Bola Tinubu, President of West African nation of Nigeria is seeking to deploy troops to Niger Republic where a military coup toppled the elected government of President Mohamed Bazoum.
The president has written the nation’s Upper legislative body, the Senate, intimating the lawmakers on his plan to deploy troops in line with the communique reached after ECOWAS leaders met in Abuja last Sunday.
According to Tinubu, the deployment of troops would become imperative if the junta remained recalcitrant and failed to vacate office.
ECOWAS had given the Niger junta one week to leave office and hand over power to the duly elected government of President, Bazoum.
Tinubu told the lawmakers that following the unfortunate political situation in Niger Republic culminating in the overthrow of its President, ECOWAS under his leadership condemned the coup in its entirety and resolved to seek the return of the democratically elected govt.
“In a bid to restore peace, ECOWAS convened a meeting and came out with a communique as follows:
“Closure and monitoring of all land borders with Niger Republic and reactivating of the border drilling exercise.
“Cutting off Electricity supply to Niger Republic. Mobilizing international support for the implementation of the provisions of the ECOWAS communique. Preventing the operation of commercial and special flights into and from Niger Republic”
He said the communique also resolved to block goods in transit to Niger, especially from Lagos and eastern seaports.
Tinubu said ECOWAS also agreed to obilise international support for the implementation of the provisions of its communique, presenting cooperation of commercial and special flights into and from Niger Republic.
