•Military intervention in Niger Republic is war between brothers –El-Rufai
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Envoy to Niger Republic, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has expressed confidence that the diplomacy deployed to resolve the crisis would not fail.
The former Nigerian military Head of State gave the assurance while responding to questions from State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after a meeting convened by President Bola Tinubu, chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS.
The Community had rejected the junta’s objective for a transition power presumably to a democratic government within three years.
Head of the military junta, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, in a televised address, had said: “Our ambition is not to confiscate power. Any transition of power would not go beyond three years.”
President Bola Tinubu, chairperson of ECOWAS, said the bloc had resolved to use force as a last option if the coup leaders in Niger do not relinquish power to ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
Last Thursday, after a meeting of the bloc’s defence chiefs in Accra, Ghana’s capital city, ECOWAS said it had begun activation of its standby force in Niger.
Although the defence chiefs had backed calls for dialogue as a mediation tactic, the group said all elements that would go into any military intervention had been worked out and were being refined.
This included the timing, resources needed and how, where and the day to deploy such force.
Abubakar, who over the weekend met with the ousted President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, and leaders of the junta in Niamey, said he had delivered the terms of the Tchiani-led junta to ECOWAS.
According to him, correspondences had begun between the West African regional bloc and the military in Niger, noting that the line of contact opened by ECOWAS through his appointment as envoy had been very fruitful, expressing hope that something concrete will soon come out of it.
“As you are aware, the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government have made me an envoy to Niger Republic and we were there over the weekend to see the military people and discussed to find a way out of the lacuna we find ourselves.
“So that’s why I’m here this afternoon, together with the President of the ECOWAS Commission, to give a report back to Mr. President on our discussions in Niger. I must say that our visit to Niger has been very fruitful and that it has opened an avenue to start talking and hopefully we’ll get somewhere,” he said.
On the divergence in opinions of both the regional bloc and the junta about return to quick return to democratic rule, Abubakar said, “we’ve started talking, they have made their own points and then I made my report to the Chairman of the ECOWAS Heads of state and President. He will now consult with his colleagues and then the ding-dong starts and we’ll get somewhere hopefully.”
On if there was any possibility of avoiding a military action, he replied: “Hopefully, diplomacy will see the better of this. Nobody wants to go war, it doesn’t pay anybody, but then again, our leaders have said if all fails and I don’t think all will fail, we’ll get somewhere we’ll get out of this mess”. Also at the meeting were the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Touray, and the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Meanwhile, Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, has cautioned ECOWAS against military intervention in Niger Republic.
In a tweet, el-Rufai said a war within the sub-region would be a war between brothers.
“As ECOWAS beats the drums of war, I recall the 1970s rock classic by Dire Straits – ‘Brothers in Arms’, because a war within our subregion is a war between brothers.
“Indeed, the people of Niger Republic are one and the same with those living in Northern Nigeria. Let us bend therefore over backwards to avoid this civil war between brothers,” el-Rufai tweeted, yesterday.