Nigeria provides opposition candidate Dias of Guinea-Bissau with protection

Nigeria’s foreign ministry announced on Monday that it has extended an offer of security to Fernando Dias, the opposition presidential candidate of Guinea-Bissau, at its embassy in the capital Bissau after a military takeover.

The offer was made in an attempt to get the military officers who took over Guinea-Bissau last week to resign, according to officials of the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc, which is headed by President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone.

ECOWAS officials pushed the soldiers to permit a pronouncement of the results of the nation’s contested presidential election during a meeting on Monday that, according to a Reuters witness, resulted in angry outbursts and loud voices.

“ECOWAS… demands the restoration of constitutional order, as well as the continuation and logical conclusion of the electoral process,” Tim Musa Kabba, the foreign minister of Sierra Leone, stated following the meeting with the military chiefs.

“As for Guinea-Bissau’s future, a decision will be taken during the (ECOWAS) conference of heads of state and government scheduled for December 14,” said the president. Guinea-Bissau may face sanctions, according to ECOWAS.

Major-General Horta Inta-a, the military commanders’ chosen interim president, claimed the coup was required to stop “narcotraffickers” from plotting to “capture Guinean democracy” and promised to lead a one-year transition starting right now.

GUARDING AMID DIAS

According to Dias, a 47-year-old relative political rookie, he was expected to win the presidential election scheduled for November 23 prior to last week’s military takeover in the tiny West African country.

The opposition coalition supporting Dias has condemned the coup as a last-ditch effort by President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and his allies to prevent the announcement of election results that would have validated Embalo’s defeat.

President Bola Tinubu has granted Dias’ plea for protection due to impending threats to his life, according to a statement released by Nigeria’s foreign ministry on November 30.

Additionally, it requested that the ECOWAS stabilization force send troops to the nation in order to protect Dias.

As they tightened their grip on power, Guinea-Bissau’s military leaders outlawed demonstrations and strikes.

Late on Sunday, the military government, which took over in what several West African leaders have called a “sham” coup, declared that any protests, strikes, and other actions deemed to pose a threat to peace and stability were forbidden.

The declaration came after hundreds of demonstrators, mostly young people, requested at Saturday’s protests in Bissau that the results of the presidential election be made public and that detained opposition leaders be released.

The coup is part of an ongoing trend of instability in Guinea-Bissau, a significant center for the transportation of cocaine with a lengthy history of military political involvement.