Niger coup: Former head of state, Abubakar, arrives Niamey with Tinubu’s delegation
By Ukpono Ukpong
Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Tinubu, has dispatched a delegation to Niger Republic with a mandate to expeditiously resolve the current political impasse in the country.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
A report by Agence France-Press (AFP) later yesterday, confirmed that the delegation had arrived Niamey, the Niger capital.
Tinubu’s action was in line with the resolution reached at the end of the Extraordinary Summit of ECOWAS held last weekend in Abuja.
Leading the delegation, former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, left for Niamey yesterday following a briefing by President Tinubu at State House, Abuja.
Gen. Abubakar is joined in the delegation by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray.
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The President has also sent a separate delegation led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe to engage with leaders of Libya and Algeria on the Niger crisis.
Briefing the two delegations, President Tinubu charged them to engage all stakeholders robustly with a view to doing whatever it takes to ensure a conclusive and amicable resolution of the situation in Niger for the purposes of African peace and development rather than a move to adopt the geopolitical positions of other nations.
“We don’t want to hold brief for anybody. Our concern is democracy and the peace of the region,” the President said.
Speaking after the meeting, Gen. Abubakar) said the delegation would meet the coup leaders in Niger to present the demands of ECOWAS leadership.
Both leaders of the two missions expressed optimism on the outcome of the assignments.
The military junta in Niger is headed by Abdourahmane Tiani, who was leader of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum’s presidential guard.
Tiani first detained Bazoum in the presidential palace, citing ”bad governance”, then announced himself head of state.
Shut out by ECOWAS through crushing sanctions, including land and air closure, the junta announced the re-opening of Niger’s borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad.
A shocked ECOWAS, after imposing sanctions and threatening to levy war against the junta, resorted first to explore the option of dialogue.
The sub-regional body dispatched President Patrice Talon of Benin and the Chadian leader Idriss Déby to Niamey to ”talk sense” into the coup plotters even as, evidently, the steps have not yielded fruitful dividends as the junta still hangs tightly on to power.
