Index to Nigerian Newspapers

President Bola Tinubu met with governors of five Nigerian states sharing the border with the Niger Republic at State House, Abuja, to discuss options to restore democratic governance in the troubled republic. The meeting was held at the expiration of the one-week ultimatum handed to the Nigerien coup plotters by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Senior security officials criticised the senate for undermining Tinubu's diplomacy by not supporting military action in Niger. ECOWAS' Chiefs of Defence Staff announced that a military action plan for the restoration of democracy in Niger Republic was ready and awaiting approval from the heads of states and government. However, some foreign affairs experts maintain that the planned invasion of Niger remains unpopular and urge key players in the ECOWAS plan to rethink. Eight leading civil society organizations in northern Nigeria cautioned the ECOWAS leadership against economic sanctions and military action in the effort to fix the political impasse in Niger Republic.

Senators have rejected President Bola Tinubu's request to deploy Nigerian troops to the Niger Republic as part of an ECOWAS force to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum. The coup leaders were given a seven-day ultimatum to restore constitutional order or face force. Nigeria imposed sanctions on the coup leaders, cutting electricity supplies and closing its borders. West African defense chiefs had drawn a plan for military action, which President Tinubu wrote to the Senate for permission to involve Nigerian troops in. Senators agreed to pass a resolution condemning the coup and commending ECOWAS leaders on their efforts to restore constitutional order in Niger, but ruled out military options. They urged President Tinubu to intensify negotiation with the coup leaders and send elderstatemen as special envoys to dialogue. They also argued that Nigeria's military is ill-equipped and not prepared to fight war, and that Niger is the highest arms market in Africa.