“I’m calling you to make noise,” Ali Bongo cries out to his friends across the world from his detention location after the military coup on Wednesday.
Overthrown President Ali Bongo in Gabon, in a viral video, begs for help, admitting he has been arrested and detained by the military junta, including his wife and son. The ousted President, sitting in a lone chair, cried out to his friends across the world to “Help, ‘Make Noise.”
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Ousted President Ali Bongo, in the video, stated: “I’m sending a message to all the friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise, for the people here have arrested me and my family.
“My son is somewhere; my wife is in another place and I’m at the residence.
“Right now, I’m at the residence and nothing is happening.
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“I don’t know what’s going on; so, I’m calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really. I’m thanking you…”
The Gabonese Army which overthrew Ali Bongo in the early hours of Wednesday, disclosed that the son of Bongo, a close adviser, Noureddin Bongo Valentin; chief of staff to teh ousted President, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou; his deputy, two other presidential advisers and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) have been arrested.
The military regime said that they were arrested on allegations of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president’s signature, among others.
Ousted Ali Bongo was declared winner of the August 26 election in Gabon for a third tenure after 14 years in office. The military nullified the election result in the belief that it was manipulated.
He succeeded his father, Omar Bongo, who died in 2009, after spending years in office as a life president.