Senate Majority Chief Whip, Sen. Ali Ndume, has berated the federal government’s handling of the Niger junta crisis, saying that President Bola Tinubu was wrongly advised on the need to sanction Niger due to the military takeover.
He said the sanctions were ineffective because it was only affecting innocent citizens, not the junta that toppled and detained President Mohammed Bazoum.
Ndume, who disclosed this during a parley with newsmen in Maiduguri, also disclosed that the four former military leaders from North can if allowed to wade in can settle the issues even as he said the sanctions were making Nigeria to lose its respect as the ‘giant of Africa’ and ‘big brother’ statuses in Niger.
The former military leaders are Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
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The senator also said that seven northern states are also bearing the brunt of the sanctions, saying that it was miscalculated and ineffective, and also breached the ECOWAS Protocols and International Law.
He faulted the decision of Nigeria to cut off Nigeria’s power supply to Niger, the restrictions of free movement of goods and services, which have negative consequences on the innocent citizens in both countries.
“The sanctions are not affecting the military junta. The sanctions are affecting the poor people that are not part of the coup; and these are people, especially children, women, petty traders and poor middle-income earners. Even the International law that guides us does not support sanctions that affect humanitarian needs. The suffering people of Niger Republic are going through is more than imaginable.”
He appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the current ECOWAS Chairman, to rise up towards immediate lifting of the sanctions and addressing the crisis.
“Because Nigeria is ECOWAS and ECOWAS is Nigeria. Nigeria has the majority of votes and contributes 70 per cent of ECOWAS funding. I am one of those against the actions taken by the ECOWAS leadership to impose sanctions on Niger. I strongly believe that that decision was rushed and it was not the right thing. I don’t support those sanctions because the decision affects me, my state and my region.
“Over 100,000 Nigerians, Borno State citizens from Abadam, Guzamala, Kukawa and other places all migrated to Niger, and they received them with open arms, not putting them in the camp, but taking them to their own houses; and they have been for more than 10 years now,” he said.
He said that Nigeria and Niger Republic are only separated by a mere borderline imposed by the colonial government, but the eight states in the North share border with Niger, which include Borno, Yobe, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi states share the same religion, cultures, and values, divided only by geographical boundaries.
Ndume appealed to Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Nigerian president and the Chairman of ECOWAS to stand up to the occasion and ensure that Nigeria and ECOWAS reach out to the junta on the transition to a democratic rule period.
“Niger Republic has been supporting Nigeria. During the Biafran War, France, the colonial masters of Niger, supported the Biafrans, but the then Niger Republic President (Diori Hammani) refused to follow France in that decision. They gave us military support. Not only that, every time Nigeria stands for something, Niger stands with us.”
“Lift the sanctions first, agree with them to start negotiating on when and how they are going to release the ousted President Bazoum, and then when they are going to hand over to civilians,” he advised.
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