Nig, Benin, Niger, Guinea Bissau Express Commitment To Democratic Transition

Nigeria, Benin Republic, Niger, and Guinea Bissau have re-affirmed their commitment to the expeditious transition to democracy in West African countries under military rule.

Leaders of the 4 countries, who met and adopted the decision in Abuja, said they would re-engage the junta in the affected countries to ensure peaceful transition.

The affected countries are Burkina-Faso, Mali, and Gambia, where the forceful takeover of government by the military is being viewed by ECOWAS as a threat to the peace and stability of the sub-region.

The meeting and adoption of the decision of the 4 leaders, who called themselves Troika+, was aimed at ensuring the prevention of coup dètat on the continent.

Briefing newsmen on the essence of the meeting, the President of ECOWAS Commission, Alhaji Umar Alieu, said they would commence re-engagement shortly.

“The leaders have taken the decision to re-engage the three countries at the highest level. A member of the Troika, the President of the Republic of Benin, will undertake a mission to these three countries on behalf of the Heads of State. The transition must be in accordance with ECOWAS protocols and in accordance with their individual transition chatters”, he explained.

On security, Alhaji Umar Alieu said the leaders had resolved to provide a robust regional response to perceived threats to peace.

“The regional response shall include operationalisation of the ECOWAS Plan of Action, with the region’s own troops and financing. The security response shall also include support to individual member-states of the region. The response shall also include the use of specific models of peace and security”, Alhaji Omar Alieu added.

While commenting on attaining security in the West African sub-region, President Bola Tinubu said member-states could raise funds towards that.

“We have no problem raising funds, and we have all the instrumentalities to do that, so concerning our design and engineering of our finances, we believe we’re capable of raising necessary funds to combat terrorism and insecurity in the region”, the President assured.

Abdullah Bello, Edited By Grace Namiji