Niger: El-Rufai warns ECOWAS against military intervention

Former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai has cautioned the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against military intervention in Niger Republic.

He described any military intervention within the sub-region as a war between brothers.

ECOWAS had disclosed plans to use force as a last option if the coup leaders in Niger do not relinquish power to ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

The bloc’s defence chiefs, last Thursday in Accra, Ghana’s capital city, said it had begun the activation of its standby force in Niger.

Although the defence chiefs had backed calls for dialogue as a mediation tactic, the group said all elements that would go into any military intervention had been worked out and were being refined.

Reacting to ECOWAS’ plans, El-Rufai on Tuesday tweeted, “As ECOWAS beats the drums of war, I recall the 1970s rock classic by Dire Straits – ‘Brothers in Arms’, because a war within our subregion is a war between brothers.”