Tinubu Makes U-Turn, Dispatches High-Powered Delegation To Dialogue With Niger Military Junta

The Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has dispatched a delegation to Niger Republic with a mandate to expeditiously resolve the current political impasse in the country.

This comes amid the 7-day deadline to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and the threat to use military option to force out the junta.

In a statement on Thursday, Ajuri Ngelale, Presidential spokesman, said Tinubu’s reaction was in line with the resolution reached at the end of the extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS held last weekend in Abuja.

The delegation, headed by former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd), left for Niamey on Thursday following a briefing by President Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.

The former Nigerian Head of State is joined in the delegation by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Omar Alieu Touray.

The President has also sent a separate delegation led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe to engage with the leaders of Libya and Algeria on the Niger crisis.

Related: ECOWAS Imposes Sanctions On Niger Junta, Calls For Immediate Release, Reinstatement Of President Bazoum

Briefing the two delegations, President Tinubu charged them to engage all stakeholders robustly with a view to doing whatever it takes to ensure a conclusive and amicable resolution of the situation in Niger for the purposes of African peace and development rather than a move to adopt the geopolitical positions of other nations.

“We don’t want to hold brief for anybody. Our concern is democracy and the peace of the region,” the President said.

Speaking after the meeting, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd) said the delegation would meet the coup leaders in Niger to present the demands of the ECOWAS leadership.

Both leaders of the two missions expressed optimism on the outcome of the assignments.

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