President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, after the emergency virtual extraordinary summit of Heads of State and Government of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Mali crisis, said Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries will stop at nothing to ensure that democratic governance is restored in the country.
This announcement by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday 28th August 2020, came following the insistence of the Malian military junta vowing to stay in power for three years, before returning the country to constitutional order.
President Muhammadu Buhari and other ECOWAS leaders at the meeting on Friday, after a critical review of the situation in Mali, put forward the following recommendations for the military leadership in Mali, saying that:
“Nigeria will, alongside ECOWAS, provide the necessary logistics support to facilitate the conduct of elections to re-establish democratic governance in Mali,”. he said.
The Friday meeting of ECOWAS leaders comes after they had earlier met, via video conferencing on Aug. 20, to deliberate on the same matter where they called for the immediate release of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali, and a return to Constitutional order(democratic governance) in the country. And on the side of Nigeria, former President Goodluck Jonathan has been the eyes and ears of President Muhammadu Buhari on the situation in Mali, and also as the mediator between the ECOWAS and the Military in Mali.
President Buhari in his short statement released on Friday on his official Twitter handle, also recognized the effort of the former President, where he tweeted saying:
“I would like to thank once again, the ECOWAS Mediator in Mali,
@GEJonathan, as well as my colleagues in the sub-region, who have continued to demonstrate a sincere commitment to the resolution of this crisis. Nigeria stands in full solidarity with the people of Mali,” he added.
The summit, chaired by current ECOWAS Chairman and President of Niger Republic, Mahmadou Issoufu, also considered the report of ECOWAS Envoy to Mali, former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, who recently returned from Mali, where he interacted with the leadership of the military junta.
Nothing was said about possible military action against the military junta in the already volatile country, and region, as the leaders push to restore democratic governance. But sanctions placed on the country are already biting hard on the country and it is just a matter of time now, before the citizens of Mali react against this or even turning their back against the Military Juntas.