Buhari Asks Guinea Bissau Leaders to Resolve Differences

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to political leaders in Guinea Bissau to embrace unity and avoid any act that could plunge the nation into further crisis.

A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, said the president spoke yesterday in Abuja at the State House while receiving Mr. Modibo Toure, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Guinea Bissau.

Buhari decried the lingering political crisis in the West African country.

“They must accept responsibility for leadership to stabilise their own country,” the president warned, adding that it was the country’s political leaders, not outsiders that could effectively resolve the political crisis in the country.

Buhari told the visiting envoy that Nigeria would welcome increased support from ECOWAS and the United Nations to stabilise the country and prevent breakdown of law and order.

The president said Nigeria had a responsibility to the region and the rest of Africa and assured that “we will not shirk on our responsibility, in spite of the hardship confronting us.”

The UN representative, Toure, had requested Nigeria to use its clout in the regional bloc, ECOWAS, to break the deadlock in the country.

He warned that Guinea Bissau faced a very grim future if the country continued without a functioning government.