SAHARA REPORTERS
A Nigerian man from the country’s northern region, who identified himself as Comrade Muhammad Alheri, has claimed that the Economic Community of West African States, led by President Bola Tinubu, would not have suggested using military intervention to resolve the ongoing political crisis in Niger Republic if it shared borders with states in Nigeria’s southwest region.
Muhammad is seen in a video expressing his dissatisfaction towards how Tinubu and other ECOWAS leaders are handling the Niger coup crisis.
He said, “I want to use this moment to congratulate members of the Senate for denouncing the instruction needed by His excellence Mr President and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces, seeking for Nigerian Armed forces to evade the Niger Republic.
“Nigeria and Niger, we are together. You, Mr President, Alhaji Bola Tinubu if to say you share borders with Niger, the Yorubas, western part of Nigeria, Lagos, Oyo, Ekiti, and Osun, if they share borders with the Niger Republic, can you suggest for Nigeria to go to war with Republic of Niger?
“So don’t play with our intelligence. We voted for you tremendously. We supported APC 100% but now you want us to fight. What concerns Nigeria with the coup d’etat? How many coup d’etat took place in West Africa?
“It took place in Guinea Conakry. It took place in Republic of Mali, in the capital, Bamako. It took place in Burkina Faso, with the capital Ouagadougou. Why then did ECOWAS not intend to invade Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso and now you want to incite war between Nigeria and the Niger Republic as we are at the extreme end of Nigeria, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina and so on and so forth. We have a shared border. Our parents, our forefathers intermarried between Niger and Nigeria.”
“I want to repeat if again that is if to say the Yoruba shared border with Niger Republic, can you suggest war between Nigeria and Niger?” Muhammad asked.
On July 26, soldiers ousted the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, following which the West African regional body ECOWAS threatened to use force to restore him.
As a last option, ECOWAS decided to create a “standby force” to restore democracy in Niger.
SaharaReporters on Tuesday reported that the African Union had suspended Niger Republic over the ongoing situation.
The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, had also described the proposed military invention by President Bola Tinubu-led ECOWAS to resolve the ongoing political crisis in Niger Republic as a war between brothers.
El-Rufai stated this on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, on Tuesday morning, adding that the battle between ECOWAS and Niger Republic would be a fight between Northern Nigerians and Niger Republic.
