Coup: "ECOWAS Has No Moral Right To Dictate To Niger About Their Internal Affairs" – Dayo Akintobi

A journalist identified as Dayo Akintobi has spoken about the visit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the Niger Republic following the recent overthrow of the Democratic government by mutineers. It should be noted that the mutineers and ECOWAS didn’t reach an agreement, as the Nigeriens sternly stated that they don’t want war but are ready to defend themselves.

In an interview with the Vanguard paper, Akintobi said, “My take on the whole Niger situation is this: They are a sovereign country; what happens internally to them is primarily their own business. But since we are neighbors, we should attempt diplomatic solutions. If they are not working, you have options of sanctions and things like that.”

“But I think that if a country has not been openly aggressive towards you, in other words, they have not threatened to attack Nigeria or any other ECOWAS country, they are not amassing troops on our borders or anything else, I don’t think we should be belligerent about wanting to go into war with them simply because something happened internally—it is their internal problem. So what we need to do is secure our border and our own defenses to make sure that if what is happening in Niger leads to any encroachment on our territorial integrity, then we are prepared to defend against it.”

“I think that ECOWAS, as a coalition of brother states, should be each other’s brothers’ keeper, but not up to the point where you interfere with the sovereignty of an independent nation.” I don’t think ECOWAS has the moral right to dictate to Niger about their internal affairs, but I think what ECOWAS should do is band together and make sure that what is happening in Niger is not affecting their countries.”

Video ( Watch from 23:00 to 25:30)

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