By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Pastor Reno Omokri, the Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, has thrown his weight behind the steps President Bola Tinubu took to contain military coups against democratically elected governments in West Africa, against the backdrop of ECOWAS quit by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic.
Reno who stressed that Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso are landlocked poor nations that need ECOWAS more than ECOWAS needs them, disclosed this via his X account while reacting to the statement by the three countries.
His statement reads in full:
The withdrawal of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso from the Economic Community of West African States is more of a setback for those countries than for ECOWAS. What has been their historic contribution to ECOWAS over the years?
In terms of financial contributions, they were not contributors. Regarding the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), their military contribution was appreciated.
However, it was negligible. Nigeria and Ghana bore the brunt of ECOMOG. As a matter of fact, Burkina Faso even supported Charles Taylor, who was fighting ECOMOG. Please fact-check me.
I completely support and wholeheartedly align with the steps President Bola Tinubu took to contain military coups against democratically elected governments in West Africa. Yes, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso are landlocked poor nations that need ECOWAS more than ECOWAS needs them.
Nevertheless, Nigeria gave leadership to West Africa, which has since halted the raft of coups that threatened the subregion.
Military dictators took the decision, and the unwise move will more than likely be overturned when democracy returns or even when a new strong man overthrows the present Putin puppets in those nations.
Their economic and security situation has worsened since the coups that occurred in each of those countries. And their reason for withdrawal is just a ruse. They claim that the ECOWAS has derailed from the founding fathers’ ideals. But that does not hold water given that the ECOWAS was founded in 1975 to promote democracy and good governance, as well as inter-regional trade and security in 1975.
If anybody has derailed from these ideals, it is Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso who have just traded neo-colonisation from France with overlordship from Russia.
Nigeria was right to push for sanctions when these countries went from democracy to dictatorship. We have seen this before. Even Nigeria said worse about the Commonwealth under Abacha. But as soon as Abacha ‘died’, we returned to the Commonwealth. Let us see how long this so-called withdrawal will last.
Reno Omokri
