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[UPDATE] Niger coup: Again Fani-Kayode slams Tinubu’s ECOWAS over use of force on junta
UPDATE:
Meanwhile, in a short essay posted on his Twitter handle, @realFFK, Monday morning, Femi Fani-Kayode mocked the ECOWAS stand-by force as not even having a combat-ready force.
He tweeted:
“ECOWAS doesn’t even have a combat-ready force. They will depend on Nigeria. Presently Nigeria gives more than 80% of the MNJTF funds.
“Again, Nigeria’s military is currently engaged in internal operations in all the six geo-political zones. We only have about 200,000 personnel all ranks and for the three services.
“With the current economic crunch, where are the resources coming from? To depend on the western countries that have their own interests to protect?
“All our IDPs and refugees are still in camps, we have not been able to resettle them for more than ten years, so how do we handle additional mass of IDPs and refugees that would definitely result from the crisis?
“Nigeria would be in deep shit if we go for this adventure,” he concluded.
~~~
A former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, has once again lashed out against the leaders of ECOWAS led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the proposed application force on the coup plotters in Niger Republic in a bid to restore the ousted President Mohammed Bazoum.
Fani-Kayode recalled that Sudan, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea have all been plagued with coup d’états and military governments over the last 3 years.
He noted that they have formed a formidable and intimidating ‘coup belt’ of unelected military rulers which stretches from Guinea on the western flank of the West African sub-region right on the Atlantic Ocean up across the southern flank of the North African Sahel and the Lake Chad region all the way to East Africa and the Pacific Ocean.
It could be recalled that News Band, on August 13, 2023, reported an apparent division in the camp of Tinubu as one of his loyalists, Mr. Fani-Kayode, took a dissenting voice over the proposed military intervention in Niger Republic.
In an essay entitled “ECOWAS versus Niger: who is fooling who?”, he towed the popular line among Nigerians and condemned the proposal for violent force against the military junta.
See the full report below:
Cracks in Tinubu’s walls as Fani-Kayode attacks him over proposed force on Niger junta
In the latest episode entitled “Beware the coup belt“, the former Aviation Minister posed some salient questions to the ECOWAS military commanders and challenged them to provide the answers.
He asked:
- ‘Can we successfully attack a country where the civilians are holding rallies in solidarity with their supposed oppressors?
- ‘Apart from that, has this ECOWAS “force” already been formed or will they divide the operation into sectors with each country taking a sector?
- ‘Where is the Command HQ located? Who takes care of Niger’s sector 3 of the MNJTF in the Lake Chad, for I guess they will withdraw their troops?
- ‘If Burkina Faso and Mali join Niger forces, as they threatened they would, who blocks the southward movement of the insurgents and terrorists scattered around the triangular borders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger?
- ‘Is the Russian Wagner force still active in the region? Have we prepared adequately to handle the weapons and drug-trafficking across the borders with Niger since our partners in that nation are now our enemies?
- ‘Will the AU or the UN or the West be responsible for the logistics? As at now Nigeria can’t afford to do so like it did in ECOMOG. We simply do not have the financial wherewithal or the resources.’
Femi Fani-Kayode versus All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Fani-Kayode expressed the view that ECOWAS, led by Tinubu, should still vigorously pursue the application of conflict resolution mechanisms in order to buy time to address these questions.
He further wondered what will be the fate of the whole of Nigeria’s western borders, from Sokoto to Lagos, if Niger Republic and her allies deliberately open a corridor for the elements of ISIS, AQIM, ISWAP, etc. to move into Benin and Togo, ECOWAS’ weakest link, then would be vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
According to him, already, some of the elements have penetrated into Niger State, around Borgu and Shiriro, very close to Benin Republic and some states in the South West of Nigeria.
“The greatest challenge of our time is to ensure that this belt of unconstitutional Governments does not get any bigger, stronger and wider and that the virus of military interventions and coups does not spread any further,” he said.
Fani-Kayode also warned against relying on foreign and regional armies to come and save us in case of a full-blown conflagration, adding that Nigeria cannot achieve it by marching into Niger in a gung-ho attempt to restore democracy.
In his words, the misplaced notion that a military assault or threat of it on Niger would be a fruitful endeavour and the best and only way to restore democracy in that beleaguered nation.”
He warned that Russia thought Ukraine would fall in two weeks, yet today it is well over a year, hundreds of thousands of innocent lives are still being lost while the war still rages.
He expressed reservations that an attack on Niger Republic would result in a massive military conflagration that will engulf the entire West African sub-region and which would eventually spread to North, Central and East Africa.
“The mutineers and coupists have agreed to dialogue and now ECOWAS wants to use force, launch an attack and endanger the life of President Bazoum?” Fani-Kayode asked, adding: “This hardly makes sense.”
He warned that “if we refuse to use diplomatic means to resolve this matter, we may end up throwing ourselves into the greatest and most destructive war in the history of Africa” which few African nations would survive.
Fani-Kayode urged western powers, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union, France, Russians and Chinese to pursue their various vital and strategic interests on the African continent as the stakes are high but to leave African countries out of their interests.
“Apart from those that wish to depopulate and destroy our continent and sell their arms, no-one, least of all the African people, stands to benefit from a rash collective of vicious and unaccountable military Governments strewn across Africa or from what may end up being a massive continental war which, to all intents and purposes, may end up transmuting into a proxy one between the world’s super powers.
“Worst of all, such a war will probably be partly fought by mercenary armies from both sides of the divide,” he opined.
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©Copyright 2023 News Band
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