Lawmaker and member of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) parliament, Ali Ndume, has kicked against military intervention of the Republic of Niger following the military takeover of the West African country.
Ndume stated this on Saturday, August, at the extraordinary plenary session of the ECOWAS parliament held over the weekend.
According to reports, the federal lawmaker said Nigeria could not afford to go to war, noting that its people would bear the brunt of any military engagement.
Ndume also noted that it would be unconstitutional for Nigeria to go to war with Niger without the approval of the National Assembly of Nigeria and the United Nations security council.
Similarly, another ECOWAS parliamentarian, Hadja Satu Camara, agreed with the submissions of Ndume.
Camara stated that citizens must be considered before any other political sentiments. She said the current economic dispensation in West Africa does not favour war as the best solution to oust the military junta in the Republic of Niger.
Meanwhile, Bayo Olusegun Balogun held a contrasting view and noted that an intervention must not necessarily connote war or violence against Niger and its people.
Read also what ECOWAS military invasion of Niger means for Nigeria – Sen. Sani.
He stated that military intervention does not mean declaring war against Niger as a nation but would be a declaration of war against the military junta.
The Nigerian lawmaker said the military junta in Niger must be dealt with to serve as precedence for any other nation nursing the ambition of a coup.
He said ECOWAS would be seen as a toothless bulldog if an intervention did not occur.
Similarly, Billay Tunkara of the Gambian National Assembly said there is a need to make a bold statement and end the pattern of military coups in the sub-region of ECOWAS.
The report added that most lawmakers appealed to the parliament to adopt dialogue to mitigate the situation rather than military intervention.
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