The Economic Community of West African States has demanded a shorter transition from the military rulers in Niger Republic.
This was revealed by the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Tinubu during a meeting with Muslim clerics in Abuja on Thursday.
In an interview with The Punch at the weekend, a member of the Islamic clerics who met with the President Tinubu, the National Missioner, Ansar-udeen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdulrahman Ahmad, said Mr Tinubu had told them that the three-year transition proposed by the military leaders was unacceptable to the regional body.
He said, “What we did Thursday was to brief him (ECOWAS chairman) on the outcome of our visit. The reason he has asked us to go back is that he wants specifics from the junta. That was what he said; their response was too open-ended and he could not hold that. That is why he asked us to go back.
“The President wants specifics that what he (head of the junta) had said is too general; they want to be able to hold them to a timeline and the commitment and the specifics of the short time of transition.”
On when the delegation would return to Niamey, the cleric said, “We are deliberating on when it will be convenient for members to go back and when it will be convenient for the people we are going to meet to receive us.
“We are still deliberating on when to go back, so we haven’t fixed a date yet. The point is that we have stated it time and time again, over and over, that we are not a government delegation as such.
“The vision to intervene was a private initiative of the Ulamas and it is not a committee set up by the government. We are only trying to facilitate peaceful resolution with regard to the conflict without the need for the use of force.
“So, to that extent, we sought the permission of the President because it is not something we can do on our own, basically with another country. The President granted the permission, and then we began and of course, our President is the chairman of ECOWAS and we briefed him each time we visited the Nigerien people. But basically, it’s is about the convenience of members of the delegation, and then we will reconvene and then we go.’’
