President Ali Bongo was declared the winner of the election on Saturday, but army officers have gone on Gabonese national television to announce that they have taken control and are nullifying the results.
Early on Wednesday morning, twelve soldiers appeared on television and declared they were dissolving “all the institutions of the republic.” They claimed to represent the nation’s security and armed forces and to be members of the Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions.
A few days after the country’s presidential election, the military in Gabon deposed newly-elected President Ali Bongo.
With 64.27 percent of the vote, Bongo was chosen to serve in office a third term. Nevertheless, the coup ends the 56 years of Bongo family hegemony.
In contrast to his father, former President Omar Bongo, who presided over Gabon from 1967 to 2009, President Ali Bongo has been in power since 2009.
Since then, the army has shut down all of the borders, disbanded all of the government agencies, and annulled all elections.
The development comes amid the move to resolve the removal of a democratically elected president in Niger Republic.
Both the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and African Union (AU), which have rejected the coup in Niger, are yet to react to the coup in Gabon as of the time of filing this report.
