The World Peace Programme for Sustainable Development Network has advised the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to use diplomacy, deliberation, negotiations, and compromise to resolve the political quagmire in Niger Republic rather than a military approach.
Dr Stella-Rita Awelle Nwachukwu Asogwa, the network’s director of diplomatic relations and women affairs, advised during an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
She warned that deploying military forces could jeopardize the rights of innocent civilians in Niger Republic and have long-term dire consequences for Nigeria and West Africa as a whole, even as she condemned the military’s action against the country’s democratically elected president and called for an immediate return to democratic governance in Niger.
Dr Stella-Rita praised the ECOWAS leadership’s progress on the issue, but warned that “military intervention may result in collateral damages, killing of unarmed civilians, destruction of lives and properties, and most likely result in an ideological war involving some world powers against African countries.”
In restoring democracy, ECOWAS should consider the immediate and long-term implications of its actions on the people of the Niger Republic and the wider West African sub-region.
The director general and country representative, Ambassador Professor Olumuyiwa Babalola, recently unveiled the list of the organisation’s peace ambassadors in Abuja to assist the federal government.
