Abuja – Labour Party presidential candidate and former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, has likened the unexplained “technical glitch” that disrupted the electronic transmission of results during Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election to the bizarre “coup” announcement in Guinea-Bissau, declaring both to be different manifestations of the same assault on democracy.
In a strongly worded statement issued today, 30 November, Obi recounted how he arrived in Abuja on the morning of 27 November from a meeting at the European Parliament when he learned that former President Goodluck Jonathan was caught up in the reported coup incident in Bissau. He immediately contacted Dr Jonathan, who was there as an ECOWAS election observer, and was reassured that the former leader was safe and had since returned home to Nigeria.
Describing Jonathan’s subsequent press briefing, Obi highlighted the peculiar nature of events in Guinea-Bissau: the country’s incumbent President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, personally declared that a coup had been foiled – an announcement made just as the peaceful 24 November presidential run-off awaited only the official proclamation of results.
“It is safe to say that while Nigeria’s own election was marred by a ‘technical glitch,’ the election in Guinea-Bissau seems to have suffered from a ‘coup glitch’,” Obi wrote. “Yet, to this day, no one has clearly explained the nature of Nigeria’s glitch.”
The Labour Party leader questioned the consistency of regional responses, noting that ECOWAS was quick to impose sanctions on Guinea-Bissau following the president’s declaration, but has remained conspicuously silent when democratic processes are undermined not by soldiers with guns, but by mysterious technological failures at critical junctures.
“What does ECOWAS do when democracy is subverted not by soldiers, but by technology?” Obi asked. “Do we only condemn coups that are visible with guns and ignore those carried out through designed technical failures?”
He described the incidents in Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria as “two faces of the same crisis” – one where ballots are discarded by force, another where they are obstructed by convenient technical malfunctions – with the same devastating outcome: the will of the people is denied.
Peter Obi urged West Africans to confront both overt and covert threats to democracy with equal resolve, insisting that true democracy can only flourish when transparency and accountability prevail, and when the voice of the people is respected rather than interrupted by glitches or coups.
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