Nigeria Calls on Niger's Junta to Release Ousted President

FILE — Demonstrators gather in front of the Embassy of Niger in Paris, in support of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum and ECOWAS, Aug. 5, 2023.

LAGOS — Nigeria's Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar over the weekend said the West African nation is calling on Niger's governing junta to release ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.

Speaking during an interview that was published over the weekend by Channels TV, Tuggar said President Bola Tinubu's administration is asking Niger's military governors "to release President Bazoum so that he will be allowed to leave Niger."

"He will no longer be in custody. He will go to a third country that is mutually agreed. And then we start talking about the removal of sanctions," Tuggar added.

The West African foreign minister said ECOWAS was still open to talks with Niger's junta.

"You know, the opportunity is there. We are always ready, willing, and able to listen to them and the ball is in their court," he said.

Nigeria is current chair of West Africa's regional Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS bloc, which has imposed sanctions on Niger following the July coup that ousted Bazoum.

ECOWAS had been demanding Bazoum's immediate return to the presidency, but the military junta has kept him in detention and says it may need up to three years for a return to civilian rule.

ECOWAS leaders will meet in Nigeria's capital Abuja on December 10 to discuss the region, where since 2020 coups have put military juntas in power in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger.

Last month, a failed coup attempt left 21 dead in Sierra Leone, another member of ECOWAS, according to senior officials in the country.

ECOWAS member Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Saturday said violence this week involving members of his country's National Guard was an "attempted coup".