The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will follow its sanctions on Niger Republic’s junta to the letter, President Bola Tinubu said yesterday.
“We are working to keep the sanctions in place and we are following them to the letter,” he told a special envoy dispatched to Abuja by Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba to solidarise with the sub-regional body.
Also yesterday, the German Government lent its voice to the call for the immediate release of the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
Military chiefs of the sub-regional body will tomorrow start a two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, to deliberate on last week’s resolution by the Tinubu-led Authority of ECOWAS Heads of States and Government to activate a standby force for Niger.
Senior officers from various branches of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) formed a junta, named the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP), and announced the seizure of power in Niger on July 26.
They detained President Bazoum and his family at an unknown location. On Monday, the junta threatened to put the ousted President on trial for high treason.
Following the putsch, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) imposed immediate sanctions and froze Nigerien assets.
Nigeria added an extra sanction by cutting off power supply to the Sahel nation with a population of about 24 million.
Tinubu, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, hailed the position of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on the political impasse in Niger.
The President said the solidarity by the Gabonese leader, who chairs ECCAS, showed that military interference in democratic governance was not acceptable.
Ngelale’s statement quoted Tinubu as saying: “I appreciate the solidarity and support of President Bongo on the situation in Niger. We are working not to compound the problem.
“We have well-meaning people who have intervened. I understand the fear of our people on any form of military action.
“We are happy to know that ECCAS is with us on this. Interference in democratic governance is not acceptable to ECOWAS.
“We will work with ECCAS and keep President Bongo informed on our actions and we will continue to collaborate.”
President Tinubu maintained that ECOWAS will not to accept any attempt by the junta in Niger to intimidate and harass Bazoum.
The special envoy, Hermann Immongault, lauded the ECOWAS leadership for the steps it had taken to restore democracy in Niger.
Immongault, who is Gabon’s Foreign Affairs minister, said: “President Bongo has been following your(Tinubu) efforts and those of other ECOWAS leaders on the situation in Niger.
“President Bongo and ECCAS strongly condemn the coup in Niger. He sent me here to tell you that he supports ECOWAS and your leadership in what you are doing to ensure democratic governance is restored in Niger.
“With Boko Haram attacks in Cameroon, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and the refugee situation in Chad, whatever happens in West Africa affects Central Africa.”
“My President joins efforts with you and ECOWAS to find a solution to the crisis in ECOWAS.”
Also yesterday, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze called for the immediate release of President Bazoum.
He described the coup in Niger as “a setback that aggravates the complex development challenges in the country and in the Sahel.”
“We call for the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum and for the full restoration of constitutional order in the Republic of Niger,” Schulze said in a statement.
Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita said yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was in support of “a peaceful resolution of the situation (in Niger ) for a more stable Sahel.”
Northern group rejects plan to prosecute Bazoun
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has frowned at the threat by the Niger military leaders to prosecute Bazoum.
But the group warned against international escalation of the leadership crisis in Niger.
“The CNG strongly repudiates the suggestion to try President Bazoum by the military authorities as well as every other move that potentially poses a threat to the peaceful resolution of the crisis and leads to escalation of any form,” said CNG’s Spokesperson Abdul-Azeez Suleiman.
The group, however, enjoined ECOWAS “to desist from creating the impression that genuine diplomacy can go along with threats of military action by way of activation of invading force against the regime in Niger.”
