Nigeria condemns Guinea military coup

Guinea President Alpha Conde, who won a controversial third term in office last October, was arrested by soldiers on Sunday, September 5 and is still in detention in an undisclosed location.

With gunshots ringing round the capital Conkary, the coup plotters announced a dissolution of Conde’s government, the constitution, institutions and the formation of a transitional government.

In a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esther Sunsuwa, the Nigerian government said “it is saddened by the apparent coup d’etat in the Republic of Guinea, in clear violation of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.

“The government of Nigeria strongly condemns and rejects any unconstitutional change of government and therefore, calls on those behind this coup to restore constitutional order without delay and protect all lives and property.”

Hundreds of people emptied into the streets of most Guinean towns and suburbs to celebrate the coup.

“We are free…today is our day of freedom,” a man in a dirty brown T-shirt bellowed before television cameras, as a crowd cheered around him.

83-year-old Conde has been in power since 2010. He changed the country’s constitution to win a third term in office.