Prof Usman Yusuf is a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). In this interview, he speaks about the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to deploy troops to the Niger Republic, why the 19 northern states won’t support that, among others. JOY ANIGBOGU reports
What can you say about the coup in Niger and the speculation that the resolution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would amount to an attack on northern Nigeria?
I’m really shocked by the development because the primary responsibility of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to Nigeria and not to ECOWAS. He is answerable to us and he has not even addressed Nigerians and justifies what he is going to do. He has gone to the Senate to seek approval but that is not the way to declare war. It is not easy declaring war because you are sending your men and women into harm’s way to go and get killed. I have said it clearly that I’m not into political correctness because we in the North are tired of war. We’ve been at war for 14 years with Boko Haram and nine years with bandits and kidnappers and you are bringing a fresh war to us. We shared with Niger Republic long before the creation of these two entities Niger and Nigeria. We’ve shared heritages in our culture, religion, languages and borders over a thousand kilometres from the northwest end of Kebbi to the northeast end in Borno. We’ve zebra marks in Nigeria and Niger. We’ve Hausas and they’re the predominant tribe in Niger about 53 per cent. We have Fulanis. We’ve Kanuris. The whole of far northeastern Nigeria is Kanuris. So, you are going to war to kill them, for what? Before any president goes to war, he comes and explains to his people the reasons why he is going to war. What is the strategic importance, economic, security or political strategic importance of going to war? What is the self-interest of going to war? The people you are going to war on their behalf, the Western world France and the United States, already know what their interests are. Their strategic interest is not the people of Niger nor Nigeria but what is under the soil of Niger and Nigeria.
Is this really about ethnic identity because the President cannot go to war without the approval of the joint sitting of the National Assembly, he is only seeking approval for the ECOWAS resolutions…
He is sounding like he is more answerable to ECOWAS than Nigeriens. 78 per cent of the landmarks in Nigeria and 19 states are saying no to an unprovoked war with Niger. It is not ECOWAS; his primary responsibility is to Nigerians. He hasn’t convinced us why he should send boots to the grounds in the Niger Republic. And for goodness sake, where are you going to get the troops from? The Nigerian military is stretched and deployed all across the 36 states of this country. Where is he going to get the troops from? Is he going to pull troops from the northwest or the northeast or the southeast? The only place where there is some leeway is the southwest and that will be a small number of troops. He should be very careful if he is going to do the bidding of the Western world. The fight in Niger is not our fight because it is going to be a proxy war between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This is what concerns me the most because we are surrounded by countries where this proxy war is ongoing between Russia and NATO and we are going to do their bidding. President Bola Tinubu has not even settled down and he doesn’t even have his team and he is declaring war without consulting the people and without the consent of the people. We say no to war and we’re not going to support any war.
Are you saying that if other ECOWAS heads of state decide to deploy troops to Niger, Nigeria should pull out of the process and how would that make us look?
I’m saying that if they decide to go through that route it would be a wrong decision. If President Bola Tinubu takes that decision as the chairman of ECOWAS to go to war, he is doing that on his own. He is the President of Nigeria and he is governing 200 million people and we have to give him approval for that even if he is the chairman of ECOWAS. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is more relevant to us than being chairman of ECOWAS. We know that his advisers will not tell him that going to war and sending troops into the Niger Republic would be a disaster. We have had our own share of military takeovers in Nigeria and nobody sent troops to us. What if Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad and nobody sent troops there? We need to be very careful because it is their internal problem and we should be able to help them. The reason why we are saying negotiations do not work was that at the very beginning, you are putting on the table the threat of violence and force and you are asking the other party to listen to you. You brought your last trump card at the very beginning but that is not the way to do it. It shows the inexperience of President Bola Tinubu on the international stage. He is not properly advised and he doesn’t have his team to advise him properly. Let’s say you roll in your tanks, what you do, is you install Mohamed Bazoum by force and you stay there and keep him by force. We’ve seen the United States going to Iran and Afghanistan saying they’ll install democracy there, where are they now? We need to be very careful because a military option is not an option. My recommendations are, first of all, to take that threat of violence off the table because that is what is making them more entrenched in their positions and that is why they refused to see our elders. You’re saying that you’re going to hit them at the same time you’re going to talk to them. Take the threat of violence off the table and start a sincere negotiation. Most importantly, how are you going to help them solve this problem, which is an internal problem? By solving the problem, what is going to happen to Bazoum because his safety is paramount and what is going to happen after that? What do Nigeriens want? Do we want this military and for how long? How can ECOWAS and the international community pressure the junta to have a timetable to transition to a democratic rule as soon as possible without a threat of violence? Essentially, ECOWAS has declared war, they’ve closed borders, airspace and President Bola Tinubu unilaterally broke the treaty between Nigeria and Niger that was signed in 1960 that Nigeria would be supplying Niger Republic electricity. Nigeria currently supplies 70 per cent of electricity to Niger Republic in exchange that Niger Republic will not dam River Niger upstream. If they dam River Niger upstream we won’t have Kainji Dam. President Bola Tinubu unilaterally without reverting to the congress broke that treaty and now the capital of Niger is in darkness. This is a country that has 40 percent of its budget on foreign aid and you are heightening sanctions. What is at stake is more than what we see and the President needs to be properly briefed.
Absolutely, very important connections, President Tinubu’s election is still being contested and the case is in court and there are legitimacy issues nationally and internationally. And for him now, he is the ECOWAS chairman but still the elephant in the room is that the election is still being contested in court. Now the international leaders are calling him and the other day they said United States Vice President Kamala Harris called him to find out what is going on. But what the people should ask is, did Kamala Harris call when people are being slaughtered anywhere in the north? Or Emmanuel Macron called the President? They don’t care for us and they don’t care for Nigeriens. They care for what is in the ground and President Bola Tinubu needs to be very careful and not drag Nigeria into this proxy war between NATO and Russia in Niger.
Source: Independent
