The Federal Government on Thursday confirmed that former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is safe and has departed Guinea-Bissau, hours after the country’s government was toppled in a military coup.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, disclosed this while speaking to journalists in Abuja.

“Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is very safe and out of Guinea-Bissau,” he said, putting to rest earlier concerns over the safety of the ex-Nigerian leader.

Jonathan, who chaired the Election Observation Mission of the West African Elders Forum, had been in the West African country to monitor last Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections before soldiers announced they had seized power.

Following the coup, Jonathan and fellow mission heads jointly condemned the takeover, warning that it posed a threat to democratic stability in the region.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Filipe Nyusi, former president of Mozambique and Head of the African Union Election Observation Mission, alongside Issifu Kamara, Head of the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission and Jonathan, strongly condemned the coup.

They described the military action as “a direct attempt to disrupt Guinea-Bissau’s democratic process,” appealing for calm among citizens.

The leaders further reaffirmed their support for Guinea-Bissau “during this sensitive period.”

The statement emphasised “the importance of preserving peace, stability, and the well-being of the Bissau-Guinean people.”

Also on Thursday, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a separate official statement, condemned the coup in firm terms, describing it as an “unconstitutional change of government” and a grave threat to the survival of democracy within the region.

The ministry said it received news of the takeover “with profound dismay and deep concern,” faulting the action for representing “an unconstitutional change of government in the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.”

It described the coup as a violation of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.

Guinea-Bissau was plunged into fresh political turmoil on Wednesday after military officers announced “total control” of the country, closed its borders, and suspended all electoral operations.

Reports confirmed heavy gunfire near the presidential palace, with soldiers blocking major access routes to key parts of the capital.

General Denis N’Canha, head of the presidential military office, said an interim command “composed of all branches of the armed forces” would assume leadership “until further notice.”

In a phone interview with international media platform France24, embattled incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo confirmed his removal from office, saying, “I have been deposed.”

AFP also reported that the president was inside a secured building behind the country’s military headquarters “with the chief of staff and minister of the interior.”

The coup came just days after Embalo and opposition candidate Fernando Dias separately claimed victory in last Sunday’s polls, despite the absence of official results, with provisional election outcomes earlier scheduled for release on Thursday.

Justifying their actions, the military authorities claimed they uncovered a clandestine plot involving “national drug lords” and the illegal importation of weapons aimed at “altering the constitutional order.”

Observers noted that the fragile political environment had heightened fears of electoral violence even before the coup was staged.

While the country was briefly placed under lockdown, military authorities later announced on Thursday that the nation’s borders had been reopened.

“All borders are now open,” General Lansana Mansali, Inspector General of the Armed Forces, told AFP in a dispatch, signalling a temporary restoration of movement across the country.

Before the takeover, over 6,700 security operatives, including members of the ECOWAS Stabilisation Force, had been deployed to maintain peace during the elections amidst political tension.

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