[JUST IN] Niger Crisis: ECOWAS leaders meet at Aso Rock Villa

Members of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government are meeting at the State House, Abuja, for an extraordinary session to discuss the happenings in the Niger Republic.

Sunday’s meeting which began at 12:58 pm is at the behest of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority.

It comes four days after a military coup ousted the administration of Nigerien President, Muhammed Bazoum.

On Friday, members of Niger’s Presidential Guard who perpetrated the coup named General Abdourahamane Tchiani as the nation’s new leader.

In his address, Tchiani, who has headed the Presidential Guard since 2011, said he was the new “president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland.”

He said Wednesday’s coup is the military’s response to “the degradation of the security situation” linked to jihadist bloodshed.

The military also issued a warning about “the consequences that will flow from any foreign…