Nigeria has granted asylum to Guinea-Bissau presidential candidate Fernando Dias da Costa just days after a coup prevented the results of the recent election being announced.
The 47-year-old, who ran as a candidate for the Party for Social Renewal, was under special protection at the Nigerian embassy, following "threats made against" him, Nigeria's foreign minister said.
Dias was the main challenger to Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who was seeking a second term as president and has left the country following the military takeover.
A delegation from the West African bloc Ecowas has been in the country, urging the military to step aside and release the results of the vote.
But the electoral commission has now said it will not be able to publish the results as armed men wearing balaclavas had destroyed paperwork and the main computer server that was storing the results from different regions.
Both Embaló and Dias had claimed victory in presidential poll held on 23 November.
The PAIGC party, the liberation movement that ended Portuguese colonial rule, had been barred from fielding a candidate.
The coup took place three days after the vote. The military suspended the electoral process, blocked the release of the results and insisted it was acting to thwart a plot to destabilise the politically unstable country.
The junta has also tightened restrictions in the country, banning all demonstrations and "all disturbing actions of peace and stability in the country".
Tensions remain high in the capital, Bissau. PAIGC said its headquarters had been "illegally invaded by heavily armed militia groups" following the coup.
Its leader, Domingos Pereira, was arrested on the day of the coup, according to family and party members.