As the Chairman of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, President Bola Tinubu sent a delegation led by former Head of State Abdulsalam Abubakar to Niger to end the crisis. “This action is in line with the resolution adopted as a result of the special ECOWAS summit held in Abuja last weekend,” the Press Office of President Ajuri Ngelale said in a press release on Thursday. After last week’s coup in Niger, which toppled the government of President Mohamed Bazum, ECOWAS issued a one-week ultimatum to the military rulers, led by General Abdurrahman Tchiani, to return the country to democratic rule. Nigeria has also cut off electricity to the neighboring West African country as part of a recent crackdown that has drawn mixed reactions. However, the president’s most recent statement said: “This action was in line with the resolution adopted at the end of the special ECOWAS summit held in Abuja last weekend. “The delegation led by former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (RTD), left for Niamey on Thursday after briefing President Tinubu at the State House in Abuja. The delegation, a former Nigerian Head of State, included the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar III and the Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission H.E. Omar Aliyu Turay”. A similar order to restore democratic order said in a statement that “the president also sent a separate delegation led by Ambassador Bhabagana Kingibbe to meet with Libyan and Algerian leaders on the crisis in Niger.” Tinubu introduced the two delegations and asked them to actively engage all stakeholders to ensure a proper and peaceful resolution of the situation in Niger, not to adjust the geopolitical positions of various countries but for the sake of peace and development in Africa.
