bring Glory To Our Name?’, was prophetic.
“I am not suprised that this has happened and frankly we should expect more coups in the Francophone countries of West and Central Africa for the reasons I stated in that essay.
“I wonder whether ECOWAS or the African Union will threaten to invade Gabon as well?”