Buhari names Obasanjo special envoy to Guinea Bissau crisis

•Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is to mediate in the unfolding political situation in Guinea Bissau on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari yesterday named Obasanjo as special envoy on the crisis following the dismissal of Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.

Obasanjo embarked on the first leg of his mission by consulting with the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Macky Sall of Senegal in Dakar on Thursday.

The consultation was in progress when Pereira was replaced as Prime Minister by Baciro Dja.

President Buhari appealed for calm and asked the authorities in Guinea Bissau to exercise utmost restraint and ensure the maintenance of law and order as efforts continue to resolve the current crisis.

The Guinea Bissau government and the military, according to him, should ensure respect for constitutional order, sanctity of life and safety of citizens, and avoid taking any further action capable of threatening the fragile democratic institutions recently established in the country.

Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr.Femi Adesina, said the President’s intervention was in line with true African solidarity and brotherhood.