President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday appointed former President Olusegun Obasanjo as special envoy to Guinea Bissau. He also expressed deep concern over the unfolding political situation in the country.
The political crisis was sparked off by the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Mr. Domingos Simoes Pereira, and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement on Friday said in a demonstration of true African solidarity and brotherhood, Buhari had sent former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his special envoy to mediate and help find a solution to the crisis brewing in the country.
Adesina disclosed that Obasanjo embarked on the first leg of his mission by consulting with the current Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Macky Sall, of Senegal in Dakar on Thursday.
He regretted that while the former president was still consulting with President Sall, President Jose Mario Vaz of Guinea Bissau proceeded to appoint and swear-in a new Prime Minister, Mr. Baciro Dja.
This development, he said, had worsened the political situation in his country.
He therefore quoted Buhari as appealing for calm and restraint in the country.
The statement read in part, “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.
“The President particularly urges the leadership in Guinea Bissau, including the military, to ensure respect for constitutional order, sanctity of life and safety of citizens, and avoid taking any further action that can threaten the fragile democratic institutions recently established in the country.”
