A historian and public affairs analyst, Dr Katch Onunuju, has said ECOWAS, led by President Bola Tinubu, would be waging war against the Hausa ethnic stock if it goes ahead to take military action against the leaders of the recent coup in Niger Republic.
Recall ECOWAS imposed a number of sanctions on military leaders in Niger in a bid to overturn the coup that toppled democratically elected President, Mohamed Bazoum.
The sub-regional body has announced plans to send soldiers to the country following the expiration of the ultimatum given to the junta to relinquish power.
ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah on Friday said a date has been set for the military intervention.
“The D-day is also decided. We’ve already agreed and fine-tuned what will be required for the intervention,” Musah said at the closing session of a two-day meeting of the ECOWAS committee of chiefs of defence staff.
Nigeria’s President, Tinubu, who chairs ECOWAS, has been insisting on military action against the Niger Republic junta led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani, former head of the country’s presidential guards.
However, in an interview with THE WHISTLER, Ononuju, who is also the Director General of the Heritage Centre, Abuja, said Tinubu would be making a catastrophic mistake if ECOWAS makes good its threat to invade Niger.
Ononuju suggested that the coup in Niger was in the interest of the Hausa ethnic group, who, according to him, make up about 55 per cent of the Niger population.
Hausa is also one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria, and some Nigerian northern states share common boundaries with Niger.
Sending ECOWAS forces to Niger would amount to waging war on the Hausa population in the country, Ononuju noted.
Bazoum, the deposed President, is a Shuwa Arab.
Ononuju noted that the Arab stock, comprising the Shuwa, the Touareg and the Fulani, have dominated political power in Niger with the help of French colonial masters, even though they are a minority group.
He suggested that the coup was a means used by the Hausa to effect power change in the country.
Ononuju also pointed out that immediate past Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani, was among Bazoum’s strongest backers, and played a major role in his emergence as Niger Republic President.
“It will be a very catastrophic mistake for Tinubu to think he will go to Niger to fight Hausas because it is purely a Hausa coup against the Shuwa and the Fulani in Niger.
“The deposed President Bazoum is a Shuwa and the Shuwas are only 0.5 per cent of the population. Hausas are about 54 or 55 per cent of the population of Niger.
“So it is all about changing the government. If you don’t allow change of government through the democratic process, the government will be changed through coups.
“That is why Liberian President George Weah’s words make serious sense. He said ‘If you don’t want coups, make sure you allow elections to work’. That message is pertinent in Nigeria, in Niger and every other country in the sub-region,” Ononuju said.
The historian further linked political instability in the Sahel region of Africa to what he described as struggle for domination between the Arab stock and the indigenous Bantu Black African population.
He said the struggle has resulted in an implosion.
“There is an implosion across the Sahel, raging from Mali through Mauritania to The Gambia. It is a fight between those with the Arab colouration represented by the Fulani, the Shuwa and the Touaregs against the historical Bantu black Africans. I see that problem in Nigeria, I see it in Sudan, I see it in the coup in Niger. I see it in Cote D’Ivoire, I see it in Mali. I see it in Senegal.
“So what you see is that slow motion war in the Sahel has finally come to the open. The Shuwa, the Fulani and the Touareg are of the Arab colouration and are intent across the Sahel to dominate the black Bantu stock people. They want to seize control of the Sahel.
“The Fulani, the Shuwa and the Touaregs were linking up with the French to maintain the status quo, just like you see the Anglo-Fulani alliance that had kept Nigeria down.
“People are now beginning to wake up to that truth and that is the truth that the events in Niger bring home to all of us.”
