President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met with governors of states that share boundaries with the Niger Republic.
The states represented at the meeting on Sunday at the presidential villa were Sokoto, Kebbi, Yobe, Katsina, and Jigawa, though the issues discussed were not immediately known at the time of this report,
TheCable understands that the meeting was part of wider consultations by the president on the political instability in Niger.
The sit-down also coincided with the deadline from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the Nigerien military to reinstate deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.
In a meeting last Sunday, Tinubu, chairperson of ECOWAS, said the organisation had resolved to use force, as a last option, if the coup leaders in Niger did not meet its demands within the stipulated time frame.
The Northern Senators Forum (NSF) had asked Tinubu to exhaust all diplomatic means in resolving the crisis in the West African country.
The forum warned that deploying Nigerian troops to the Niger Republic will hurt seven northern states —Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno —sharing borders with the country.
While many stakeholders have called for a diplomatic resolution to the political impasse in Niger, it is not clear what steps the regional body would take as the deadline draws to a close.
One week after announcing the ouster of Bazoum, Niger’s new military government reopened the country’s land borders and airspace to Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Libya, and Chad, excluding other ECOWAS member states.
A few days later, the Nigerian government closed all its land borders with Niger and cut off electricity supply to the country.
In reaction, Niger’s military recalled its ambassadors in Nigeria, France, the United States and Togo.
