ECOWAS Delegation Leaves Niger Without Meeting Junta Leader

Members of the ECOWAS delegation dispatched to Niger Republic by President Bola Tinubu have left Niamey, the country’s capital without meeting the leader of the junta which seized power in a coup.

This was disclosed by a member of the delegation on Friday.

Kanyi Daily reported that Tinubu in his capacity as ECOWAS chairman dispatched the delegation on Thursday with a mandate to resolve the current political impasse in the West African restive nation.

Tinubu’s action was in line with the resolution reached at the end of the extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS held last Sunday in Abuja.

According to the team member of the ECOWAS, the delegation arrived in the capital Niamey on Thursday “but did not spend the night” as scheduled, nor meet with coup leader, Abdourahamane Tiani or deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.

The ECOWAS delegation was led by former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, in the company of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray.

Recall that ECOWAS imposed sanctions on the country last Sunday and gave the putschists a week to restore Bazoum to power.

President Bola Tinubu, however, said the bloc will do its best to resolve the crisis amicably but ECOWAS said it could resort to military intervention as a last resort. Niger’s junta meanwhile warned it would meet force with force.

“Any aggression or attempted aggression against the State of Niger will see an immediate and unannounced response from the Niger Defence and Security Forces on one of (the bloc’s) members,” one of the putschists said in a statement read on national television late Thursday.

Meanwhile, Nigerians on social media giant, X have reacted to the unique nickname of “Ebola Tinubu” given to Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu by protesters in the Niger Republic.

The protesters, mostly youths ridiculed Tinubu with the nickname to express their discontent over his response to the recent coup in their country.