Bongo took power in 2009 on the death of his father, who had ruled for 42 years.
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“We have said that the people of Gabon are in danger”.
Ping’s supporters have taken to the streets in protest, burning cars and buildings, vandalizing and looting.
As the country descended into chaos, the European Union called for calm, former colonial power France urged “maximum restraint” and Amnesty International warned against “excessive force”.
The election result, announced on Wednesday, gave Bongo a second seven-year term with 49.8 per cent of the vote to Ping’s 48.2 per cent – a margin of 5,594 votes. “I’m calling, therefore, all parties to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid additional victims”.
Protests and gunfire have continued in the capital Libreville on Thursday.
In Saturday’s vote, turnout was 59.46 per cent nationwide but soared to 99.93 per cent in Haut-Ogooue province, the heartland of Mr Bongo’s Teke ethnic group, and where the President won 95.5 per cent of votes.
“This victory by such a tight score obliges. each of us to respect the verdict of the ballot box”, Bongo said in the text of a speech distributed to reporters late on Wednesday.
Ping had been a close ally of Omar Bongo, serving him in ministerial roles and having two children with his daughter, Pascaline, a former Gabonese Foreign Minister herself.
His avenue for contesting the result appeared uncertain.
A resident said government forces also attacked the RTN opposition radio and television station. Elections in Africa are frequently disputed but it is unusual for results to be overturned.
Despite a bitter campaign, election day was peaceful.
An EU observer mission criticized a “lack of transparency” among institutions running the election and said Bongo had benefited from preferential access to money and the media.
France and the United States also called for individual polling station results to be published.
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“Anyone seeking to challenge the results must do so peacefully and in accordance with Gabon’s legal justice system”, he wrote.
