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Don’t bring calamity to Africa over Niger, Egypt, Algeria warns Tinubu, ECOWAS
Egypt and Algeria, two critical North African nations have raised their voices against any form of military operation in Niger Republic as being proposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), underscoring the discordant tunes have intensified even at the level of the African Union (AU).
While Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, have warned that a military intervention in the West African country, would be considered a declaration of war in the sub-region, the two countries, have also railed against the idea, stressing that the only option available to deal with current political crisis in the country, remained dialogue.
While ECOWAS at various stages during the meetings of the Heads of Governments and military chiefs, who have each met twice to plan on how to reverse the military coup that took place on July 26 and return power to President Mohamed Bazoum, had threatened to embark on military intervention in the Sahel country, AU had announced the suspension of the country from the continental body.
Elsewhere, the US, France and lately Britain, also support the use of force to flush out the military junta led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani, should it fail to restore democracy in the country and the ousted president to power.
But this has met a lot of challenges including a serious warning to Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is leading the initiative on behalf of ECOWAS as its current chairman to remove the military option from the table and embark on fullscale negotiation to redeem the situation.
Prominent Nigerians had in the last weeks, joined different groups in Nigeria, such as the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), and Northern Elders Forum (NEF), among others in calling for a truce outside force.
Coming against reports that over 7,000 migrants are currently stranded in Niger as a result of border closures, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algerian President, was said to have dispatched the foreign minister, Ahmed Attaf, to visit Nigeria, Benin Republic and Ghana to hold consultations with his counterparts in ECOWAS countries, with a mandate to make a case for diplomacy, rather than military intervention.
The truce option being proposed by Algeria, which also shares borders with Libya and Mali, is coming against the backdrop that Niger would be the fourth nation in West Africa since 2020 to suffer a coup, after Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.
Echoing the position of its North African counterpart, the Egyptian government, also stressed the need for dialogue, while contending that military approach to the issue in Niger would do the West African sub-region and the continent no good, maintained that in as much as it is important to restore democratic governance to Niger Republic within the shortest possible time, it is also expedient not to plunge the country into a war that could affect its neighbours.
“Egypt boosts all efforts exerted to defuse tensions in a way that promotes the democratic order and the sovereignty and stability of Niger and prevents escalations that could shake regional security,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the region (ECOWAS) could ill-afford a military operation at present and cautioned against it.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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