Jonathan, other West African leaders stranded in Guinea-Bissau after military coup
Former Nigerian leader, Goodluck Jonathan, has found himself unexpectedly stranded in Guinea-Bissau after the tiny West African nation lurched into yet another bout of political turbulence.
Jonathan was part of a 36-member high-level observer mission drawn from the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, and the West African Elders Forum (WAEF). The delegation had arrived to monitor Sunday’s presidential election — a vote expected to steady the country’s fragile democracy.
Instead, the observers woke up on Wednesday to the thud of boots and the unmistakable tension of a military takeover.
According to details circulating through diplomatic channels and reports aligned with AFP coverage, soldiers moved swiftly to seize power, dissolving the electoral process and shutting down state institutions.
The chaos erupted after incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and his main challenger, Fernando Dias, astonishingly both declared victory — despite the electoral commission having released no official results.
That political brinkmanship created a vacuum the military quickly stepped into, freezing the vote and effectively trapping the visiting dignitaries inside the country until stability can be negotiated.
Regional bodies are now scrambling behind the scenes, weighing how to extract their delegations safely while also confronting yet another democratic rupture in a region increasingly rattled by coups.
