By Ihechi Enyinnaya
Thousands of Niger Residents on Thursday took to the streets of Niamey, the state capital, protesting what they termed undue interference of President Bola Tinubu as ECOWAS chairman, in the internal affairs of the country.
A TikTok video obtained by Daily Review Online showed one of the placards with different pictures of President Tinubu and his name ‘Bola’ Tinubu cancelled and replaced with ‘Ebola Tinubu’.
It read in French:”Fossile du précambrien, ami d’enfance de ADO et Brigitte Macron, fils illégitime de Joe Biden. résident en exercice des foutaises de la CEDEAO”
Translated to English it read: “Primitive fossil, childhood friend of ADO and Brigitte Macron(Wife of Emmanuel Macron); illegitimate son of Joe Biden, practicing resident of ECOWAS bullshit.”
This came ahead of a delegation to Niger Republic by President Tinubu with a mandate to expeditiously resolve the current political impasse in the country.
The action was in line with the resolution reached at the end of the extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS held last weekend in Abuja.
The delegation, headed by former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd), left for Niamey on Thursday following a briefing by President Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
The former Nigerian Head of State is joined in the delegation by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Omar Alieu Touray.
The President has also sent a separate delegation led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe to engage with the leaders of Libya and Algeria on the Niger crisis.
Briefing the two delegations, President Tinubu charged them to engage all stakeholders robustly with a view to doing whatever it takes to ensure a conclusive and amicable resolution of the situation in Niger for the purposes of African peace and development rather than a move to adopt the geopolitical positions of other nations.
“We don’t want to hold brief for anybody. Our concern is democracy and the peace of the region,” the President said.
Speaking after the meeting, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd) said the delegation would meet the coup leaders in Niger to present the demands of the ECOWAS leadership.