•Says Nigeria not personalising ECOWA mandate
•Orders CBN to slam financial sanctions on entities involved with the junta
By Egena Sunday Ode
The Chairman of ECOWAS and Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed, will on Thursday host ECOWAS heads of state and government to an extraordinary summit in Abuja on Thursday.
The meeting is coming almost one week after the expiration of an ultimatum to the military Junta in Niger to reinstate ousted Mohamed Bazoum as President.
Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, who announced the extraordinary summit at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday also dispelled suggestions that the Nigerian President was personalising the crisis in Niger.
Ngelale explained that ECOWAS ultimatum is not a Nigerian ultimatum neither is the mandate of the regional body that of Nigeria.
“Concerning the ultimatum given to the military Junta in Niger Public. The ECOWAS mandate, and ultimatum is not a Nigerian ultimatum. It is not a Nigerian mandate and the office of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also serving as the chairman of ECOWAS seeks to emphasize this point. That due to certain domestic and international media coverage, tending toward a personalization of the ECOWAS sub regional position to the President and to our nation individually.
“It is because of this that Mr. President has deemed it necessary to state unequivocally that the mandate and ultimatum issued by ECOWAS is that of ECOWAS’s position. While his excellency president Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assumed the ECOWAS chairmanship, the position of ECOWAS conveys the consensus position of member heads of state. And a coup will not occur in one’s backyard, without one being particularly aware of it.”
He said President Tinubu, following the expiration of the ultimatum to the Junta in Niger, has widened consultations internationally and domestically on the best ways to handle the coupists.
The Special Adviser, however, assured of President Tinubu’s resolve to ensure that the response of the regional body to the coup would be devoid of ethnicity and religion.
He said: “The President in recent days, particularly following the expiration of the ultimatum given by ECOWAS has widened consultations internationally but most especially domestically, including interfaces with state governors in Nigeria, who govern states bordering Niger public on the various fallouts and outcomes of the unfortunate situation that has unfolded in Niger Republic.
“But President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wishes to emphasize to this distinguished audience that the response of ECOWAS to the military coup in Niger has been and will remain devoid of ethnic and religious sentiments and considerations.
“The regional bloc is made up of all sub regional ethnic groups, religious groups, and all other forms of human diversity. And the response of ECOWAS, therefore, represents all of these groups, and not any of these groups individually.
“While no options have been taken off of the table of people as we do draw the attention of this audience to the upcoming ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit, which will be holding in Abuja on Thursday, August 10. It is therefore expected that at the ECOWAS extraordinary Summit, far-reaching decisions will be taken concerning the next steps of the regional bloc. According to developments. as they unfold.”
Ngelale also announced that, in compliance with ECOWAS resolution on financial sanctions, President Tinubu had ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to slam additional sanctions of the coupists as well as entities and individuals involved with them.
“The news that Mr. President has directed the acting CBN governor to levy another slate of sanctions against entities and individuals associated with the military junta in Niger public. I said that intentionally, I didn’t make a mistake; because I was given permission to make that statement and I emphasized that this is not an individual action taken by an individual President on behalf of individual nation. This is an action taken Yes, but ECOWAS chairman who is the president of Nigeria, but standing on the authority provided by the consensus resolution of all ECOWAS members and heads of state with regard to financial sanctions being levied by ECOWAS Member States against the military junta in Niger Republic. There is an authority that we are standing on. It is not Nigerian government authority, it is the authority of the resolution passed in public before now. This is the context, the nuance and the detail that is required in our reports, lest our people be misinformed. And and we begin to be framed internationally as being in a situation where it’s Nigeria versus its neighbour, Niger, because that’s the narrative that some certain International Perspectives would like to advance for their own interest.
“I can also report that following the expiration of the deadline of the ultimatum and standing on the preexisting consensus position of financial sanctions meted out on the military junta in Niger Republic by the bloc of ECOWAS Heads of State, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered an additional slew of financial sanctions through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on entities and individuals related to or involved with the military junta in Niger Republic,” the media adviser said.
Recall that Nigeria has cut off electricity supply to Niger in response to the coup.
