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“I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic, Your Eminence, but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copy cats will start doing the same thing..”–Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said all diplomatic options will be exhausted with the military junta in Niger Republic before any last resort of military intervention comes into the picture, insisting that any forceful removal of a democratic government remains “wholly unacceptable.”
Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity) disclosed this in a statement.
While receiving the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, at the State House, President Tinubu noted that the alternative of kinetic intervention in Niger Republic had not been jettisoned, Ngelale revealed.
“I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic, Your Eminence, but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copy cats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped. We are neighbours with Niger Republic, and what has joined Nigerians together with their great people cannot be broken. Nobody is interested in a war. We have seen the devastation in Ukraine and Sudan. But, if we don’t wield the big stick, we will all suffer the consequences together,” the President warned.
President Tinubu noted that Nigeria, under General Abdulsalami Abubakar, instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998, and it proved very successful, leading the country into a new era of democratic governance. The President sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger, if Niger’s military authorities are sincere.
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