Third-term is also a coup – Guinea Bissau’s President Tells ECOWAS Leaders
To anyone who is brought up in the stern belief that African leaders don’t tell each other the truth, Guinea Bissau’s new leader, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has proven the notion wrong as he did not hesitate to speak truth to power to his counter parts. The bold and young revolutionary courageous President SISSOCO Embaló of GUINEA BISSAU, who was elected late in 2019, while condemning the coup in Mali, told his counterparts that vying for “third term is also a coup.” This was in a virtually emergency summit meeting held on the 20 August 2020, the ECOWAS member states in their resolution on the crises in Mali denounced the action taken by the military to deposed embattled President Ibrahim Keita.
—-¶ According to President Embaló, the regional bloc should adopt a similar attitude in condemning coup toward leaders who manipulate their constitutions to extend their stay in power, adding that “third terms are also coups d ‘état.”
His comments, were considered as sabotage, not well received by President Alassane Ouattara and President Alpha Condé. Alassane Ouattara was officially contesting for the third time in Côte d’Ivoire, Alpha Condé was already presumed a candidate in Guinea-Conakry.
—¶ According to Reports by Jeune Afrique, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria preferred to receive the comment with amusement, smiling at all ends, the displeasure of the main parties to whom the innuendos are directed could be seen.
The relationships between Embalo and his Guinean and Ivorian counterparts have since remain dreadful, Jeune Afrique reported.
