Crisis: Buhari Appoints Obasanjo Special Envoy To Guinea Bissau, Urges Respect For Constitutional Order

SAN FRANCISCO, August 21, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari Friday appointed former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his Special Envoy to mediate and help find a solution to the crisis brewing in Guinea Bissau.

This followed the unfolding political situation in that country following the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Mr. Domingos Simoes Pereira and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.

Obasanjo has subsequently 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 Friday.

However, while Obasanjo was still consulting with President Sall, President Jose Mario Vaz of Guinea Bissau proceeded to appoint and swear-in a new Prime Minister in the person of Mr. Baciro Dja, a development that has worsened the political situation in the country.

President Buhari has therefore appealed for calm as he called on the leadership in Guinea Bissau to exercise utmost restraint and ensure the maintenance of law and order as efforts to resolve the current crisis continue.

A statement signed by the President's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Friday, said President Buhari particularly urged the leadership in Guinea Bissau, including the military, to ensure respect for constitutional order, sanctity of life and safety of citizens. It also urged them to avoid taking any further action that can threaten the fragile democratic institutions recently established in the country.