President Bola Tinubu has declared that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will continue to persuade the military leaders of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso to return their nations to the sub regional body.
The President, who is the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, reaffirmed this position at a meeting with ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, “It is in our hearts to make sure that security is enhanced and that constitutional government is defended and promoted in our region.
”It has been a challenging tenure for me since three members indicated their exit. We will work hard to persuade them to return, whichever way.
”No one man is smarter than the group of heads that is here. We will do everything to offer a hand of friendship to them and give them reasons to come back to us”.
He commended the defence chiefs for their commitment to regional stability and protection of constitutional governance.
”The solution to terrorism and other challenges lies in our hands. We have to do it together. The ECOWAS standby force must be ready. We will continue to invest in this, as well as in the economic prosperity and opportunities across our region,” President Tinubu said.
Earlier in his remarks, Chairman of ECOWAS Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, informed the President that the defence chiefs had agreed that challenges in the region, such as insurgency and unconstitutional changes in government, must be addressed collectively.
According to him, discussions at the meeting also focused on enhancing the capacity of ECOWAS military components, including the proposed standby force.
He announced that a decision had been made to deploy 1,200 troops to Sierra Leone, with countries making pledges to support this effort.
”We are aware that the ECOWAS ministers of finance will meet to discuss the issue of funding, which is another very critical aspect. We also looked at the issue of logistics,” he said.
Highlighting the balance between military efforts and the political components of good governance, peace and security as essential for achieving long-term stability, General Musa pledged the commitment of the defence chiefs to work in unison to ensure the security and safety of the West African sub-region.
Meanwhile, the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff, yesterday said that West Africa is under immortal dangers.
The Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, ECOWAS Commission, Amb Abdel-Fatau Musah, said, “We’ve got challenges, but collaboration is the best way to go. So that is why we meet here today. And one of the key items on our agenda is the activation of the ECOWAS standby force in its kinetic mode to fight terrorism in our region”.
The Commissioner said member states have pledged support for the initiative, stressing that this committee has been fine-tuning the roadmap towards the eventual activation of the kinetic force.
According to him, we need to fight terrorism. Our region is in immortal danger and you can see terrorism moving from the Sahel to the coastal countries.
“In the past few weeks, we’ve had at least about four or five very powerful attacks in our region, in Niger, in northern Mali, and we’ve had cross border incursions into the coastal countries of Benin and Togo. So nobody is sort of safe from the terrorist. That is why the committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff have met here to work out modalities for confronting this existential threat that is facing our sub region,” he said.
Deji Elumoye and Ikechukwu Aleke
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