The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mahama Ayariga has applauded the regional bloc’s order to its standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger.

Mr. Ayariga said that inasmuch as it is important to resolve the Nigerien crisis diplomatically, it is also prudent to demonstrate the military capacity of ECOWAS because the military junta in Niger is not willing to dialogue since the coup occurred on July 27.

“We all believe that ultimately the issue should be resolved diplomatically but for diplomacy to work effectively, the military option has to remain on the table and those that ECOWAS will be engaging in Niger must understand that ECOWAS has the capacity to enforce its will and if ECOWAS does not demonstrate that capacity, the diplomatic option will not be an effective option. So I am not surprised that ECOWAS is sharpening its knife to demonstrate to the Nigerien junta that it has the capacity to enforce its will.”

“Ultimately, it is sitting and talking and dialoguing that will resolve this issue, but that will not proceed unless the Nigerien junta feels the capacity of ECOWAS.”


The Bawku Central legislator also charged the sub-region to decide what values to uphold in its journey to development and work toward achieving them.

“I will want to state that as a sub-region, we need to have a clear position on what values are most important to us. If the rule of law and democracy is important to us, then, we must all be ready to pay the price for making sure that we uphold these values and no price should be too dear to uphold these values.”

Source: citifmonline