Hinder, the daughter of the deposed Nigerien president, Mohamed Bazoum, has accused his predecessor of orchestrating the military coup that ousted her father nine months ago.
Bazoum and his wife have been under arrest in the presidential palace in Niamey since army officers seized power on July 26.
He was elected two years earlier, succeeding President Mahamadou Issoufou, in Niger’s first-ever peaceful transition since independence.
In an interview with the BBC, Hinder Bazoum made the allegation, saying that it has been six months since the Bazoum family heard about their parents and their condition.
“The hardest thing to accept was to discover that Mahamadou Issoufou was the mastermind who orchestrated everything out of egocentrism and to protect his interests.
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“It is very painful for us to know that their oppressors are people we knew and with whom we had cordial relations.
“He, who was close to our parents for 33 years and saw us grow up… he, my father’s friend and brother, is betraying him in the most cowardly and cruel way.
“He is the one who toppled our father, he is the one who betrayed him. And we have evidence that Mohammadou Issoufou is the one preventing the junta from releasing our father.
“With our lives, we have been turned just as orphans, and no one to blame but our father’s old friend, the former president of Niger, Mohamadou Issoufou.
“The coup would enable him to return to power after a short military transition during which a new constitution would be adopted,” she claimed.
In July, Issoufou posted on social media that he intended to negotiate with the junta to restore Bazoum to the presidency.
According to Hinder, Issoufou’s “latest trick” was to petition the new state court to lift Bazoum’s immunity and then have him sentenced by the military court so that he (Issoufou) would be the “only candidate” of their party in the event of presidential elections at the end of a transition period.
For her and her sisters, she said “Our lives no longer have any meaning and ended on July 26.
“My sisters and I are upset and bruised because the last time we spoke to our parents was on October 18, 2023.”
She urged “national and international opinion to mobilise to put an end to this cruel ordeal for our family”.
However, reacting, former president Mohamadou Issoufou debunked the allegations.
Abdulmumini Gusmani, one of the former president’s allies, stated that nine months since the military putsch, those making such accusations had failed to present convincing evidence to prove their claims.
“There is nothing new to say, except now the old courtiers of President Bazoum have included his children in the debate, especially Hinder, who once said that she asked Issoufou to intervene so that the impasse could be resolved,” Gusmani said.
“But what happened was that they were putting the cart before the horse and accused Issoufou of masterminding the coup. This caused a lot of confusion, so the former president had no hand… and (he is) doing what was necessary to prevent the country from falling apart.”
Junta chief General Abdourahamane Tchiani is a staunch ally and reputed confidant of Issoufou.
Bazoum had been interior minister and right-hand man to Issoufou, who voluntarily stepped down after two terms.
Niger is also struggling against two jihadist insurgencies – one in the southwest, which swept in from Mali in 2015, and the other in the southeast, involving jihadists from northeastern Nigeria.
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