Niger: Civil war between brothers – El-Rufai warns ECOWAS against military intervention

A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has advised the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) not to consider military intervention in Niger Republic.

The chairperson of ECOWAS, President Bola Tinubu, had said the bloc had resolved to use force as a last resort if the Niger coup leaders do not relinquish power to the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

After a meeting of the bloc’s defence chiefs in Accra, Ghana’s capital city, ECOWAS said on Thursday, that it had begun the activation of its standby force in Niger.

However, in a Twitter post today, El-Rufai claimed military intervention would be a war between brothers.

“As ECOWAS beats the drums of war, I recall the 1970s rock classic by Dire Straits – ‘Brothers in Arms’, because a war within our subregion is a war between brothers.

“Indeed, the people of Niger Republic are one and the same with those living in Northern Nigeria. Let us bend therefore over backwards to avoid this civil war between brothers,” he wrote.