President Bola Tinubu on Thursday announced that the umbilical cord joining the people of the Republic of Niger and Nigeria will not be broken despite the unnecessary autocratic actions of the military in the West Africa country and parts of the continent.
The President said the failure of leaders in the sub-region to frontally tackle the undemocratic action in Niger will only give room for copy carts as being experienced in Gabon where the military seized power in the early hours of Wednesday.
A statement by the President’s special adviser on media and publicity Ajuri Ngelale said Tinubu stated this when he met the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, at the presidential villa.
“We are neighbours with Niger Republic, and what has joined Nigerians together with their great people cannot be broken,” President Tinubu stressed.
He said, “I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic, Your Eminence, but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copy cats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped.”
President Tinubu explained that nobody was interested in a war particularly, given the experience of the devastation in Ukraine and Sudan.
“But, if we don’t wield the big stick, we will all suffer the consequences together,” the President warned.
President Tinubu noted that Nigeria, under General Abdulsalami Abubakar, instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998, and it proved very successful, leading the country into a new era of democratic governance. The President sees no reason why such can not be replicated in Niger, if Niger’s military authorities are sincere.
“Your Eminence, please don’t get tired, you will still go back there. The soldiers’ action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger,” the President affirmed.
According to him, said all diplomatic options will be exhausted with the military junta in Niger Republic before any last resort of military intervention comes into the picture.
He insisted that any forceful removal of a democratic government remains “wholly unacceptable.”
