The Senate has washed its hands off reports of military action against the coup plotters who last week toppled the democratically-elected president of Niger Republic, warning President Bola Tinubu and Heads of States of member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to explore diplomatic, not military means, in intervening in the political impasse in the country.
The Red Chamber, in an extraordinary session yesterday, also commended President Bola Tinubu for not seeking its backing for a military action in the troubled West African country
Arising from a closed session, the Upper Chamber called on the Nigerian President to rally other Heads of States in the West African sub-region to explore diplomatic options to resolve the political impasse in the landlocked country.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, while reading out the resolutions reached by the lawmakers in the executive session, condemned the coup d’état, adding that “the leadership of the Senate is mandate to engage with the president and commander in chief on behalf of the entire Senate and the National Assembly on how best to resolve the issues, in view of the hitherto cordial relationship between Nigerians and Nigeriens”.
He also recognised that President Tinubu did not ask for Senate’s approval to go to war “as erroneously suggested in some quarters,” as he noted that the President only expressed a wish to solicit the lawmaker’s support to implement the ECOWAS resolution on the matter.
He called on President Tinubu as Head of ECOWAS to explore alternatives to return the neighbouring West African State to “democratic governance in the nearest future,” as the Senate called on the ECOWAS parliament “to rise to the occasion by equally condemning this coup and also positing solutions to resolving this impasse as soon as possible”.
Recall that the President, Bola Tinubu, on Friday wrote to the Red Chamber in his capacity as Chairman of the ECOWAS Heads of States, seeking support to invoke the relevant charters of the sub-regional body on the crisis.
