A member of House of Representatives representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikenga Ugochinyere, has advocated for a military action to sack the coupists in Niger Republic and restore the democratically elected government in the West Africa country.
Ugochinyere, who made the call at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday, commended the chairman of the Economic Community of West Africa States ( ECOWAS), President Bola Tinubu, and other Heads of Government in the West African sub-region for their efforts to restore constitutional democracy in Niger.
Nevertheless, the lawmaker stated that sanctions pronounced against the coupists were not enough, stating that it was imperative for ECOWAS to send a strong military force to Niger to oust the coupists and restore democracy in the country.
” am commending the ECOWAS Heads of State led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the series of meetings they have had in the last few days towards finding the easy path towards restoring democracy in Niger. But we are demanding that the right thing to do is to deploy military action.
“I condemn the Presidential Guard led by General Abdulraman Tijani for that unconstitutional move to take over democratic government in violation of the Constitution of Niger Republic and the ECOWAS protocol adopted in 2001 on democracy and good governance,
which said that every ascension to power in Africa must be through a free fair and transparent election.
“The security implication of what is happening in Niger is very important, because we have been having overflow of insurgent groups from neighbouring Africa countries, which has affected our peace and stability. And if we do not restore constitutional democracy as soon as possible in Niger, we are likely going to have an increase in the activities of insurgents and bandits.
“We have had series of this overthrow of government in Chad, in Niger, in Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso and all these led to worsening of security situation in West Africa, especially in Nigeria, where this AI Queda associated group and Islamic militia group keep migrating from these axis of conflict down to Nigeria.
“So the stability and peace and unity of Nigeria is very important as regard restoring constitutional order in Niger. You can see ongoing breakdown of law and order. Citizens are on the street destroying houses and property and some people are fleeing and entering the northern part of Nigeria.
“I want to make it very clear that we should go pass beyond the era of sanction in West Africa. We used sanction in Chad, we used sanction in Bakina Faso. We used sanction in Mali. Sanction has been used in Sudan. And then these things did not resolve any of this problem. That is why I am boldly calling on ECOWAS heads of State to adopt a full military action to deploy soldiers immediately to Niger, to get Abdulraman Tijani arrested and his gang of coupists, because if we do not use Niger as example, other volatile West Africa countries may collapse to the activities of such men. The audacity of presidential guards getting up in the morning and locking up their president.”
However, Ugochinyere added that, “I will have to make it very clear that part of the problem in Africa is the process through which Africa leaders get into office. So, as we are condemning General Abdulraman Tijani and his group of presidential guard, who has gone rogue and detain their president, we must also condemn some Africa leaders, who have desecrated the sanctity of their people’s ballot.
“If Africa has been practising democracy in accordance with the constitutional provision, and electoral position, you will now see that genuine leaders are elected into position of authority. The same ECOWAS Protocol is like a two-way protocol. The same protocol that was adopted in 2001, which said that the only path to ascension of power is through a free fair and transparent election. Which means that apart from the fact that it condemns military takeover of government, it also condemns flawed elections. All over West Africa and other parts, we have had cases thouroghly disputed elections. Which tend to place legitimacy problem on how our leaders emerge.
“But having said that, it is also important to say that the overthrow of democratically elected government or not, even if it is disputed or not, should be frowned at, so that Africa can go past this era of group of people either because they are armed getting up in the morning and toppling a democratically elected government.”
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