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 during the weekend, 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 (UN) Security Council.
Similarly, another ECOWAS parliamentarian, Hadja Satu Camara, agreed with the submissions of Ndume. She 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, holding a contrasting view, another Senator, Bayo Olusegun Balogun, noted that an intervention must not necessarily connote war or violence against Niger and its people. He stated that the military junta in Niger must be dealt with to serve as precedence for any other nation nursing the ambition of a coup.
He added that ECOWAS would be seen as a toothless bulldog if an intervention did not occur.
The report added that most lawmakers appealed to the parliament to adopt dialogue to mitigate the situation rather than military intervention.
