By Miracle Ogunde
World leaders have reacted to an apparent coup attempt in Niger on Wednesday, after President Mohamed Bazoum was detained by the Presidential Guard in the capital Niamey.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spoke in a phone conversation with the Nigerien president made it clear that the United States resolutely supports him as the democratically elected president of Niger.
Speaking in a joint press conference in New Zealand during a two-day visit, Blinken calls for the immediate release of the Nigerian President held in hostage by the army.
However, Benin’s President, Patrice Talon, during a visit to the new head of regional bloc ECOWAS, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, said he would be travelling to Niger on a mediation mission.
It is unclear whether he will be mediating on behalf of ECOWAS or Tinubu himself.
Speaking before his departure, Talon said, “All means will be used, if necessary, to restore constitutional order in Niger, but ideally everything should happen in peace and harmony.”
“The situation is worrying enough that ECOWAS and President Tinubu, the President of Nigeria, a neighbour of Niger, with Benin, also a neighbour of Niger, take it seriously and want to act quickly,” Talon added.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, who was elected to lead ECOWAS in July, has pushed for a return to democracy in West African countries now run by military governments.
“Without democracy there’s no governance, there’s no freedom, there’s no rule of law. We will not allow coup after coup in West Africa sub-region,” Tinubu said in July.
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