President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rejected overtures by the head of the military junta Niger Republic, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, to have direct access and discussion with him.
This came amidst renewed efforts to resolve the crisis in the West African country
According to an online platform, Empowered Newswire, diplomatic sources said that consenting to such direct one-on-one talks is both an assault on democratic governance in the region and a disrespect to the still detained Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum.
The sources close to Niger’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York confirmed that President Tinubu was approached with Tchiani’s request by a group of Muslim Ulamas who had met with him in Abuja about a month after the Niger coup.
The Ulamas conveyed the request of General Abdourahamane Tchiani to have a direct one-on-one interaction with the Nigerian President who is also the chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government as a possible way to resolve the crisis.
In the meeting held in Abuja on August 24, the sources said President Tinubu point blank ruled out any such interaction with the head of an illegal government that came to power through a military coup.
Nigerian government sources also confirmed that indeed President Tinubu’s position is that having a direct interaction with Tchiani would improperly legitimise a coupist whose government is not even recognised by ECOWAS.
“The president outright rejected the overture, insisting that ECOWAS leaders would be disappointed besides the fact that such an interaction would send the wrong signal about democratic governance in the continent.”
While many in the African diplomatic community are of the view that President Tinubu’s rejection of a direct talk with Tchiani at this point would indeed be a bad signal, with the impasse over the Niger crisis persisting without much hope of resolution.
Diplomats say a concerted front among President Tinubu and other ECOWAS leaders remained an imperative in dealing with the military takeover.
But Niger diplomats in New York also argued that sending envoys from the Nigerian government who are themselves former military government beneficiaries to the coupists in Niger is itself a conflicting signal, although the Niger military junta eventually interacted with them.
It would be recalled that former head of state, General Abdusalami Abubakar and the Sultan of Sokoto His Eminence Sa’ad Muhammad Abubakar had visited Niger to discuss a possible resolution on August 19, few days before the Niger Ulamas discussed with President Tinubu. Before the visit to Niger by both Abdusalami and the Sultan, the former head of state had travelled to Niamey but was not able to meet with the leaders of the new military junta.