As diplomacy fails, Defence HQ washes hands off standby force | Sanctions collapse as border communities resort to smuggling
Member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) may have given up on diplomatic efforts to restore constitutional order in Niger Republic just as the threat to use military force to oust the military junta that now rules the West African country appears to have fizzled out.
The sanction placed on the junta also appear ineffective as reports from Nigeria’s border communities suggest that residents in the areas have resorted to smuggling goods to Niger Republic with the Nigeria Custom Service turning a blind eye.
General Abdourahamane Tchiani, who seized power in Niger, has also managed to provide alternative source of power in many parts of the country after Nigeria cut off power supply as part of sanctions.
Diplomats and military officials within ECOWAS and the Nigerian government, when questioned on the reasons behind the catastrophic failure to hold the military junta in Niger to account, either deflected responsibility or did not respond to enquiries.
ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, conflict and security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musa, who took a lead role in coordinating the commission’s response to the coup in Niger, did not respond to messages from LEADERSHIP Weekend.
Findings by LEADERSHIP Weekend also suggest that the standby force put together by ECOWAS and stationed in Senegal only exists on paper.
Yet, officials in Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters pointed to Senegal as the best place to get answers on what went wrong with the mission to intervene militarily in Niger, and the lack of progress on the diplomatic front.
A scholar of international affairs and political analyst, Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, said a number of things are responsible for the silence of ECOWAS leaders over military rule in Niger Republic.
He said, ‘’The reactions of ECOWAS leaders to the coup was not thought out; it was emotional and the general reaction of the people in that country was that it was a popular coup; the people wanted the elected man out because of the corruption involved in his election.
“In Nigeria, for instance, our president is the chairman of ECOWAS; he didn’t enjoy a lot of support for that attempted intervention. I guess all of that put together and, of course, that France and the United States of America and other countries that have big interest in the Niger Republic realised that, this time, it would not be in anybody’s interest to start a war in Africa.”
According to Pearse, the war going on between Russia and Ukraine may have deflected the interest of the Western powers from the affairs of Africans.
“In our own country, what most people are saying to President Tinubu and other ECOWAS leaders is: don’t go and remove a speck from somebody’s eye when you have not removed the log in your eye. You have a problem in your country and you want to go and intervene in another person’s problem. Look at our economy problem, social problem, insecurity everywhere, the economy is crashing.”
Pearse said under these circumstances it was difficult for the ECOWAS leaders to go ahead and dabble into the internal affairs of Niger.
“The truth of the matter is the credentials of the ousted president of Niger as a democratic elected officer was suspect and our own president who wanted to intervene and was making so much noise – his own election was under serious contention and was just resolved at the Supreme Court.”
Meanwhile, President Mohammed Bazoum, whose hopes were raised after the initial ECOWAS stance, appears to have been abandoned.
Bazoum was removed from office on July 26, 2023 in a bloodless coup d’etat led by his presidential guards’ brigade commander.
ECOWAS had on July 30, 2023, rising from an extraordinary session in Abuja presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, resolved to impose several sanctions on Niger over the military coup.
Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS commission, said the regional bloc had resolved to close all land and air borders between member countries and Niger, institute an ECOWAS ‘no-fly zone’ on all commercial flights to and from Niger, suspend all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS member states and Niger, freeze all service transactions including energy transactions and deals with all financial institutions, and place a travel ban and an asset freeze on the military officials involved in the coup.
And on August 4, 2023, President Tinubu wrote the Nigerian Senate seeking backing for military intervention following the expiration of a deadline given to the junta to quit.
The Senate, however, rejected the president’s request. Since then, the efforts of the commission slowly started to unravel.
ECOWAS committee of chiefs of defence staff, after an extraordinary meeting in Abuja, said interventions in the Niger Republic would be effected only if diplomacy failed.
The commissioner for political affairs, conflict and security, ECOWAS, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, stated this at the extraordinary meeting of the Committee of the Chiefs of Defense Staff (CCDS) of ECOWAS in Abuja.
In attendance were defence chiefs from Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Cote D’ivoire, Cape Verde and Senegal.
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, said the events of July 26, 2023 in Niger Republic reverberated across the West African borders, affecting all its citizens.
“The recent coup d’état in the Republic of Niger is one event that calls for our collective attention and a united response. We must face the challenges of restoring democratic governance in Niger head-on, drawing on our shared experiences, wisdom, and collective resolve. Our decisions will have far-reaching implications for the ECOWAS region,” he said.
Musa said the ECOWAS, since its establishment, had remained steadfast in its commitment to promoting economic cooperation and regional integration, adding that it had been resolute in its stand against any form of illegal takeover of power, as enshrined in its 2001 Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
Musa acknowledged the complex challenges that lie ahead in carrying out the task.
“The task of restoring democratic governance in Niger is fraught with potential hurdles and complications. However, we cannot afford to be hamstrung by these challenges. Instead, we must confront them head-on, drawing upon our shared experiences, wisdom, and the strength of our collective resolve.”
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on August 4, 2023 said there was no order from ECOWAS’ heads of state to commence military action against the military junta in Niger Republic.
The acting director, Defence Information, Brig.-Gen Tukur Gusau, said the military option was the last option to be taken after every other option failed to reverse the situation and return the government of Republic of Niger to constitutional order.
But three months later, the standby force remains a shadow of itself. The acting director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen Tukur Gusau, when contacted, said questions on ECOWAS military plan should be directed to “ECOWAS or ECOWAS Standby Force”.
He added that ECOWAS Standby Force is not led by Nigeria, adding that he speaks for the Nigerian military and not ECOWAS Standby Force
Border communities turn to smuggling
Meanwhile, the closure of the Illela land border, as part of ECOWAS sanctions slammed on the General Abdourahamane Tchiani-led junta that ousted President Mohammed Bazoum elected government, has changed the socio-economic life of Illela, Sokoto State.
Mohammed Nasir, a resident of Illela, told our correspondent that life had been rough and tough for him since the closure of the border as all business activities that depended on free movement of goods and persons across the border were completely grounded.
He said, “The border closure really crippled commercial activities around here. The closure we thought would be for a short while degenerated into weeks, months, with no likelihood of an end in sight.
“Because of our ties and affinity with the Republic of Niger, anything that affects them, will affect us. We are left with no option than to think outside the box, because we have to survive and our people are inter-related.”
Illela, no doubt, has really roared back to life, with border residents, travellers, traders and smugglers carrying on their activities with less hassles from security agencies on both sides.
A source who preferred anonymity told our correspondent: “We have to adopt survival strategies to overcome the lull in commercial activities imposed on us due to the border closure.
“I can confidently tell you that only the chicken-hearted among us are still feeling the excruciating pain of the border closure. Movement across the border is now through the numerous illegal and porous routes.
“Movement, initially during the rainy season, was herculean but now that the rain has stopped, the stress has also reduced. A traveller only needs to do the ‘needful’ whenever he/she encounters any of the security agents who at times leave their legitimate duty post at the border in the guise of patrolling the illegal routes.
“The security patrols established for the border posts are helpless and cannot do much because the illegal and porous routes around the Illela border are countless.”
After much probing, he mentioned two illegal routes to or from the Illela border to Kwanni in Niger Republic, through a tortuous and dusty bush path.
“One can make the journey through Gidan Kamin, Bakin Dutse, Geti, Babadede, Gidan Ketsu, Tabanni to Kwanni. The other route from Kwanni back to Illela is through Gani, Kasheni, Mungankan, Kwadagla, Kesguda, Babukoli,” he said.
Jibia border community adjusts to sanctions
The Jibia -Magama border in Katsina State has remained shut and motorists are not allowed to cross, with the personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration and other security operatives mounting guard in the area.
However, due to the untold hardship people have been subjected to, some of the residents of the area navigate their ways through illegal routes to bring in some goods.
Security operatives have however mounted roadblocks in most of the areas to contain such movement.
The chairman of the People’s Forum, Jibia local government, Gide Dahiru said they had written several letters to express their challenges and the difficulty facing them, but all failed.
He said, “Food stuff and other perishable items don’t enter Jibia from Katsina town, and Jibia is a local government area of Nigeria.
“This has been the practice even before the closure of the border. Customs doesn’t allow goods to enter Jibia from Katsina. It has been intensified since the announced closure of the border.
“We’ve written letters of complaints to the governor, to which he had intervened, but all to no avail. By extension we have written to Customs headquarters that we are Nigerians and we are experiencing hardship, but to no avail.”
He, however, hinted that some security officials capitalise on their situation to extort the people.
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