{"id":65676,"date":"2023-07-26T22:35:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T22:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=65676"},"modified":"2023-07-26T22:35:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T22:35:56","slug":"tinubus-reaction-to-coup-attempt-next-door-in-niger-and-what-is-known-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=65676","title":{"rendered":"Tinubu’s reaction to \u2018coup attempt\u2019 next door in Niger, and what is known so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a first concrete step, the Presidentof Nigeria’s western neighbour, Benin, Patrice Talon, is on his way to Niger to broker some form of agreement, as an ECOWAS envoy, after he met with the Chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government and Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n

Many local analysts were sure that if Muhammadu Buhari was still Nigeria’s President, the story might have been different, perhaps tenser than it is now. Some were sure the presidential guards would not have contemplated a coup.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Tinubu did not hide his disdain for what was happening next door on the country’s northern flank.. As soon as information filtered in, as he himself put it, he issued a personally signed statement in which he sent a not-so-subtle threat to the military adventurers in Niamey, the country’s capital.<\/p>\n

His words: “It should be quite clear to all players in the Republic of Niger that the leadership of the ECOWAS Region and all lovers of democracy around the world will not tolerate any situation that incapacitates the democratically-elected government of the country.<\/p>\n

“The ECOWAS leadership will not accept any action that impedes the smooth functioning of legitimate authority in Niger or any part of West Africa.<\/p>\n

“I wish to say that we are closely monitoring the situation and developments in Niger and we will do everything within our powers to ensure democracy is firmly planted, nurtured, well rooted and thrives in our region.<\/p>\n

“I am in close consultation with other leaders in our region, and we shall protect our hard-earned democracy in line with the universally acceptable principle of constitutionalism.<\/p>\n

“As the Chairperson of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, I state without\u00a0 equivocation that Nigeria stands firmly with the elected government in Niger and equally conveys the absolute resolve of leaders in our sub-region that we shall not waver or flinch on our stand to defend and preserve constitutional order.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
President Mohammed Bazoum of Niger Republic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Al Jazeera, an\u00a0attempted coup is under way\u00a0in the fragile state of Niger, sources and neighbouring countries have said, after members of the Presidential Guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum inside his palace in the capital Niamey.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s incident triggered a standoff with the army and has sparked global condemnation.<\/p>\n

The West African bloc ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) also lashed what they called an \u201cattempted coup d\u2019etat\u201d. ECOWAS called on the plotters to free Bazoum, while the AU urged the \u201cfelon\u201d soldiers involved to return to barracks immediately.<\/p>\n

The presidency\u2019s official Twitter account said that Bazoum and his family were well, adding that guards engaged in an \u201canti-Republican demonstration\u201d and tried \u201cin vain\u201d to obtain the support of the other security forces.<\/p>\n

Who is in charge?<\/p>\n

The palace and ministries next to it have been blocked off by military vehicles. Staff inside the palace were also unable to access their offices, according to reports, but there was calm elsewhere in Niamey.<\/p>\n

Bazoum has appeared unwilling to accept the plotters\u2019 demands and give up power.<\/p>\n

Niger\u2019s presidency said in a statement that the national army was ready to attack the guards if they did not come to their senses.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Abuja in neighbouring Nigeria, said there was a directive from the army for troops loyal to Bazoum to move in to quell what seemed to be a coup attempt.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, negotiations were under way between Bazoum\u2019s camp and the leaders of the presidential guard, according to Idris.<\/p>\n

The president of neighbouring Benin, Patrice Talon, said he was going to Niger on Wednesday to mediate after meeting with Nigeria\u2019s president and ECOWAS leader Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n

Why has this happened?<\/p>\n

It has remained unclear why there was a revolt but analysts said rising costs of living and perceptions of government incompetence and corruption may have driven the guards\u2019 move.<\/p>\n

There have been four military takeovers in neighbouring Mali and\u00a0Burkina Faso\u00a0since 2020.<\/p>\n

Those coups were spurred in part by frustrations about authorities\u2019 failure to stem a rebel uprising blighting the Sahel region.<\/p>\n

There was also a thwarted coup attempt in Niger in March 2021, when a military unit tried to seize the presidential palace days before Bazoum who had just been elected, was due to be sworn in.<\/p>\n

A military takeover in the former French colony could further complicate Western efforts to help countries in the region fight the rebellion that has spread from Mali over the past decade.<\/p>\n

The incident potentially has implications given how much Western countries have invested in Niger in terms of money and security.<\/p>\n

The country has been perceived by many as one of the last bulwarks against expanding insecurity in the region.<\/p>\n

Ulf Leassing, an analyst with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that while Niger has appeared to be stable due to the influx of aid, this is always \u201ca bit of an illusion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state is very weak, it\u2019s very poor, and it doesn\u2019t take much to overthrow a president in Niger,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Niger is also a key ally of the European Union in its attempts to curb irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

How did the international community react?<\/p>\n

The UN led condemnation of the attempted coup and denounced any attempt to seize power by force in comments largely echoed by the European Union, the United States, and France.<\/p>\n

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres \u201ccalls on all actors involved to exercise restraint and to ensure the protection of constitutional order,\u201d spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.<\/p>\n

The US said it condemned efforts to detain or subvert the functioning of Niger\u2019s democratically elected government, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, and urged the release of Bazoum.<\/p>\n

The US Department of State in a separate statement also expressed strong support for the Niger president and said it was in communication with the US embassy in Niamey. The department said it was \u201cgravely concerned about the developments in Niger\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU condemns any attempt to destabilize democracy and threaten the stability of Niger,\u201d EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a social media post.<\/p>\n

France also condemned any attempt to seize power and advised French citizens in Niamey to act with vigilance.<\/p>\n

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said Paris was watching the situation carefully, but \u201ccondemned attempts to take power by force\u201d.<\/p>\n

France moved troops to the country from Mali last year after its relations with the military government there soured.<\/p>\n

\u25aa\ufe0e Additional reporting by AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a first concrete step, the Presidentof Nigeria’s western neighbour, Benin, Patrice Talon, is on his way to Niger to broker some form of agreement, as an ECOWAS envoy, after he met with the Chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government and Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu. Many local analysts were sure that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":65323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777,7],"tags":[3168,247,56],"class_list":["post-65676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","category-news","tag-coup","tag-niger","tag-tinubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/65323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}