Hope Rises As Lamido Sanusi Meets With Niger Junta Leaders

The New Diplomat
Writer

Ad

The Gift of Hindsight: What I Would Tell My Younger Self, By Johnson Babalola

By Johnson Babalola @jbdlaw Hindsight, they say, is life’s most generous teacher—but it sends its lessons late. It is only after the storms that the patterns become clear; only after the wrong turns that the map begins to make sense. As I celebrate another birthday today and have grown older, I often find myself reflecting…

Gasoline Prices Drop Toward Pandemic-Era Lows

The national average price of gasoline dropped below $3 a gallon over the weekend. GasBuddy has predicted that prices will go even lower in the coming weeks, with good prospects of motorists enjoying sub-$3 prices for extended periods. This drop is overwhelmingly being driven by the significant increase in oil production from OPEC throughout 2025.…

Alleged Christian Genocide Claim is Damaging Nigeria’s Image– Tuggar Laments

By Abiola Olawale Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has voiced concern over what he described as the damaging impact of the "Christian genocide" narrative on Nigeria's international image. This is as the Minister claimed that the country's complex security challenges are being falsely simplified as religious persecution. Speaking at the Reuters NEXT Gulf Summit…

Ad

By Ishola Kayode

In the effort to stave off war, a former Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, has gone to Niger to meet with the junta leaders.

As the deadline given to the coup plotters by the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, elapsed and battle drums begin to beat, frantic efforts are been made by elites in northern Nigeria as well as president Bola Tinubu‘s allies to prevent the situation from escalating.

In a recent picture, Mr Sanusi who was a former Emir of Kano, could be seen standing beside the leader of the junta, General Abdourahamane Tchiani during his visit to Niger.

Mr. Tchiani had cut off diplomatic relations with the United States, France and Nigeria and refused to meet with a joint delegation of the UN, AU and ECOWAS.

He also refused audience to an ECOWAS delegation led by former military leader Abdulsalami Abubakar and declined meeting with the US Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland.

It is not clear in what capacity Mr Sanusi visited Niger but the fact that the junta leaders agreed to a meeting with him shows how influential the former CBN governor is and gives hope that the impasse can yet be resolved through dialogue.

Mr Sanusi is not only a close ally of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu who is also the ECOWAS leader, he is also the spiritual leader (Khalifah) of the Tijaniyah Islamic movement in Nigeria, a movement with millions of members across West Africa, including Niger.

The former emir was accompanied on the visit, by the Emir of Damagaram in Zinder, in the Maradi region of Niger.

This meeting is especially special because since the regional body ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Niger following last month’s coup, Mr Tchiani has refused to meet most of the official delegations sent to the country.

ECOWAS leaders will meet Thursday to review the situation in Niger following the expiration of the one week ultimatum given to the coup leaders to relinquish power back to President Mohamed Bazoum.

 

Ad

X whatsapp