African affairs analyst, Victor Okhai, has said that the President of Sierra Leone’s refusal to relocate former President Ernest Koroma to Nigeria on Thursday as ordered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a disgrace to the African bloc.
Okhai made this assertion in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday as he said that something may be wrong with the current leadership of ECOWAS, as the regional bloc seems to have lost its “bite”, as well as the respect it once got from the heads of state within the organisation.
During the interview, Okhai said that the situation is a disgraceful one for ECOWAS rather than Sierra Leone, because if there was still respect for the bloc, the order to release Koroma would have been carried out.
He said, “If you look at what is on ground, you will just find out that the regional body has always been united. You will recall that even in settling the matters in Sierra Leone, in settling the matter in Liberia, in going to Gambia when the former president refused to leave office and all of the problems that have happened in the region, you will find out that there has always been respect for ECOWAS, and that was when Nigeria truly was well respected.
“Whether we like it or not, ECOWAS is Nigeria. The strength of ECOWAS is in the strength and fear for Nigeria, and I’m afraid that we are losing that… Now, if the Sierra Leonean President can look ECOWAS in the eye like the Nigerien, the Malian, and the Burkina Faso president and say look, ECOWAS ‘go to hell’, then it just tells you that this is truly a disgrace for ECOWAS.
“It means therefore that the leadership, which is Nigeria really if we look at it. It’s not these presidents you have mentioned. If Nigeria had full control of leadership, if Nigeria were respected, if we speak, none of these countries will say anything.”
The analysts then said that ECOWAS is currently facing a leadership issue as he stated, “It does appear particularly with this current leadership of ECOWAS there’s something wrong with the leadership, and you can see the trend already. And also, the inconsistency as well of the ECOWAS leadership and the facts that agreements, not necessarily agreements, but whatever they say is no longer binding. And I’m afraid that this might just, I hope it’s not going to mark the end of ECOWAS or sort of weaken the regional body as it were.”
He said that the trend is that ECOWAS tends to forget that countries are independent, and that the sovereignty of a nation should be respected, however, the African bloc always seems to give orders and try to establish control in situations.
Okhai then said “It does appear that under the leadership of, I think the Ghanaian President and the current head of ECOWAS, it seems to have lost its bite and the respect of other heads of state within the regional bloc.”
The analyst then explained the ongoing situation in Sierra Leone, saying that there was a sort of power scuffle between Koroma and the current President, Julius Maada Bio.
On his reasoning behind the refusal of Sierra Leone to hand Koroma over to Nigeria, Okhai said, , “I think that the current President is afraid of Koroma in a sense, and the only way for him to go is to either silence him or put him away so that he can ‘rule in peace.’ That seems to be what is happening right now. ECOWAS may have intervened, but that’s not good enough for him because he’s ‘dangerous’ outside. They’re intent on jailing him, keeping him under watch within. From outside, you know, he’s still a free man, people can visit him, people can confer with him. Whether or not he’s planning any coup or anything, but his image seems to be, that’s what the government is afraid of, and that’s what is happening. And I doubt that they will release him.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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