Niger Coup: ECOWAS Has Lost Credibility By Issuing Threats Before Exploring Options, Says Babafemi Badejo

Babafemi Badejo, a professor of Political Science and International Relations, has said that the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) has not had enough experience in being an intervention force, and that they have lost credibility by issuing threats before weighing the available options

In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, the professor, giving his opinion on the conflict between ECOWAS and the Nigerien junta, said that the ultimatum given by ECOWAS to the junta in Niger was given without the leadership giving thought to the consequences of the threats that were issued. 

He then said that due to the issued threats, the ECOWAS had lost credibility, saying, “I think we’ve lost credibility. ECOWAS is losing credibility by issuing threats before weighing what the options are. The first thing to have been done, would have been to send a delegate, an envoy. 

“Well, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu tried to send President Patrice Talon of Benin Republic. He was not welcomed, okay, but it would have been different if at that time, he had decided to  send Abdulsalami Abubakar or even President Buhari if he is still having time to go talk to his brethren in Niger, to see what can be done, but we didn’t take all that at the beginning but because things are now slipping, we are now beginning to see that we should go into negotiation.”

Badejo went on to say, “I think we have moved too fast in threatening to use force without weighing the possibilities of our success in using such a force, and ECOWAS has very limited experience in terms of being an intervention force. We have not even succeeded on the economic and political good governance issues, but we are turning ourselves into an intervention force that is ready to go into Niger and reverse the situation.” 

The professor then said that the major thing that ECOWAS should be focused on was to ensure the end of coup contagion, saying, “Yes, we are concerned about the coup contagion spreading and I think that’s our main concern if we have anything in this, but the solution to coup contagion is not to fight. It is to deal with why are people not happy with the governments that they have. 

“And if people are not happy with the governments that they have, what can we do to ensure that there is proper democracy? 

“Democracy is not because you have won elections, that is a very small minute aspect of democracy. It is the performance. It is the dividends that people get out of. Why do we have governments? It is for government to take charge and make life better for us.”

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

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