Nigerian Embassy under a heavy gun attack

The Nigerian embassy in Bissau, capital of Guinea-Bissau, was attacked by armed militias on Tuesday for as yet undisclosed reasons. The gunmen stormed the embassy attacking everyone in sight and eventually forced it to close.

As at press time, the embassy’s diplomats and staff, including Ambassador Ahmed Adams were said to have taken refuge in a police station. No casualty has so far been reported.

Guinea-Bissau has a population of about 1.7 million and is preparing for its general elections next month. It has an Interim President Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo, who heads a transitional government following the sacking of the country’s democratically-elected government by a military coup in May, 2012.


All efforts to reach Ambassador Adams have failed though his telephone rang but was not answered.

The Federal Government was yet to react to the violence on Tuesday. But the supervisory Minister of Foreign Affairs 11, Ambassador Nurudeen Mohammed, rushed to the Presidential Villa ostensibly, among other things, to brief President Goodluck Jonathan. But efforts to reach the minister on the matter also failed.

Events in Guinea-Bissau took a dangerous turn last year when on April 12, the army arrested Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior who was about to be elected president. A military junta accused him of conspiring with Angola to curtail the military’s power and quickly installed transitional authorities, before officially stepping aside on May 22.

International condemnation was swift but differences developed between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).

The country was in the process of conducting elections when the military overthrew the constitutional order on April 12, 2012. The country was suspended from all international organisations. However, unable to form a government a month after the coup, Nigeria, in collaboration with ECOWAS, assisted in negotiations that resulted in the transitional government led by President Nhamadjo.

Since then, Nigeria has provided various forms of assistance to Guinea-Bissau to the value of $50 million. Indeed, some pick-up vans to be donated next week to the country for the upcoming elections have now been put on hold following the ugly attack.