Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday, dispatched a delegation to Niger Republic to dialogue with the junta that recently seized political power in the country.
The high-powered delegation led by former head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and also has the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III has a mandate to expeditiously resolve the current political impasse in the country.
This is coming ahead of the 7-day deadline to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and the threat to use military option to force out the junta.
Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, in a statement, said Tinubu’s reaction was in line with the resolution reached at the end of the extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS held last weekend in Abuja.
The delegation left for Niamey on Thursday after a briefing by President Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
Abubakar is joined in the delegation by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Omar Alieu Touray.
Tinubu has also sent a separate delegation under the leadership of Ambassador Babagana Kingibe to engage with the leaders of Libya and Algeria on the Niger crisis.
Tinubu while briefing the two delegations, charged them to engage all stakeholders robustly with a view to ensuring a conclusive and amicable resolution of the Nigerien debacle for the purposes of African peace and development rather than a move to adopt the geopolitical positions of other nations.
“We don’t want to hold brief for anybody. Our concern is democracy and the peace of the region,” Tinubu said.
Abubakar, who spoke after the meeting, said the delegation would meet the coup leaders in Niger to present the demands of the ECOWAS leadership.
Leaders of the two delegations expressed optimism on the outcome of their assignments.