President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday appointed
former President Olusegun Obasanjo as special
envoy to Guinea Bissau. He also expressed deep
concern over the unfolding political situation in the
country.

The political crisis was sparked off by the dismissal of
the Prime Minister, Mr. Domingos Simoes Pereira,
and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement on Friday
said in a demonstration of true African solidarity and
brotherhood, Buhari had sent former President
Olusegun Obasanjo as his special envoy to mediate
and help find a solution to the crisis brewing in the
country.

Adesina disclosed that Obasanjo embarked on the
first leg of his mission by consulting with the current
Chairman of the Economic Community of West
African States Authority of Heads of State and
Government, President Macky Sall, of Senegal in
Dakar on Thursday.

He regretted that while the former president was still
consulting with President Sall, President Jose Mario
Vaz of Guinea Bissau proceeded to appoint and
swear-in a new Prime Minister, Mr. Baciro Dja.

This development, he said, had worsened the
political situation in his country.
He therefore quoted Buhari as appealing for calm
and restraint in the country.

The statement read in part, “President Buhari
appeals for calm and calls on the leadership in
Guinea Bissau to exercise utmost restraint and
ensure the maintenance of law and order as efforts
continue to resolve the current crisis.

“The President particularly urges the leadership in
Guinea Bissau, including the military, to ensure
respect for constitutional order, sanctity of life and
safety of citizens, and avoid taking any further action
that can threaten the fragile democratic institutions
recently established in the country.”