Military in Gabon have announced that they have seized power.
They made the announcement on television minutes after the country’s electoral body declared the incumbent president, Ali Bongo winner of Saturday’s election.
Mr. Bongo is said to have won close to two-thirds of the votes in the election but the opposition disputed the outcome of the polls as fraudulent.
However, in the early hours of Wednesday, minutes after the declaration by the Electoral Commission, about twelve soldiers appeared on national television announcing they were cancelling the results of the elections and dissolving “all the institutions of the republic,” BBC reports.
They also announced the closure of the country’s borders “until further notice”.
The soldiers, who said they were from the Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions and represent security and defence forces in the country, attributed their action to “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos”.
They added that “we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime”.
Sounds of loud gunfire are reportedly heard in the country’s capital, Libreville, following the broadcast.
Ali Bongo joins a long list of African leaders who have been ousted in what appears to be a new wave of coup d’états on the continent if the reports are confirmed.
Mr. Bongo took over the presidency from his father who ruled the country until his death in 2009.
He had suffered a stroke in 2018 and was inactive for almost a year, sparking calls for him to step aside.
In the following year, there was an attempt to oust him. It was, however, foiled and the mutinying soldiers jailed.
Mr. Bongo won two previous elections both of which were disputed by the opposition and was seeking a third term in office and an extension of his family’s 53 years rule of the country in Saturday’s polls.
The opposition, again, questioned the credibility of the electoral processes following controversial changes to the voting papers just weeks before the election day.
Internet access was suspended during the polls over claims of security concerns. It has, however, been restored after the supposed takeover by the military.
