IDOWU BANKOLE FROM VANGUARD
The presidency has insisted that President Bola Tinubu has not ruled out military intervention in Niger Republic warning that religious and ethnic sentiment would not be tolerated in addressing the danger posed by truncating democratic rule in the West African country, Niger Republic.
President Tinubu who equally ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to make financial sanctions against individuals and entities related to the military junta in Niger.
Briefing State House correspondents, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale explained that no option has been taken off the table as the West African region bloc prepares for another summit on the Niger crisis.
He said, “…While no options have been taken off of the table of people as we do draw the attention of this audience to the upcoming loss, extraordinary Summit, which will be holding in Abuja on Thursday, August 10. It is therefore expected that at the extraordinary Summit, far-reaching decisions will be taken concerning the next steps of the regional bloc according to developments as they unfold.”
He further said, “I can also report that following the expiration of the deadline of the ultimatum and standing on the preexisting consensus position of financial sanctions meted out on the military junta in Niger Republic by the bloc of ECOWAS Heads of State, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered an additional slew of financial sanctions through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on entities and individuals related to or involved with the military junta in Niger Republic.”
The president noted that sentiments on the grounds of religion and ethnicity will not come into play in deciding what is best for the people of Niger.
“But President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wishes to emphasize to this distinguished audience that the response of ECOWAS to the military coup in Niger has been and will remain devoid of ethnic and religious sentiments and considerations.
“The regional bloc is made up of all sub-regional ethnic groups, religious groups, and all other forms of human diversity. And the response of ECOWAS, therefore, represents all of these groups, and not any of these groups individually.
Explaining more on the new sanctions, he said, “The news that Mr. President has directed the acting CBN governor to levy another slate of sanctions against entities and individuals associated with the military junta in Niger public, I said that intentionally I didn’t make a mistake, because I was given permission to make that statement and I emphasized that this is not an individual action taken by an individual President on behalf of an individual nation.
“This is an action taken by the ECOWAS chairman, who is the president of Nigeria, but standing on the authority provided by the consensus resolution of all ECOWAS members and heads of state with regard to financial sanctions being levied by ECOWAS member states against the military junta in Niger Republic.
“There is an authority that we are standing on. It is not the Nigerian government’s authority, it is the authority of the resolution passed in public before now. This is the context, the nuance and the detail that is required in our reports, lest our people be misinformed and we begin to be framed internationally as being in a situation where it’s Nigeria versus its neighbour, Niger, because that’s the narrative that some certain international perspectives would like to advance for their own interest.”
