President Bola Tinubu expressed his displeasure with the “unpleasant developments” taking place in the Niger Republic as members of the Presidential Guard are holding President Mohamed Bazoum.
President Tinubu responded to the crisis on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, in a statement, saying that the ECOWAS leadership would not permit any circumstance that would undermine the nation’s democratically elected administration.
The president of Nigeria, who assumed leadership of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government earlier in July, pledged to protect the nation’s democracy.
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The statement reads in part, “Information filtering in from the Republic of Niger indicates some unpleasant developments around the country’s highest political leadership.
“It should be quite clear to all players in the Republic of Niger that the leadership of the ECOWAS Region and all lovers of democracy around the world will not tolerate any situation that incapacitates the democratically-elected government of the country.
“The ECOWAS leadership will not accept any action that impedes the smooth functioning of legitimate authority in Niger or any part of West Africa.”
The President also said he’s already in talks with other African leaders to “protect our hard-earned democracy in line with the universally acceptable principle of constitutionalism.”
Tinubu maintained that Nigeria stands firmly with the elected government of the country, adding that West African leaders would not waiver or flinch on their stand to defend and preserve constitutional order in Niger Republic.
Bazoum was elected president in a 2021 election that was the first democratic transition of power in a state that has witnessed four military coups since independence from France in 1960.
There have been four military takeovers in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020.
Those coups were spurred in part by frustrations over authorities’ failure to stem a rebel uprising blighting the Sahel region – which includes Niger – that was once derided as the “coup belt”.
There was also a thwarted coup attempt in Niger in March 2021, when a military unit tried to seize the presidential palace days before Bazoum who had just been elected, was due to be sworn in.
