Buhari Wades Into G’Bissau Crisis, Sends Obasanjo As Special Envoy

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has urged immediate restoration of order in Guinea Bissau following the ongoing political drama that led to the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Mr. Domingos Simoes Pereira and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.

A statement by the presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina in Abuja yesterday said the President was deeply concerned by the unfolding political situation in Guinea Bissau and has stressed the need for all the parties in the crisis to return to the path of constitutionality.

Buhari said former President Olusegun Obasanjo had been sent as his Special Envoy to mediate and help find a solution to the crisis before it escalated.

The statement confirmed that Obasanjo embarked on the first leg of his mission by consulting with the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Macky Sall of Senegal in Dakar on Thursday.

“It is regrettable that while Chief Obasanjo was still consulting with President Sall, President Jose Mario Vaz of Guinea Bissau proceeded to appoint and swear-in a new Prime Minister in the person of Mr. Baciro Dja, a development that has worsened the political situation in his country.

“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.”