An elder statesman and former minister of petroleum resources, Chief Don Etiebet, CON, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to reconsider the resolution by the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) approving deployment of a standby force in Niger Republic in the heat of the coup d’etat there to ensure return to democratic rule.
Etiebet, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said that the President should wash his hands off military action in Niger Republic, having already been directed by the Senate to do so.
THE CONCLAVE reports that the Nigerian Senate had, on August 5, 2023, reached a resolution rejecting President Tinubu‘s request to deploy Nigerian troops in Niger Republic to restore democratic rule in that troubled country.
Rather, the upper legislative chamber had advised Tinubu and the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), which he leads, to explore political and diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
Chief Etiebet, in a chat with THE CONCLAVE, on Friday, said that “President Tinubu already has the support and backing of the Nigerian people through her representatives in the Senate as per our Constitution not to go to war with Niger Republic.”
He said: “President Tinubu as the head of the ECOWAS should please tell his colleagues in ECOWAS that the Nigerian Senate had rejected his request to approve Nigeria’s participation in a military action in Niger and so Nigeria cannot participate in the ECOWAS Standby Force for this purpose as such action will violate the Nigerian Constitution and as such is an impeachable offence.”
Etiebet, who appealed for caution, said that Nigeria had nothing to gain in this venture at this time “when we are still grappling with crippling living conditions as a result of the necessary fuel subsidy removal, rising exchange rate ( ₦1000/$ already), huge debt burden, gruesome internal security issues with killings of innocent Nigerians here and there everyday and week, which have stretched our military capabilities already.”
According to him, “The whole Northern Senators, Governors, the Ulamas, the NSCIA, the Nigerian Moslem society headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Southern leaders, Nigerians of all walks of life, individually and in groups are also opposed to him putting Nigeria in a state of war with anybody.
“The living conditions in Nigeria presently are so miserable that everybody is on edge. The poverty level is brazen that people in the rural areas are dying and cannot be buried because of lack of money. Foods are unaffordable because of high prices, and they think that as an import dependent country, the little dollars we have left should not be spent on prosecuting war.
“If President Tinubu does not heed the advice and pull Nigeria out of the deployed standby force in Niger, it can lead to a general unrest in the country as the suffering is too much already and they cannot withstand the pains of a war situation again.”
“Chief Etiebet however implored Mr President to intensify and sustain the political and diplomatic stance with his brother ECOWAS Members to achieve the desired objective peacefully in the interest of the region.
He urged the media to also weigh in on the matter of deployment of ECOWAS Standby Force in Niger Republic by appealing to the President to consider the potential ramifications and effects of that decision on Nigeria, particularly Northern Nigeria with common borders with Niger and so review Nigeria’s support for that aspect of the ECOWAS resolutions.
Chief Don Etiebet, CON
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