Niger: Tinubu’s Aide Says Military Intervention Is An ECOWAS Affair

The planned military intervention in Niger against the coup leaders is purely an affair of the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, and not a decision of President Bola Tinubu or Nigeria, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi has said.

Ajayi made this known in a statement shared on X on Friday.

Recall that ECOWAS on Thursday, ordered its standby force to restore constitutional order in the Niger Republic.

ECOWAS President, Omar Alieu Touray stated this while reading the resolution of the regional bloc on the military coup during its meeting in Abuja.

According to Ajayi, “There is no doubt that the Northern region,  especially the people of Fulani ethnic stock share filial, cultural, and religious affiliations with the Republic of Niger.

“The attempt by some religious and political leaders from the North to make the current political impasse in the Republic of Niger a President Tinubu and Nigeria vs Niger affair is a very wrong narrative. Nigeria is not starting a war with Niger. Nigeria as a member of ECOWAS is under obligation to stand by ECOWAS Resolutions on any member state and this is not the first time this will happen. ECOWAS passed similar Resolutions on the Gambia not too long ago. That resolution in Gambia made it possible for President Adama Barrow to assume power in 2017.

“It must be said again that this is not a Nigeria/Tinubu vs Republic of Niger matter. Like President Alassane Quattara of Ivory Coast said, this is purely an ECOWAS affair and a subject of regional interest to the whole of West Africa.

“ECOWAS, AU, and UN Protocols are against the unconstitutional takeover of government in any country. Democracy is receding in West Africa with Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea under military usurpation. Peace, security, and political and economic stability in West Africa will remain a pipe dream when soldiers can take power at will. And what is happening in Niger is not about a fight for good governance.

“Like venerable journalist, Dan Agbese wrote in his Guardian Newspaper back page column, “most of the nine countries in the Sahel region are not just poor; they are wretched. Military rule has not changed their economic and social circumstances and the attraction for it ought to have waned below remembrance. The sentiment that military rule is a magic wand has repeatedly proved itself a sickening fiction. The Nigeriens need no one to tell them that khaki uniform carries no magic in political, economic, and social management and development.”

“If military rule offers any silver bullet in social and economic transformation, we should have seen the magic in Mali and Burkina Faso in the last 3 years.”

Meanwhile, Kanyi Daily reported that the ECOWAS on Friday, said it will hold Russia responsible if the Wagner Group violates human rights in the wake of the Niger coup.

ECOWAS stated this through its Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, who made a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.