Niger: President Orders Financial Sanctions against Individuals, Entities

•Says actions not based on religion, ethnicity, insists military option not ruled out  •ECOWAS leaders meet tomorrow as Niger junta rejects UN, AU, other delegations  •US diplomat denied access to Bazoum, Tchiani

•Military leader appoints prime minister

•Dialogue remains best option for resolving crisis, says ACF

•There’s still enough time to dialogue, says George

Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha, Kingsley Nwezeh, Michael Olugbode, Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to initiate a series of financial sanctions against individuals and entities associated with the leaders of the coup that truncated the democratic government in Niger Republic. Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, who disclosed this, yesterday, while speaking with newsmen at State House, Abuja, did not give details of the sanctions.

However, Ngelale maintained that the sanctions were being instituted under the authority of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The federal government also clarified that the sanctions were without ethnic or religious biases, but insisted that the option of military intervention was still on the table as far as the Niger situation was concerned.

ECOWAS leaders would meet tomorrow in Abuja to deliberate on the failure of the Niger junta to heed the ultimatum by the regional bloc to relinquish power.

However, yesterday, the military leadership in Niger rejected diplomatic delegations from the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), and ECOWAS, who sought to initiate diplomatic solutions to the coup crisis in that country.

The coup leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, also refused to meet U.S. diplomats or free the deposed Bazoum, who was in detention.

Nonetheless, the junta appointed a former economic minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, as Niger’s Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said dialogue remained the best option in resolving the political crisis in Niger Republic.

Similarly, former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, said Tinubu and ECOWAS still had enough time to dialogue with the Niger coup leaders.

The latest move by the federal government against the authorities in Niger was in addition to the cutting of electricity transmission to that country by Nigeria, to put pressurise on the junta to reinstate Bazoum.

Ngelale stated, “The news is that Mr. President has directed the acting CBN governor to levy another slew of sanctions against entities and individuals associated with the military junta in Niger Republic.

“I said that intentionally. I didn’t make a mistake, because I was given permission to make that statement and I emphasise that this is not an individual action taken by an individual president on behalf of individual nation.

“This is an action taken. Yes, by ECOWAS chairman, who is the president of Nigeria but standing on the authority provided by the consensus resolution of all ECOWAS members and heads of state with regard to financial sanctions being levied by ECOWAS member states against the military junta in Niger Republic.

“There is an authority that we are standing on. It is not Nigerian government authority, it is the authority of the resolution passed in public before now.”

The media adviser explained, “Concerning the ultimatum given to the military junta in Niger Republic, the ECOWAS mandate, and ultimatum is not a Nigerian ultimatum. It is not a Nigerian mandate.

“And the office of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also serving as Chairman of ECOWAS, seeks to emphasise this point, due to certain domestic and international media coverage, tending toward a personalisation of the ECOWAS sub-regional position to his person and to our nation individually.

“It is because of this that Mr. President has deemed it necessary to state unequivocally that the mandate and ultimatum issued by ECOWAS are that of ECOWAS.

“While His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has assumed the ECOWAS chairmanship, the position of ECOWAS conveys the consensus position of member heads of state. And a coup will not occur in one’s backyard, without one being particularly aware of it.

“The president in recent days, particularly following the expiration of the ultimatum given by ECOWAS, has widened consultations internationally but most especially domestically, including interfaces with governors in Nigeria, who govern states bordering Niger Republic on the various fallouts and outcomes of the unfortunate situation that has unfolded in Niger Republic.

“But President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wishes to emphasise to this distinguished audience that the response of ECOWAS to the military coup in Niger has been and will remain devoid of ethnic and religious sentiments and considerations.

“The regional bloc is made up of all sub-regional ethnic groups, religious groups, and all other forms of human diversity. And the response of ECOWAS, therefore, represents all of these groups, and not any of these groups individually.”

According to him, Thursday’s extraordinary summit of ECOWAS in Abuja would come up with far-reaching decisions on the recent developments in Niger Republic.

Stressing that the assumption that ECOWAS was weak because it had not invaded Niger Republic until now was untrue, Ngelale stated that Nigeria and, indeed, the regional organisation would follow through its protocols to ensure that democracy was restored in Niger.

“We are determined to leverage on all elements of our power regionally to ensure that (Bazoum’s restoration) happens and that is not limited only to military intervention, although military intervention has not and will not be taken off the table.

“Let us be clear, there has been a firm ultimatum that was based on a mandate that has been backed by ECOWAS protocols, which have been in place for years. And the ECOWAS heads of state will not back down from their duty of upholding the protocols as agreed by all member states.”

ECOWAS Leaders Meet Tomorrow, Junta Turns Down Diplomatic Delegations

Member states of ECOWAS are scheduled to meet in Abuja tomorrow to deliberate on the failure of the Niger junta to heed the ultimatum by the regional bloc to relinquish power.

The military leadership rejected diplomatic delegations from the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU) and the West African regional bloc, who tried to seek diplomatic solution to the coup crisis in that country

But the military government appointed a former economic minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, as the country’s prime minister.

The regional bloc will meet on Thursday to discuss how to proceed after the ultimatum given the Niger military adventurers expired over the weekend.

THISDAY gathered that member states were expected to weigh rising opposition to military intervention in view of the groundswell of support by Nigerians, the support for the junta by the military leaderships in Mali and Burkina Faso, and the rejection of the request for military intervention by Nigeria’s Senate as well as the deep-seated ethnic relations between Nigerians and Nigeriens in the contiguous states of Sokoto, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano and Kebbi.

The request by the Niger military government for the involvement of the Wagner group and by implication, Russia, will also be considered, especially with Niger Republic known as a hub for arms smuggling, factors that might complicate military intervention in addition to calls by civil society organisations for ECOWAS to exhaust the diplomatic option.

But Niger’s junta said it could not accept a high-level diplomatic visit from international organisations because there would be a risk to the visitors’ security.

Delegates from ECOWAS, AU, and the United Nations were due to fly in yesterday.

But the coup leaders told the delegation that sanctions and the threat of invasion from the bloc had created public anger, stating that their security might not be guaranteed.

Reports from Niger’s capital, Niamey, showed that many people viewed the putsch as a breath of fresh air.

Washington warned there was a danger Russian Wagner mercenaries would take advantage of Niger’s coup.

A top U.S. diplomat, Victoria Nuland, said the coup leaders in Niger refused to let her meet with Niger’s deposed president, who is currently under house arrest after he was ousted.

U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Ms Nuland, who was in the country on a visit, said in a statement published at the U.S. Department of State, that the junta officers were resistant to talks in an attempt to place the country back under civilian authority.

Nuland stated that she had a “frank and difficult” conversation with General Moussa Barmou, the commander of the operation’s defence, and three of the colonels, who supported him, as well as a broad cross-section of Nigerien civil society, including journalists and activists, during a two-hour meeting she had in the capital of Niger, Niamey.

She added that the junta did not respond to her requests to meet Niger’s new leader, Tchiani, or Bazoum, who had been placed under house arrest with his wife and son since the military coup of July 26.

Nuland said, “We asked before we arrived and throughout the day for an opportunity to meet with President Bazoum to get his perspective directly. We have talked to him on the phone, but we haven’t seen him and that was never granted.”

ACF: Dialogue Remains Best Option for Resolving Crisis

Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said dialogue remained the best option in resolving the political crisis in Niger Republic.

In a statement, yesterday, in Kaduna, the forum urged the federal government to intensify efforts towards resolving the problem through political and diplomatic means.

The statement signed by National Publicity Secretary of the forum, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, called on President Bola Tinubu and the ECOWAS to lift sanctions imposed on Niger Republic.

ACF said there should be more dialogue with the military junta to prevent a further breakdown of talks following the expiration of the one-week deadline to the military junta to restore democratic rule in Niger.

According to the ACF, Nigeria and Niger have had brotherly relations over the years, thus, dialogue remained the best option to avoid a catastrophe between the two countries.

“We should utilise all available goodwill, diplomatic, political, economic and human assets to win back the confidence of the people of Niger, who have, historically, come to regard Nigeria as a Big Brother,” the statement said.

It urged Tinubu and ECOWAS to review the situation and restore full dialogue with the military junta with a view to addressing the problem.

George: There’s Still Time to Dialogue with Coup Leaders

Former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, said President Tinubu Bola and ECOWAS still had enough time to dialogue with leaders of the Niger coup.

Similarly, PDP governorship candidate in Jigawa State in  the March 18 governorship election, Mustapha Sule Lamido, called for caution, because Nigeria was battling with internal security crisis.

George disclosed his position in an interview with Arise Television. He said, “When they meet tomorrow, I am advising that there’s enough room for dialogue, and the underlining crisis that is engaging all these Francophone countries today dates back to the French approach to their own system of colonialism.

“While the British had colonies, the French had the principle of assimilation. In other words, they didn’t let go. There’s no French country in the whole of Africa where the French government does not have a minimum of a battalion stationed there.

“You learn from your experiences. We were in ECOMOG, which was the country that was responsible militarily, financially, and personnel-wise for the armed forces? We did extremely well; what was the benefit to Nigeria?

“Before you consider going to war as a nation, you teach your boys the national interest of your country; anything that falls out of that is not a major concern to you, but if anybody infringes on your national interest, then you can go to war because you are going there to defend something so vital to your country.

“Learning from the ECOMOG experience, how can we now go to Niger? What is the benefit? My appeal is that the ECOWAS heads of state should be more careful. The Ukraine-Russia war today has lingered on for over a year; they are still fighting, and innocent people are dying. War is not a tea party, and it is better to jaw-jaw than war-war.

“I am talking from experience and the fact that Niger is not the only country in the whole geo-political belt of the Francophone countries that has a military administration – from Guinea to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan. That takes you from the West Atlantic all the way to the Red Sea, right across the whole belt of Africa in the Sahara. Why Niger?”

Lamido, in a statement titled, “The situation in Niger and call for caution”, said, “As Nigerians, we have every reason to be concerned about recent developments in neighbouring Niger Republic.

“As indigenes of northern Nigeria and Jigawa State, in particular, we have reasons to be more concerned due to our proximity to the country in question. Any military action in Niger will have an influence on domestic and international terrorism in Nigeria.”