President Bola Tinubu is presently meeting with association of Muslim Ulemas. The meeting is seen as being connected with the ongoing consultations by the President over the political crises in Niger Republic.
Ulema is a body of Muslim scholars who are recognised as having specialist knowledge of Islamic sacred law and theology
Although details of the meeting and its agenda was not immediately available, as at the time of this report, inside sources say the meeting is not unconnected with the ongoing efforts by the President to explain the ECOWAS mandate, as well as reduce tension in the northern part of Nigeria, over the proposed ECOWAS military action.
BusinessDay gathered further that the President is using the meeting to explain reasons for the multiple sanctions against the military rulers in the landlocked Nigerians neighbours.
The visit is coming few days after a Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), an amalgamation of about 54 groups in Northern Nigeria, warned that waging war with the Niger Republic will have far reaching consequences for Nigeria, than currently envisaged.
The group had noted that any war with Niger Republic will have a spiral effect that will engulf the entire West African subregion and bring about mass killings and suffering of innocent people.
Read also: Niger coup: Sanctions imposed by ECOWAS and Western allies
They also believe that such military intervention would be resisted by Russia/China, Mali and Burkina Faso, who have constituted themselves into a coalition of friends of Niger Republic.
The President however, in his reaction, has assured Nigerians that whatever decision is taken finally will be done to ensure the safety of all Nigerians
Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, at the Presidential Villa, on Tuesday, the President stated that the ultimatum given to the military Junta in Niger Public is “not a Nigerian mandate and those of the office of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu”
The President, he said, conveyed the ECOWAS position as the current Chairman of ECOWAS” , urging Nigerians “not to personalise the decision”
“Due to certain domestic and international media coverage, tending toward a personalization of the ECOWAS sub regional position to his Preston and to our nation individually, it is because of this that mr. president has deemed it necessary to state unequivocally that the mandate and ultimatum by issued ECOWAS is that of ECOWAS.
He stated that while President Bola Tinubu has assumed the ECOWAS chairmanship, the position of ECOWAS conveys the consensus position of member heads of state. And a coup will not occur in one’s backyard, without one be particularly aware of it.
“The President, in recent days, particularly following the expiration of the ultimatum given by ECOWAS has widened consultations internationally but most especially domestically, including interfaces with state governors in Nigeria, who govern states bordering Niger Republic on the various fallouts and outcomes of the unfortunate situation that has unfolded in Niger Republic.
He noted that the response of ECOWAS to the military coup in Niger has been and will remain devoid of ethnic and religious sentiments and considerations.
“The regional bloc is made up of all sub regional ethnic groups, religious groups, and all other forms of human diversity. And the response of ECOWAS, therefore, represents all of these groups, and not any of these groups individually.
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