NAIJA NEWS
Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, revealed his discussion with major players during his latest diplomatic trip to Niger Republic.
Naija News reports that Abubakar, alongside the Sultan of Sokoto and others, were in Niger searching for a peaceful return to democracy following the military coup d’état that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum from office.
Abdulsalami and his team interacted with the military rulers for several hours on the way forward.
In the interview with BBC Hausa, he disclosed some things discussed at the meeting and the way forward.
You were in Niger last week. How did the meeting go, and what was the outcome?
Yes, myself and my team were in Niamey, the capital of Niger, last week on the authority of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). We met with the junta that took democratic power few weeks ago. We also met with the ousted President, Mohamed Bazoum, as well as other stakeholders in the country. We had extensive discussions with the junta and we are happy that there were positivities in the discussion. But the ultimate goal is to see the way out of the democratic disruption in the country. We spent over three hours in a discussion with the leader of the junta. That opportunity opened the window and hope of peaceful resolution to the quagmire in Niger. On our return, I visited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being the ECOWAS chairman to brief him on the outcome of our discussion with the junta.
In your discussion with the junta, what conditions did he provide for the peaceful resolution of the problem?
He said the coup has happened successfully and President Bazoum has been ousted. So, the issue of returning him to power won’t work. He asked ECOWAS to focus on things that would better the lives of people of Niger and avoid the topic of returning Bazoum to power. He insisted that they can discuss every other thing freely, but that returning him to power should be avoided because it won’t work.
How did you receive the information from the junta that it might take three years to return the country to democracy?
It’s even better now that they are speaking unlike in the beginning of things that they never uttered a word nor allowed opportunity for dialogue. It means there’s hope for peaceful resolution of the issue. However, the information on three years time for return to democracy was contained in the report of the meeting that we presented to President Tinubu. It’s now his responsibility to discuss that and other contents in the report with his colleagues at their meeting of ECOWAS Heads of State. This, I believe, will form the basis of their further decisions on the matter.
