Tinubu also urged the US to deepen democracy in West Africa through collaboration with ECOWAS
By Kehinde Okeowo
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has told the US Presidential Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee that going to war against the Niger Republic coup plotters is not ideal for Nigeria’s economic reforms or the economy of the West African sub-region.
He made this known on Saturday through his Special Adviser for Media and Publicity, Aguri Ngelale, following a meeting between him and the US Presidential Envoy.
Tinubu during the parley in Abuja, called on the US to deepen democracy in the West African sub-region through collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
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The Nigerian president, who is the current chairman of ECOWAS went on to reassure the US government that the regional body remained committed to exploring all options for restoring democracy in the Niger Republic.
He, however, stated that despite the readiness of ECOWAS to explore the military option, he has continued to preach the use of other diplomatic means.
“We are deep in our attempts to peacefully settle the issue in Niger by leveraging our diplomatic tools. Despite its readiness for all options, I continue to hold ECOWAS back to exhaust all other remedial mechanisms. War is neither ideal for my economic reforms nor the region, but the defence of democracy is sacrosanct. The ECOWAS consensus is that we will not allow anyone to buy time insincerely,” Tinubu said.
A military junta truncated Nigerien democracy on July 26 and ECOWAS has since then threatened a military action in its bid to return power to the democratically elected government.