President Tinubu seeks Senate approval for Military Intervention in Niger Republic

President Bola Tinubu, has written to the Senate seeking its approval on the deployment of military personnel for military intervention to Niger Republic.

The President’s letter was read by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio. The letter comes after the ECOWAS declaration of a military intervention to kick-out the military government in Niger Republic and force the handover of power to the ousted Civilian government.

The President’s letter is in compliance with Section 5 (4) of the 1999 constitution which spells out the conditions under which the president could mobilize the country’s armed forces to fight in a foreign battle.

            (a) the president shall not declare a state of war between the Federation and another country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of the National Assembly sitting in a joint session;

           (b) except with the prior approval of the Senate, no member of the armed forces of the Federation shall be deployed on combat duty outside Nigeria.

Read the President’s letter in full below:

“Political situation in Niger. Following the unfortunate political situation in Niger Republic culminating in the overthrow of its President, ECOWAS under my leadership condemned the coup in its entirety and resolved to seek the return of the democratically elected govt in a bid to restore peace, ECOWAS convened a meeting and came out with a communique.”

“Military buildup and deployment of personnel for military intervention to enforce compliance of the military junta in Niger should they remain recalcitrant.

“Closure and monitoring of all land borders with the Niger Republic and reactivating of the border drilling exercise.

“Cutting off Electricity supply to the Niger Republic, mobilizing international support for the implementation of the provisions of the ECOWAS communique.”

“Preventing the operation of commercial and special flights into and from Niger Republic; Blockade of goods in transit to Niger especially from Lagos and eastern seaports.”