Sen. Shehu Sani, a former deputy chairman, Senate committee on foreign affairs, says military incursion into Niger Republic by an ECOWAS standby force will be synonymous with a declaration of war by Nigeria.
Mr Sani expressed this thought in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Thursday that it had ordered the deployment of a “standby force’’ to Niger to restore constitutional order in the country.
The order was given after the junta, who took over power from President Mohamed Bazoum on July 2, defied an August 6 ultimatum issued by ECOWAS leaders for the junta to revert to status quo.
Mr Sani said there was nothing wrong in applying pressure on the junta in Niger after the coup but deploying military force against the junta in the Francophone country sharing the northern border with Nigeria had a lot of implications.
“Armed invasion of Niger by ECOWAS will simply be a war between Nigeria and Niger because Nigeria…