As tension continue to build-up over the threat by President Bola Tinubu and ECOWAS to commence military intervention aimed at restoring the elected leader of Niger Republic, many Nigerians living the that country have pleaded with the President to reconsider his position and rather continue with diplomatic moves on the matter.
The also begged the President to evacuate them from the troubled country if he and ECOWAS insist in military intervention in the country.
It would be recalled that the military in Niger Republic recently toppled President Mohamed Bazoum, accusing him of inefficiency and other allegations and have gone ahead to set up a replacement government after Bazoum ‘resigned’ from his office.
According to a report by Saturday Punch the Nigerians said the appeal became necessary so as to avoid being caught up in the line of fire and to avoid a repeat of what happened in Sudan where many Nigerian students were trapped when fighting broke out between the government forces and rebels.
They are also apprehensive of being subjected to xenophobic attacks by Nigeriens in retaliation of Nigeria’s role in rallying other ECOWAS member states to reject the unconstitutional change of government in the country.
ECOWAS under the leadership of President Tinubu had on Thursday resolved to deploy troops in Niger following the refusal of the military leaders to restore democracy despite the sanctions imposed on them and their collaborators by the sub-regional body.
After a meeting of the ECOWAS Heads of States and Government in Abuja, the President of ECOWAS, Omar Touray, said the bloc had directed the deployment of a “standby force” to restore democracy in Niger after the coup.
But Touray gave no details about the make-up, location and proposed date for the deployment of the military intervention force.
One of those who spoke to Punch, Maina Bukar, who earlier fled to Damasak, Borno State following the crisis said- “They (Nigeriens) are also angry with us (Nigerians) for closing the borders because a large quantum of household provisions the citizens use to flow there from Nigeria.
“A very close friend of mine at Diffa, who is deeply sympathetic to the coup plotters, was already keeping me at arm’s length. Nigerian communities there, especially refugees of the Boko Haram insurgency, are in palpable fear of possible hostilities from their hosts should ECOWAS unleash its forces against their country.”
Another Nigerian, Musa Ali, who also crossed the border to Damasak, Borno State, and whose many relatives are still refugees in Niger, said, “Our hosts, especially those sympathetic to the junta, have now begun to display hostility toward us.
“They are angry with Nigerians because of our country’s stance on war with their country as they see what is happening in Niger as purely an internal affair.
“Now, our relations there are in danger should the hostilities continue, and they dare not return home partly because the borders between the two countries have been closed and also because insurgents are still in control of our ancestral communities and still unleashing terror.
“Our relations now daily complain to us that life is becoming unbearable in Niger Republic and are appealing to the Federal Government to arrange their evacuation back to Nigeria before ECOWAS troops will move in.”