The perspectives of two West African leaders on the decisions made at the recently finished ECOWAS emergency meeting on the coup in the Niger Republic have been made public.
Following a summit in Abuja, Nigeria, the ECOWAS leaders of West Africa agreed to send a “standby force” to Niger to remove the junta if negotiations fail.
Alhassan Ouatarra, the president of Cote d’Ivoire, and Macky Sall, his colleague from Senegal, responded by discussing the issue in separate interviews with PremiumTimes on Thursday in Abuja.
“It is not a Nigerian affair”, the President of Cote d’Ivoire says
President Alhassan Ouatarra who spoke before the summit held in Abuja, disclosed that the decision taken by ECOWAS is not a Nigerian affair.
According to him, the coup in Niger is a critical problem and West African leaders have to solve it.
He said,
“As you’re aware this is the second summit in 10 days that we have organized on Niger and this is a critical problem we have to solve.
“But this is the position most heads of state who have intervened have endorsed. So I want to say I want to insist this is not a Nigerian affair. It’s an affair of ECOWAS.
“If we don’t have democracy, do you think that our countries will be able to move ahead? This coup d’etat is not acceptable. We should put an end to it.”
Video emerges as Quatarra backs ECOWAS move against Niger junta
To further confirmed the development, an aide to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shared a video of Quatarra’s statement on Twitter.
He tweeted:
“President Alassane Ouattara speaks about the coup in Niger Republic.
“This is not Nigeria vs Niger. It is ECOWAS vs. Niger”, Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast @AOuattara_PRCI.
“I support military action against Niger,” says President
Meanwhile, President Macky Sall applauds the use of force against the juntas.
Sall stated that he opposes the coup in the West African nation and that he completely supports any attempt or action that will restore peace and order to the Republic of Niger.
He said,
“I support the action that has been proposed by ECOWAS that we do not accept this attempted coup d’etat to stand and that we make every effort to make sure that constitutional order returns to Niger.
“I think it was a mistake not to have taken action previously, but now that we are together on this we should take action to make sure that it does not continue.”
ECOWAS sanction: “We’ll kill Bazoum if military intervenes”, Niger Junta warns West African leaders
Niger coup: “It’s unconstitutional”, Nigerian lawyer reacts as ECOWAS activates military standby force
A top Nigerian lawyer has faulted the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recent move against the military junta in Niger Republic.
According to Barrister Inibehe Effiong @InibeheEffiong, the order of standby force to restore constitutional order in the Niger Republic by ECOWAS is a ‘terrible decision.’