President Bola Tinubu on Saturday tasked the military leaderships of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali to reconsider their decision to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
President Tinubu, who is also the Chairman of ECOWAS, noted that the body is ready to reconsider its punitive approach to restoring constitutional rule to the states.
The appeal was made on Saturday during an extraordinary summit on the political, peace, and security situation in the region at the State House, Abuja.
In his appeal to the countries, he urged them to consider the welfare of their people even as they look forward to further negotiations on how they would return to the ECOWAS.
Admitting the strict measures of the ECOWAS against the countries that were taken over by a military junta (Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger), Tinubu explained that such measures were used to restore democracy in these nations not because they are enemies.
He said, “Times like we currently face in our sub-region demand that we take difficult but courageous decisions that put the plight of our people at the centre of our deliberations. Democracy is nothing more than the political framework and the path to addressing the basic needs and aspirations of the people.
“This is why we must re-examine our current approach to the quest for constitutional order in four of our member states. I, therefore, urge them to reconsider the decision of the three of them to exit their home and not to perceive our organisation as the enemy.”
News About Nigeria recalls that following the coups that led to the removal of civilian governments in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in May 2021, September 2022 and July 2023, respectively, the ECOWAS announced economic sanctions that isolated the three states alongside Guinea, where the military took over in September 2021.
Because of the military takeover, the ECOWAS suspended all commercial and financial transactions between its current members and the junta-led states and also frozen all their assets at the ECOWAS Central Bank.
In response to the punitive measures taken by the ECOWAS, three nations (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) announced their withdrawal from the ECOWAS on the grounds that its “illegal sanctions” were harming the people.
