• Fault ECOWAS for not having patience to hear their side of story before issuing ultimatums • Express readiness for dialogue, peace
By Louis Ibah, From Fred Ezeh and Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The military government in Niger Republic has faulted the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over ultimatums issued to it for toppling Mohamed Bazoum, the country’s democratically elected president, without giving them fair hearing.
ECOWAS leadership under Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the military leadership to restore Bazoum to power following the coup. The ultimatum expired on August 7.
The sub-regional group also imposed various economic sanctions on Niger to force the military to return the country to democratic rule.
Leader of the junta, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who spoke during a meeting with Nigeria’s intervention team, comprising Islamic scholars, at the weekend, said the military was ready to explore diplomatic dialogue and peace in resolving the impasse.
He, however, flayed the leadership of ECOWAS, for not having the patience to hear their side of story before issuing the ultimatums.
The Islamic scholars were led by the National Chairman of Jam’atul Izalatu Bida Waikamatu Sunnah, Bala Lau, and they held a meeting with Tchiani that lasted several hours in Niger’s capital, Niamey.
The clerics were in Niger on behalf of President Tinubu who accepted their request to intervene.
A statement titled “Niger: Coup leaders, Nigeria’s intervention team agree to pursue dialogue” issued, yesterday, after the meeting said both parties deliberated on all the issues, including the demand by ECOWAS leaders that former President Bazoum be reinstated.
Lau who issued the statement said both parties also agreed to intensify the option of dialogue in resolving the political crisis in that country.
He said the team had earlier told President Tinubu who is also the Chairman of Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government that their position was that the political impasse in Niger be resolved through dialogue.
Lau said during the meeting the cleric told General Tchiani that the visit was to engage in constructive dialogue to encourage him and other military leaders behind the coup to toe the path of peace instead of war to resolve the crisis.
Responding, General Tchiani who accorded the team warm reception, welcomed their intervention.
He said their doors were open to explore diplomacy and peace in resolving the matter.
Tchiani, however, said it was painful to the coup leaders that the ECOWAS leaders did not hear their side of the matter before issuing ultimatum to them to quit office.
He claimed the coup was well intended, stating that they struck to starve off an imminent threat that would have affected not only Niger Republic but also Nigeria.
He also apologised for not according the team sent by President Tinubu led by former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) the required attention because they were angry about the ECOWAS ultimatum.
While tracing the historical ties between the two nations, he said Niger Republic and Nigeria were not only neighbors, but brothers and sisters, who should resolve issues amicably.
Speaking with journalists in Niamey after the meeting, another member of the intervention team and Chief Missioner of Ansarudeen Society of Nigeria, Sheik Ahmad Abdulrahman, said the team was well received by General Tchiani and both parties had fruitful discussions.
“We will now go back home and report to President Tinubu what we have discussed and press it on him that war is not an option in resolving the matter. We believe that war is an ill wind that will not blow any good and that peaceful resolution should prevail.”
.Dialogue, diplomacy should be priority – Obi
Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday, broke his silence on the raging standoff between Nigeria, the Economic Community of West Africa states (ECOWAS) and Niger Republic over the July military coup in the neighboring country.
Taking to his Twitter page, Obi cautioned that greater importance should be given to diplomacy above every other crisis resolution option available.
He said: “The recent developments in the neighboring Niger Republic have become the subject of international attention and Nigeria a matter of dire and urgent national interest and security. Inevitably, Niger is a hot button issue for ECOWAS, as well as various international interlocutors” Obi said.
He advised that regardless of the positions taken by various parties that have direct or tangential interests in Niger, “primacy must be given to dialogue and diplomacy towards a resolution with minimal disruptive impact on Nigeria and the West African sub-region, and must take into consideration the realpolitik of the West African subregion”
He applauded the respective mediatory efforts by the former Head of State, Gen. Abudusalami Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, and former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
“Whereas ECOWAS authorities have indicated that they remain open to various conflict resolution options, it is imperative that diplomacy should remain the overarching imperative in resolving the present crisis. “
.NLC warns against military force
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has warned ECOWAS against the use of military force to remove the military junta in Niger Republic, stating that the disadvantages clearly outweigh the benefits.
NLC issued the warning in a statement signed by its President, Joe Ajaero at the weekend.
The NLC claimed that force would only put the lives of deposed President Bazoum and his family in danger, cause the entire region, including Northern Nigeria, to become unstable, and result in the loss of many lives.
It also urged the governments to consider if they had the economic strength to prosecute a war since one could not predict what the end would look like.
“Equally of significance is the unintended possibility of turning Niger into a fertile territory for proxy wars. Even after the war is over, the region must brace itself for heightened acts of terrorism or insurgency just as it might signal the end of ECOWAS as we know it today given the scenario of ten members fighting five.” it cautioned.
.Nigeria must return to non- alignment – Olawepo-Hashim
Former presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashi, has appealed to Nigeria’s president and Chairman of ECOWAS, Bola Tinubu, to have a rethink on the decision to commit Nigeria troops to the invasion of Niger in pursuant of the ECOWAS’ resolution to reinstate the ousted civilian government in the country.
Olawepo-Hashim in a statement, yesterday, explained that though “the invasion of Niger Republic may achieve the objective of removing the military Junta in Niamey, it has the potential of escalating the security problem in the North West and North East of Nigeria as the remnant of the fleeing men loyal to the Junta will hibernate in forests between Nigeria and Niger to escalate what the bandits have been doing to Nigeria in the past few years.The threat of an invasion, though not specific, raises tensions in and around Niger, a uranium producer that until the coup was an important ally of the West in the fight against Islamist insurgents devastating the Sahel region.”
According to him, “Nigeria must return to its traditional foreign policy of pursuing peace and security in Africa, policy of Non-Aggression and Non-Alignment. We must remain Non Aligned to the interests of any foreign power at the Global stage as formulated by our founding fathers at independence. The policy of Non-Alignment championed by Nigeria and India earned the nation respect and friendship all over the world.”
He stated that “Africa cannot afford another security mess similar to what happened after the invasion of Libya and overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi in 2012 that destabilised the entire Sahel region, and Nigeria is still battling with the consequences in mounting security problems in the North West and North East regions.”
.Kaigama sues for dialogue
Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, has asked the leaders of ECOWAS to opt for dialogue as against military in Niger Republic.
Kaigama, in a homily delivered at the dedication of the newly built Church of St. Anthony, Angwan Gede, Abuja, condemned the coup, but appealed to the military to relinquish political power and return to the barracks.
He said: “As we advocate for good governance and the dividends of democracy, we condemn the recent military coup in Niger. However, we ask ECOWAS and other stakeholders to explore paths of dialogue and other non-combative solutions.
“We cannot afford to wage war to ensure peace when dialogue offers us a better option. Being among the poorest sub-regions, the humongous amounts to be contributed by Nigeria if the option of a military solution is taken, should be channeled in confronting the hardships Nigerians are facing, as a result of the high fuel price, the consequences being that businesses have been badly affected, even as insecurity, corruption, and poverty still stare us in the face, in addition to huge unpaid debts and the temptation to take more loans.
“The most important task now is to feed the hungry millions of Nigerians and not to waste resources fighting a needless war. As we can see, the war in Ukraine has done no one any good; if anything, it has turned many lives upside down and reduced to rubbles many valued properties and means of livelihood.”
He blessed and dedicated the newly completed Church of St. Anthony, Angwan Gede, an outstation of St. Kevin’s Parish, Jikwoyi, and expressed immense gratitude to Dr. Rufus Edegbegba, KSJI and his family who single handedly built the beautiful edifice for God and presented the keys to the Archdiocese of Abuja.
.Tinubu, APC desperate to drag Nigeria into war – PDP
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are desperate to plunge the country into a needless war with Niger Republic.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement, yesterday, said the insistence of the government to draft soldiers to Republic of Niger, despite opposition by the National Assembly and Nigerians was condemnable.
The PDP noted that government stance on the Niger crisis “ validates apprehensions in the public domain of ulterior motives by the Tinubu-led APC to import crisis and destabilize our nation for political reasons.”
The opposition party stated that while it is against unconstitutional change of government in any part of the world, it believes that the situation in Niger does not warrant external “peace-keeping efforts”.
Besides, the PDP noted the Niger crisis “does not constitute any threats whatsoever to our national interest to justify committing our already overstretched military to harm’s way in a needless war.”
“The insistence of the APC government to go to war in Niger Republic is already heightening tension in Nigeria. There are insinuations in the public that the APC is only desperate to deploy Nigerian military to Niger Republic so as to provoke possible external aggression from that country, thereby orchestrating a situation for the declaration of a state of emergency in Nigeria with the tendency to cripple the judicial process on the 2023 Presidential election and divert attention from the hardship the APC has foisted on the nation in the last two months.
“It is apparent that the APC is desperate to orchestrate a situation of ‘imminent danger of invasion or involvement in a state of war’ so as to have the excuse to declare a State of Emergency under Section 305 (3) (a) and (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“The PDP holds that nothing else can explain why the APC administration is eager to go to war in Niger Republic while it has practically turned a blind eye to the insecurity situation in our country, even with the mindless killing of over 500 innocent Nigerians in Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kaduna and other States of the federation since May 2023.
“Also distressing is that the APC is ready to deploy billions of naira to prosecute a needless war despite our ailing national economy, crippled production sector, energy crisis, massive unemployment, frightening fall in the value of the Naira and excruciating hardship in the country occasioned by its ill-informed, hasty and ill-implemented policies.
“Such can only come from an anti-people administration that has no iota of interest in the security and wellbeing of the nation and its citizens.
“The PDP urges the Military High Command to take note of the disapproval of the National Assembly to the deployment of our troops to Niger Republic and be guided by the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”