President Bola Tinubu met with five northern governors who share borders with the coup-torn nation on Sunday night as diplomatic efforts continue and pressure on the coup-takers who seized power in the neighboring Niger Republic has increased.
As part of the President’s consultations on the situation in the Niger Republic, a meeting was held.
The governors, who met the President at Aso Rock are Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Idris Nasir (Kebbi) and Dr Dikko Radda (Katsina).
Though details of the meeting held at the State House in Abuja were not made public, the meeting is coming as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other members states have imposed a border ban on Niger Republic.
ECOWAS, under the leadership of Tinubu, had threatened military action against Niger Republic with a deadline that expired on Sunday.
Former colonial power France, with which the junta broke military ties after taking power on July 26, said it would โfirmlyโ back whatever course of action ECOWAS took after the Sunday deadline expired.
โThe future of Niger and the stability of the entire region are at stake,โ the office of French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said after she held talks in Paris with Nigerโs prime minister, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou.
ECOWAS military chiefs of staff have agreed on a plan for a possible intervention to respond to the crisis, the latest of several coups to hit Africaโs Sahel region since 2020.
โWe want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them (the junta) that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done,โ ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah said on Friday.
But he warned that โall the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked outโ, including how and when force would be deployed.
Niger has played a key part in Western strategies to combat jihadist insurgencies that have plagued the Sahel since 2012, with France and the United States stationing around 1,500 and 1,000 troops in the country, respectively.
Yet anti-French sentiment in the region is on the rise, while Russian activity, often through the Wagner mercenary group, has grown. Moscow has warned against armed intervention from outside Niger.
โ โError of judgementโ โ
The coup โis an error of judgement that goes totally against the interests of the countryโ, French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu told AFP in an interview Saturday.
โThis putsch will weaken the fight against terrorism in the Sahel, where activity by armed terrorist groups is resurging, notably taking advantage of certain failed states like Mali,โ he said.
Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, relies heavily on foreign aid that could be pulled if President Mohamed Bazoum is not reinstated as head of state, he added.
The junta has said it will meet force with force.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune spoke out against any military intervention in neighbouring Niger.
โWe categorically refuse any military intervention,โ he said in a television interview Saturday evening, adding that such action would be โa direct threat to Algeriaโ.
He stressed โthere will be no solution without us (Algeria). We are the first people affectedโ.
โAlgeria shares nearly a thousand kilometresโ of border with Niger, he said.
โWhat is the situation today in countries that have experienced military intervention?,โ he said, pointing to Libya and Syria.
Mali and Burkina Faso, where military juntas have taken power since 2020, have also said that any regional intervention would be tantamount to a โdeclaration of warโ against them.
Bazoum, 63, has been held by the coup plotters with his family in his official Niamey residence since July 26.
In a column in The Washington Post on Thursday โ his first lengthy statement since his detention โ Bazoum said a successful putsch would โhave devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire worldโ.
Bazoum, who in 2021 won an election that ushered in Nigerโs first-ever transfer of power from one civilian government to another, urged โthe US government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional orderโ.
โ Opposition in Nigeria โ
Nigeria has cut electricity supplies to its neighbour Niger, raising fears for the humanitarian situation, while Niamey has closed the vast Sahel countryโs borders, complicating food deliveries.
Senior Nigerian politicians have urged President Bola Tinubu to reconsider the threatened military intervention.
โThe Senate calls on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as chairman of ECOWAS to further encourage other leaders of ECOWAS to strengthen the political and diplomatic options,โ Senate President Godswill Akpabio said.
Senators from northern Nigerian states, seven of which share a combined border of roughly 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) with Niger, have already advised against any intervention until all other options had been exhausted.
Tinubu himself on Thursday urged ECOWAS to do โwhatever it takesโ to achieve an โamicable resolutionโ of the crisis in Niger.
