From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
While condemning the military coup in Niger Republic, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has however, warned against use of military in efforts to reinstate the democratically elected government.
ACF expressed this in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Murtala M. Aliyu (Mutawallen Gombe), in Kadunà yesterday.
“A military intervention might yield temporary solution but the repercussions on Nigeria as a leader and the regional body would impact negatively on future relations and a herculean task to rebuild.
“The ACF supports the position to restore democratic rule in Niger but calls on the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government under the Chairmanship President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to tow the path of dialogue and diplomacy and certainly not force, in resolving the current impasse in Niger in the interest of peaceful coexistence with our brotherly neighbour and stability of the ECOWAS region,” the statement said.
ACF said that Nigeria and Niger share a long historical border of more than one thousand five hundred kilometers with families, communities sharing common facilities including farmlands, markets, cultural bonds and languages for many centuries predating the Trans Saharan Trade and colonial times.
“The two countries have enjoyed harmonious brotherly and mutually beneficial inter communal relationships from time immemorial.
“The measures being contemplated should have taken into consideration the historical antecedents and mutual interests of the two countries and weighed the consequences of the use of force,” it stressed.
