Daily Nigerian
The colonel who led a military coup in the West African nation of Mali this week is now officially the country’s leader.
Mali’s Constitutional Court published a judgement late Friday declaring that Colonel Assimi Goita was assuming the presidency.
The judgement gives Mr Goita the power to head the interim government and “lead the transition process to its conclusion.”
The judgement noted “the vacancy of the presidency of the transition following the resignation of Mr Bah N’Daw.”
President N’Daw and prime minister Moctar Ouane resigned from their positions after being detained for several days this week in a coup staged by Mr Goita, who then quickly declared himself president.
The trigger for the coup was the military’s anger over a cabinet reshuffle that saw two senior military officers stripped of their positions.
Last August, those military officers were part of a coup that ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from office after nearly seven years. That power grab nine months ago was also led by Mr Goita.
It resulted in an interim government headed by transitional president N’Daw, who had served as defence minister from 2014 to 2015 and held several other military positions, with Mr Goita assuming the vice presidency.
This Story First Appeared At The Daily Nigerian
