Index to Nigerian Newspapers

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will follow its sanctions against the military junta in the Republic of Niger to the letter. But the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) advised President Tinubu, who is also Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, to urgently withdraw all sanctions imposed on Niger Republic to ease negotiation. Nigeria had on August 4 closed all its borders with Niger and cut off electricity supply to the country following the refusal by the junta to reinstate detained President Mohamed Bazoum whose government was toppled on July 26. The military rulers had recently expressed their readiness to dialogue with ECOWAS on the crisis. United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said he still sees a chance for diplomacy to reverse a coup in Niger. Military chiefs from ECOWAS will meet in Ghana this week to discuss possible intervention in Niger. ‘ECOWAS following sanctions to the letter’  President Tinubu said ECOWAS was working to keep the sanctions in place. The president said this yesterday when he received the Special Envoy of President Ali Bongo Ondimba and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Gabon, Mr. Hermann Immongault, at the State House, Abuja. He praised the solidarity of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on the political impasse in the Republic of Niger. The military chiefs from the West African bloc ECOWAS will meet in Ghana’s capital Accra this week to discuss a possible intervention in Niger, a spokesperson for the regional group has confirmed.