‘Nobody’s Political Ambition Is Worth The Blood of The Citizens’, Jonathan Reacts to Attempted Coup In Ethiopia

• Ethiopia’s Chief of Staff Kills president and Army Chief.
• Jonathan calls on world leaders to condemn the act.

Immediate past Nigeria president, Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the attempted coup in Ethiopia which claimed the lives of the President of Amhara region and the country’s army chief.

Ikechukwu Eze,, the former President’s media adviser in a  statement in Abuja on Sunday, cited reports of a “hit squad” led by Amhara’s security chief Asaminew Tsige storming a meeting in the state offices of Amhara’s capital, Bahir Dar, on Saturday and shooting the President of the region Ambachew Mekonnen and his adviser Ezez Wassie.

According to the statement, in what appeared like a coordinated attack, the chief of staff of the national security forces, Seare Mekonnen and a retired general were killed by his bodyguard in Addis Ababa.

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Reacting to the incident, Jonathan emphasized that “nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of the citizens in Ethiopia or any other nation.”

“I have long said, believed and practised the principle that nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any citizen. As such, it bleeds my heart when there is unnecessary and avoidable bloodshed, as has just happened in Ethiopia,” the former President said.

While condemning the attempted coup against the democratically elected Ethiopian government, Jonathan further called on men and women of goodwill around the world to also condemn such anti-democratic actions and show solidarity to the democratically elected constitutional order in Ethiopia.

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“Democracy has come to rest in Africa. Constitutionality and the rule of law are what we in Africa need, especially in the cradle of civilisation and the melting pot of the African Union.

“May God bless Africa and may He be with the government and people of Ethiopia at such a trying time.”