Withdrawal of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso from ECOWAS shameful – Timi Frank

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has described the recent withdrawal of three member states from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu as a national disgrace and shame to Nigeria.

He said the inability of Tinubu to peacefully resolve the lingering issues leading to the exit of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso from the regional body does not bode well for the leadership roles his predecessors have played in keeping the subregion united and peaceful.

“Whether Tinubu likes it or not, he met the 15-member regional group established about 49 years ago intact when he assumed the reins of leadership as chairman in July 2023.

“But history will record that things fell apart during his ineffectual, riderless and neglectful stewardship in less than seven months,” Frank said.

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The military regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger had last Sunday announced their immediate breakaway from the ECOWAS and joined forces in an “Alliance of Sahel States.”

The regimes have been having fractured ties with ECOWAS since coups took place in Niger last July, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020 as they have been struggling with jihadist violence and poverty.

The three regimes were suspended from ECOWAS with Niger and Mali facing heavy sanctions but they had maintained their hard-line positions in recent months.

Frank in his reaction to the withdrawal said the buck should stop at the table of President Tinubu who is the present chairman of the body for failing to use his position to foster peace through effective dialogue but rather had maintained a hardline stance including a botched attempt to spearhead the use of arms to restore democracy in Niger.

Frank said: “Since assuming office as President of Nigeria, Tinubu has demonstrated his lack of nuanced understanding of regional politics and empathy for poor and suffering Nigerians – his primary constituency.

“No man can give what he does not have. His poor leadership of the regional body has led to its ongoing disintegration just as it has brought untold hardship upon Nigerians.

“How can a man who has not been able to secure and ensure peace in his house be counted upon to provide leadership to a politically, culturally and religiously diverse 15 sovereign nations?”

He called on President Tinubu to retrace his hasty steps and toxic economic policies both as chairman of ECOWAS and President of Nigeria and equally to ensure that the powers entrusted to him do not ruin the country and the subregion socially, politically and economically.