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Former head of state and special envoy of the Economic Community of West African States to Niger Republic, General Abdulsalami Abubakar(rtd.) has assured that the political crisis would be resolved diplomatically, but the African Union suspended the country yesterday. He gave this assurance yesterday while interacting with newsmen at the state house meeting  with President Bola Tinubu, who doubles as Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS. Responding to question on possibility of military action in Niger, he said “hopefully diplomacy will see the better of this. Nobody wants to go war, it doesn’t pay anybody but, then again, our leaders have said if all fails… and I don’t think all will fail, we’ll get somewhere; we’ll get out of this mess.”
Abubakar, who had last weekend held a meeting with the ousted President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, and the leaders of the junta in the country, said he had delivered the terms of the Abdouramane Tchiani-led junta to ECOWAS. According to him, correspondences had opend between the West African regional bloc and the military in Niger, noting that the line of contact opened by ECOWAS through his appointment as envoy has been very fruitful, expressing hope that something concrete would soon come out of it.
Hisv wods: “As you are aware, the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government have made me an Envoy to Niger Republic and we were there over the weekend to see the military people and discussed to find a way out of the lacuna we find ourselves.