There is clear evidence the international community will no longer accept unconstitutional takeover of government in West Africa, the Vice-President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has said.
He was reacting to the sanctions slammed by the Economic Community of West African States on Mali following the ouster of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in August 2020.
Osinbajo was in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday where he represented the Nigerian President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at an Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government to discuss the political situation in the Republic of Mali.
At the summit, ECOWAS agreed to impose additional sanctions on the military junta in Mali, withdraw all ECOWAS Ambassadors in the country, and also close land and air borders between ECOWAS Member States and Mali.
In a statement by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo was quoted as saying, “What is being done is unprecedented. In the years gone by, the African Union, then known as OAU and ECOWAS, never came down heavily on coup de’tats; but there is evidence now that there is a very strong resolve that ECOWAS and, indeed, AU and the international community will not accept unconstitutional take over of government.”
The statement was titled, ‘ECOWAS Countries To Shut All Borders Against Mali, Recall Ambassadors, Reject Junta’s Transition Schedule’.
Continuing, he said, “It’s very evident that there is very strong resolve, which is why we are here today. We expect that the actions that will be taken will point the junta in Mali in the right direction.”
“I think ECOWAS has shown that it has not lost its bite where there are concerns about issues of good governance and democratic enterprises in the sub-region, which is why sanctions against Guinea and Mali were imposed,” the VP added.
