The Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dispatched two delegations to Niger Republic with a mandate to resolve the current political impasse in the country.
The action aligned with the resolution reached at the end of the extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS held last weekend in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
The delegation, headed by former Nigerian Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, left for Niamey on Thursday, August 3, 2023 following a briefing by President Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
The former Nigerian Head of State is joined in the delegation by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray.
The ECOWAS Chairman has also sent a separate delegation led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe to engage with the leaders of Libya and Algeria on the Niger crisis.
BREAKING: President Tinubu sends another delegation led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe to engage with leaders of Libya and Algeria on the crisis in Niger Republic
Kingibe’s mission is to prevail on both countries to lend their diplomatic support in resolving the Niger situation pic.twitter.com/lJGBKfXqib
— Journalist KC (@kc_journalist) August 3, 2023
Briefing the two delegations, he charged them to engage all stakeholders robustly with a view to doing whatever it takes to ensure a conclusive and amicable resolution of the situation in Niger for the purposes of African peace and development rather than a move to adopt the geopolitical positions of other nations.
“We don’t want to hold brief for anybody. Our concern is democracy and the peace of the region,” the ECOWAS Chairman said.
Speaking after the meeting, General Abdulsalami Abubakar said the delegation would meet the coup leaders in Niger to present the demands of the ECOWAS leadership.
Both leaders of the two missions expressed optimism about the outcome of their assignments.
Arrival
The ECOWAS delegation led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar arrived in Niamey, Niger Republic for talks with the coup leaders
It would be recalled that Niger Republic’s Presidential guards had on Tuesday, July 25 detained President Mohammed Bazoum and later announced that they had overthrown him.
Consequently, the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State met in Abuja on Sunday, July 30, where they pronounced sanctions on Niger and gave a seven-day ultimatum to the coup leaders to reverse their decision and reinstall the democratically elected government or face stiffer consequences including the use of force.
The Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has dispatched a delegation to Niger Republic with a mandate to expeditiously resolve the current political impasse in the country.
The action was in line with the resolution… pic.twitter.com/1pD4teuvUp
— Daddy D.O🇳🇬 (@DOlusegun) August 3, 2023
PIAK
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