Senator Ndume opposes military invasion of Niger at ECOWAS Parliament, issues strong warning

Nigerian lawmaker and member of the ECOWAS parliament, Senator Ali Ndume, has kicked against military intervention of the Republic of Niger following the military takeover of the West African country.

Senator Ndume stated this on Saturday, August 12, at the extraordinary plenary session of the ECOWAS parliament monitored by Legit.ng.

He stated that Nigeria and its National Assembly unanimously agreed that the country would not send its troops to Niger to engage in war.

The Borno State-born lawmaker urged the parliament to exhaust all possible options of dialogue and negotiations to restore democratic rule to the Republic of Niger.

He said Nigeria could not afford to go to war, noting that its people would bear the brunt of any military engagement. Senator Ndume also noted that it would be unconstitutional for Nigeria to go to war with Niger without the approval of the National Assembly of Nigeria and the United Nations security council.

Similarly, another ECOWAS parliamentarian, Hadja Satu Camara, agreed with the submissions of Senator Ndume.

Camara stated that citizens must be considered before any other political sentiments.

She said the current economic dispensation in West Africa does not favour war as the best solution to oust the military junta in the Republic of Niger.

Meanwhile, Hon Bayo Olusegun Balogun held a contrasting view and noted that an intervention must not necessarily connote war or violence against Niger and its people.

He stated that military intervention does not mean declaring war against Niger as a nation but would be a declaration of war against the military junta. The Nigerian lawmaker said the military junta in Niger must be dealt with to serve as precedence for any other nation nursing the ambition of a coup.

He said ECOWAS would be seen as a “toothless bulldog” if an intervention did not occur.

Similarly, Hon Billay Tunkara of the Gambian national assembly said there is a need to make a bold statement and end the pattern of military coups in the sub-region of ECOWAS.

He said the body language of the military juntas does not suggest that they want to dialogue or adopt diplomatic means to resolve the crisis. He urged the parliament and heads of state to carry out military intervention if all means of dialogue had been exhausted.

As observed by Legit.ng, most lawmakers appealed to the parliament to adopt dialogue to mitigate the situation rather than military intervention.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, told the chamber that coup-inflicted countries like Mali, Guinea and most recently, Niger are still members of the sub-regional organisation.