(MENAFN) Nigeria has extended asylum to prominent Guinea-Bissau opposition politician Fernando Dias da Costa, following a contested election that precipitated a military takeover in the West African nation, according to official statements.

On Monday, the Nigerian Foreign Ministry announced that its embassy in Bissau had provided refuge to Dias after “imminent threats” to his life were reported in the aftermath of the November 23 vote and the subsequent coup that removed President Umaro Sissoco Embalo from power.

The ministry additionally appealed to the regional alliance ECOWAS to dispatch peacekeeping forces to Guinea-Bissau to ensure Dias’s safety.

This development coincides with ECOWAS mediators—headed by Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio—engaging in discussions with the country’s new military rulers, urging them to restore constitutional governance.

Dias had been the primary opponent to Embalo in the presidential election, conducted simultaneously with parliamentary polls.

Both candidates proclaimed themselves winners before official tallies were released, amid grievances over the exclusion of influential opposition figure Domingos Simoes Pereira and his party from the race, a move critics argued compromised the integrity of the electoral process.

Three days after the vote, the military seized control, halted the election procedures, shut borders and media operations, and established a High Military Command to administer the state.

They claimed their intervention was necessary to stop a criminal conspiracy involving top officials and external actors.

The junta subsequently appointed army chief General Horta Inta-a as interim leader for a one-year period.

MENAFN03122025000045017167ID1110430753