From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called for the lifting of sanctions against Niger Republic by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and commended Nigerian Senators for rejecting military action against the West African country.
Prof Tukur Muhammad-Baba, Publicity Secretary of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in a statement, sought for more dialogue with the Niger military junta to prevent a further breakdown of talks following the expiration of the one-week deadline earlier given to the regime to restore democratic rule in the country.
According to the statement, ” we at the ACF would like to reiterate our condemnation of the coup and demand that the personal safety of President Mohamed Bazoum and members of his government be guaranteed by the coup leaders.”
“Nigeria and Niger have had brotherly relations over the years and the ACF upon reviewing the latest political impasse, economic sanctions and expiration of the one-week deadline given to the military junta in Niger have come to the conclusion that dialogue remains the best option to avoid a catastrophic occurrence of events between the two nations and the West African sub-region. We should utilise all available goodwill, diplomatic, political, economic and human assets to win back the confidence of the people of Niger, who have, historically, come to regard Nigeria as a Big Brother!”
“Towards this end, and to boost confidence measures: The ACF urges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and ECOWAS to review the situation and restore full dialogue with the Nigerien military junta through the immediate lifting of the economic blockade and other sanctions imposed on the country as a sign of goodwill to facilitate swift dialogue.”
“We call on President Tinubu and ECOWAS to revisit their approach to the Niger imbroglio based on concrete realities, including the fact that most countries surrounding Niger Republic are not all in the ECOWAS region as Algeria, Libya and Chad may view a potential military aggression as a declaration of war against their borders. With Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinean military juntas also declaring support for the Niger coup leaders, the situation calls for caution so as not to further conflagrate the West African region”.
