BREAKING: Gabon military officers claim to have seized power after election

Last month, the military snatched power in Niger, sending shockwaves across the Sahel and sucking in global powers with strategic interests at stake.

READ ALSO:

• NURTW crisis: Agbede accuses NLC of bias

• Kwankwaso’s suspension: ‘A Hollywood joke’ — NNPP’s Nat’l Leader

• 24-year-old UNIPORT student kills girlfriend over kidnapping accusation

The announcement came just hours after the Gabonese Election Centre (CGE) said on Wednesday that Bongo had won in the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote, after a delay-plagued general election that the opposition has denounced as fraudulent.

Announcing the result in the early hours, CGE head Michel Stephane Bonda said Bongo’s main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, had come in second place with 30.77%. Bongo’s team have rejected Ondo Ossa’s allegations of electoral irregularities.

Tensions are running high amid fears of unrest after Saturday’s presidential, parliamentary, and legislative vote, which saw Bongo seeking to extend his family’s 56-year grip on power while the opposition pushed for change in the oil-rich but poverty-stricken Central African nation.

A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, and the authorities’ decision to cut internet service and impose a nighttime curfew nationwide after the poll has raised concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.

Bongo, 64, who succeeded his father Omar as president in 2009, had contested against 18 challengers, six of whom backed a joint nominee, former minister and university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, in an effort to narrow the race.

In 2016, the parliament building was torched when violent street protests erupted against Bongo’s contested re-election for his second term. The government shut down internet access for several days at the time.

BREAKING: Gabon military officers claim to have seized power after election

CNN