ABUJA, Nigeria
The Economic Community of West African States has rejected the Niger junta’s objective for a transition of power presumably to a democratic government within three years.
“Our ambition is not to confiscate power,” the Head of the military junta, General Abdourahamane Tiani said in a televised address. Any transition of power “would not go beyond three years”, he said.
However, the ECOWAS
Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah (pictured center),
in a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily Monday,
stated that the West African bloc refused to accept it.
“This offer is completely unacceptable
and ECOWAS insists on the restoration of constitutional order as quickly as
possible,” he said, arguing that the commission had the experience of “these
cat-and-mouse games with these military regimes”.
Musah cited the creation of
Niger’s “new” constitution in 2010, which he said was revised in 2017.
“What dramatic change do you
need in the governance architecture of the country to require three years to
experiment with something else? This is like subterfuge to throw ECOWAS
off-course and then do whatever they want,” he said.
“In some other countries under
the military regime in West Africa, they had about three years, and already
they are ‘negotiating’ with their population to have another 18 months. Even a
democratically elected president in Nigeria has only four years to run.
“So, what legitimacy do they
have to already begin with three years? And we know it is not going to end
there.”
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