The Advocacy for Peace and Socio-economic Empowerment of Women and Youth, a CSO, has warned that any military intervention against Niger Republic will directly affect Northern Nigeria by worsening and further destabilising the region which has been plagued by insecurity and infrastructural decay.
The CSO therefore advised that diplomacy and dialogue still remained the best options in resolving the impasse in Niger, as “an attack on Niger Republic is a direct attack on Northern Nigeria.”
Leader of the CSO, Fareeda Umar Bakori said at a press conference in Kaduna that use of forces on Niger may also lead to humanitarian crisis, as Nigeriens will migrate to northern states if the war intensifies, warning that the region may become lawless, leading to military excesses and indiscriminate killings of innocent people.
The CSO therefore called on President Bola Tinubu , Chairman, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to stop considering use of military forces by ECOWAS against the Military junta in Niger Republic.
“Our main goal is to advocate for good governance and a better Nigeria by creating awareness. As we all know, military junta detained President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger on Wednesday, July 26th, 2023 and toppled the democratically elected government in the country.”
“It was because of this coup, the West African nations under ECOWAS, have finalised a plan to intervene militarily in Niger to reverse the already executed coup.”
“ECOWAS decision to retain the option of military intervention in Niger, facing the way for the mobilization of a force, a force which will mainly be composed of Nigerian and Senegalese troops. We think Nigeria is facing serious economic difficulties and its military is already over- stretched due to them being involved in internal security operations, which should be carried out by domestic security agencies such as the police.”
“So we urge our President who doubled as the Chairman of ECOWAS ,President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to not rush into an avoidable conflict as that will only raise the prospect of a major regional conflict and serious domestic implications.”
“However, our Organisation wishes to unequivocally state that, we regard the people of Niger not only as our neighbors but as our brothers and sisters, Any military intervention against Niger will unavoidably and directly affect Northern Nigeria by worsening and further destabilising the region which has been plagued by insecurity and infrastructural decay.”
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