By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliamentarians, have called for
caution over the proposed use of military force in Niger Republic.
This was the position of members during their extraordinary session of held virtually, by the speaker of the parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, to address the challenges in Niger Republic.
The use of military force was proposed by some of the parliamentarians as a second option to diplomacy.
The proposition came after Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS mull
use of force in their meeting last week in Abuja if the coup plotters led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani on July 26 refuse pave way for the democratic elected president.
In the meeting, 17 of the regional legislators out of about 21 that participated in the session opted for dialogue and mediation option.
Other members said the ECOWAS needs to be firm in its decision to stop the spate of coups in order to prevent further escalation to other countries.
Specifically, the first deputy speaker of the parliament, Idris Ahmed Wase from Nigeria said; “We do not want military intervention in Niger or any part of West Africa. We do not
want war, we must go through a diplomatic process. There are consequences of going
to war. Right now, Nigeria is suffering from the devastation of Boko Haram violence; military action will lead to more destruction.
“Our region is very fragile therefore diplomacy is the most important route. War with Niger will affect 60% of Nigerians and we are not going to fight only Niger but the countries that are in solidarity with them such as Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.”
Also, Dr Mohammed Kabeer Garba in his submission said; “We do not want military
intervention because war has never solved any problem. Diplomacy is the right option.
The people of Nigeria are also opposed to this proposed military intervention.”
Also, Fatimatou Ngai from The Gambia said “The threat of the use of force should not have been issued to the junta leaders. She advised the leaders to take a look at the root causes of
coups and try to address them.
“The threats have not worked in the case of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso adding that it may not work in the case of Niger. She noted that it was better to have started with diplomacy even as she advised that any delegation sent to Niger must include women because according to her they bear the brunt of the war.
On his part, Hon. Ali Djibo from Niger said, “We are members of the G5 Sahel and the
budget is just $1 billion while in the case of the crisis in Ukraine one Western power
has already given Ukraine $300 billion. So, who wants military action in Niger, do they
want Bazoum killed? I am surprised at what is driving ECOWAS to attack Niger, so the
best option is dialogue. “There are institutional coups where leaders rig elections in West Africa and ECOWAS did not condemn such acts of manipulations and some also change their
constitution to elongate their tenure, so why are they planning to attack Niger?”
Also, Senator Ali ‘Ndume from Nigeria, quoted parts of the Nigerian constitution, saying that the president cannot declare war without the approval of the National Assembly.
He added that the Nigerian senate had not approved the war option.
“Therefore any declaration of war will be illegal and unconstitutional”.
