Ndume Urges Tinubu, ECOWAS To Lift Sanctions On Niger

Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume has urged President Bola Tinubu and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to lift economic, trade and other sanctions on Niger Republic.

According to him, the five-month sanctions are seriously affecting the people of Niger, instead of the Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani-led military government.

Ndume made the call, yesterday, at his Government Reserved Area (GRA) residence, in Maiduguri, Borno State, while lamenting the sanctions on the 26 million people of the French-speaking West African country.

Beside the economic hardships in Niger, the people in the border areas of Kano, Zamfara, Borno, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Kebbi and Yobe states, in Nigeria, are also seriously affected with the economic and trade sanctions. He asserted that sanctions should rather be placed on the Tchiani junta that unlawfully toppled the democratically elected government of President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023.

“The decision of ECOWAS to place economic sanctions on Niger was, however, rushed, instead of the National Assembly to dialogue with the junta,” he said, warning that about 100,000 displaced persons from Abadam, Guzamala and Mobbar local councils were taking refuge in Diffa Province for over a decade. Ndume, therefore, called on Tinubu to negotiate with Tchiani by sending four former military heads of state, including retired Generals Yakubu Gowon, Abubakar Abdulsalami, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida.