A senior government official said to be a former Senate president in Gabon has been accosted by the citizens of the country as he was fleeing with several suitcases loaded with cash.
His principal, Ali Bongo Ondimba was on Wednesday, ousted by the Gabonese military who canceled the presidential election results and dissolved state institutions.
The officers said that they have taken power and put President Ali Bongo under house arrest.
In a televised statement, a group of senior Gabonese officers said they seized power after Bongo, the incumbent president, was announced to be re-elected in a contested election. In addition to cancelling the election, the officers declared that state institutions dissolved, and all borders closed until further notice.
Gabon’s national electoral body said earlier in the day that Bongo from the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party was re-elected for a third term of 7 years in Saturday’s election. However, the officers said the election was not credible.
According to local media, gunfire was heard in the capital Libreville and jubilation rang across the country.
The Bongo family is said to have ruled for about 55 years as Umar Bongo, father of the the incumbent president passed leadership to him after over 40 years and reports say the latter is grooming his son to take over after him.
According the military junta, “In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime,” the officers said on national television. They read a statement on behalf of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.
“All the institutions of the republic are dissolved, in particular the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, the Gabonese Center for Elections.”
Ali Bongo, 64, once served as minister of defense and other posts in the government. He was elected president of the Gabonese Republic in 2009 and was re-elected in 2016.
In another statement released Wednesday, the military said, “President Ali Bongo is kept under house arrest, surrounded by his family and his doctors.”
The officers said the son of the president, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several other senior officials close to Bongo were arrested.
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