• Say war in Niger is one against brothers who share many things in common
By Cosmas Omegoh (Lagos), Timothy Olanrewaju (Maiduguri), Olanrewaju Lawal (Birnin Kebbi), Agaju Madugba (Katsina) and Desmond Mgbo (Kano)
Currently, a dark cloud of war is gathering over Niger Republic. This followed growing chances that the armies of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states might invade the country soon.
This situation is sending shivers down the spines of many Nigerians living in communities at the border with Niger. They are indeed apprehensive that if ECOWAS goes to war with Niger, they too would be gravely affected.
According to them, staging a war in Niger is needless, maintaining that Nigeriens are not just their neigbours, but also their brothers. Therefore, any war in Niger, they said, is akin to war against them because they share not only boundaries with them, but also cultural and socio-economic ties. Instead, they advised ECOWAS to deploy dialogue in resolving whatever issues they have with the junta that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
The people
Indeed, the Sahel region is home to millions of Nigerians. The majority of them eke out a living around the Nigeria-Niger Republic boundary. The said boundary seems as far as the East is from the West. It stretches from Borno State around the Nigeria-Chad boundary in the East through Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto to Kebbi State in the far West near Benin Republic. Such is the vast swath of arid land that straddles Nigeria’s North.
It is believed that life in the Sahel is harsh. The people living there are mainly pastoralists and subsistence farmers.
With little or no rains, the land is dry most of the year. Looking as far as the eyes can see, one observes the sky touching the land forming an amalgam in the distance which turns out to be one of those nature’s many marvels.
But that is not the only wonder of the Sahel. Indeed, before midday, the sun is already up in the sky, beating down with intense savagery, but at sunset, the same temperature slumps to a biting low. In between, the inhabitants contend with dust storms from the Sahara Desert which lash the area, splashing tons of sand on everyone and everything.
But the Sahel dwellers are used to their harsh environment, not war whose drum beat they now hear resonating and reverberating in the distance.
Sadly, those of them who survived Boko Haram and Nigerian Army clashes, as well as bandits’ activities in Borno and Yobe axis, including Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto corridors already know the taste of war.
Each time hostilities erupt, mayhem descends and the guns sing. Such songs of guns, though musical, are deadly. Such is the experience they fear might befall them – this time on a bigger scale – if war between Niger and ECOWAS breaks out.
Thus, not any of the border communities folks would want ECOWAS to go to war with the Niger Republic junta.
Why war in first place
Over the past weeks, the news has been in the air that ECOWAS member states would launch a war on Niger to bring back the country’s ousted president.
The Niger challenge began on July 26, 2023, when the world woke up to the news of military takeover led by a certain Abdourahamane Tchiani. The Army General sacked the country’s constitutionally elected president, Mohammed Bazoum, in a military coup, placing him under house arrest since then.
Since the Niger debacle started, ECOWAS under the chairmanship of President Bola Tinubu has been voicing its displeasure at the development, stating that it would have none of the coup plotters’ acts. It wants Gen. Tchiani to stand down and hand power back to Bazoum.
But that is a tale the Tchiani team and a cross section of Nigeriens don’t want to listen to. So, they have remained unyielding. Left to them, ECOWAS’ demands were merely gaseous.
Therefore, at the moment, the Nigerien coup plotters are resisting ECOWAS and calling their bluff. They have even called out the vocal ones among them to first remove the timber in their own eyes before turning to Niger.
Earlier, the ultimatum ECOWAS handed to the new Nigerien military authorities to hand over power had ended without any impact.
Some analysts believe ECOWAS leaders merely “acted before thinking.”
Not done yet, ECOWAS under President Tinubu’s watch had sent emissaries to Niamey, apparently with the intention of hammering out an amicable solution to the crisis. That move also failed. Other sanctions ECOWAS has so far applied, including border closure and Nigeria cutting power supply to Niger, have not brought Tchiani and his men to back down.
ECOWAS in its seemingly desperate moves had resolved to shelve its planned use of force in resolving the Niger impasse, thereby leaving the dialogue option open.
It is believed that the regional body’s later effort might have been informed by concerns expressed against war in Niger. Demonstrations against ECOWAS invasion, for instance, have been held in Nigeria’s North. The National Assembly on its part, has shown unwillingness to support Nigeria’s deployment of troops in Niger. This, many perceived, has left ECOWAS pursuing the dialogue option.
But a gathering of ECOWAS member nations’ military top brass in Accra, Ghana, last week had further fueled fears that military action in Niger had not been jettisoned entirely.
When our correspondents visited some Nigerian communities on the border areas with Niger, the residents expressed their fears. Those who spoke said that war in Niger Republic would be bad for them.
Kebbi border towns
The majority of people in Kebbi State, and residents living at the border towns do not support war between Niger Republic and ECOWAS nations.
Niger Republic shares borders with Kebbi towns namely Kamba, Kangiwa, Jantulu -Kare and Bachaka all in Dandi, Augie and Arewa local government areas of the state.
Traders from Niger Republic throng markets in those towns to buy goods especially food items, clothes, plastics and animals, which are not available to them.
Investigation by Sunday Sun showed that people in those communities inter-marry with communities in Niger Republic. That has not changed since pre-colonial days.
Now, since the announcement of border closure by ECOWAS, all the Nigeriens have deserted the markets in the border towns.
Speaking on the prospects of war, a retired soldier and civil war veteran, Abdullahi Jato, an indigene of Yeldu, which borders Niger Republic, said that people of the area were not in support of war as a means of resolving the coup d’etat in Niger Republic.
“I fought during the civil war and I know the implications of war. Whoever has been to war before would not pray for war.
“Apart from this, Niger Republic and Nigeria are brothers and sisters.
“We who live in Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states have relatives in Niger Republic because most of them are Hausa or Fulani. We speak the same language; we have the same culture and the same religion which is Islam. So, tell me, how could brothers fight their own brothers?
“We don’t want war, and we are not going to support any move for war,” he said.
While making its position known on the proposed ECOWAS invasion of Niger Republic, the Kebbi State Association For Peace and Good Governance, in a statement signed by its Secretary, Comrade Usman Muhammed Ananche, stated that the association would not support war in resolving the crisis. Rather, it called on both parties to embrace dialogue.
“The association is calling on the ECOWAS government to avoid war between Niger Republic and ECOWAS which will have detrimental effects on both sides who are brothers.”
The association noted that there is about 1,500km of border line between Nigeria and Niger Republic beginning from Borno State through Yobe State to Jibiya in Katsina State.
“Similarly, Kebbi State shares common borders with Niger Republic with major points at Kamba, Kangiwa, Dandi Kowa, Bachaka, and Tambo; all the people in these towns share common things with Niger Republic.
“The Niger Republic issue is an internal affair. As such, we recommend the use of dialogue to solve the lingering crisis.
“We are also advising the Nigerian president not to be used against his own sister country by the West.
“Due to border closure, both sides are losing a lot of revenue now.
“To us, Niger Republic is not the target, but Nigeria and African resources which are the target of the West and their allies.
“Therefore, Nigeria should avoid being pushed into a proxy war between Russia/China and France/West using Africa as a battle ground,” the group said.
Borno, Yobe affinity with Niger
According to Sunday Sun investigation, three of Borno State’s 27 local government areas are located along the border with Niger. They include Abadam, Kukawa and Mobbar.
One of the ministerial appointees and former Deputy National Chairman (North) of APC, Senator Abubakar Kyari, hails from Gashigar in Mobbar Local Government, a few kilometres to Niger.
In Yobe State, five local government areas: Yunusari, Yusufari, Machina and Nguru too have borders with Niger Republic.
Therefore, from Borno and Yobe states came strong voices against the deployment of troops from the ECOWAS standby force to fight in Niger.
Many people said that the historical and natural affinity between them in Borno and Yobe states and the people in Niger, were so strong that it makes them to interpret Nigeria joining forces to fight Niger as a war against their neigbours.
“Historically, Niger was a part of Kanem Borno Empire. The empire extended from the current Borno and Yobe in the Northeast up to Niger and parts of some African countries,” 71-year-old Ibrahim Gwamna, a resident of Maiduguri, recalled.
He told Sunday Sun that the ancient headquarters of the defunct empire was located at Ngazargamu in Niger, now in ruins.
“There are inter-marriages among Nigerians in Borno/Yobe and Nigeriens too.
“Most Nigerien military personnel and people speak Kanuri; there in Niger, in fact, Nigerian currency is being used. We are one and the same,” he emphasised.
Ba’Khaji Alhajj, who once fled to a Niger community near Mobbar Local Government in the northern part of Borno, urged President Tinubu to desist from using force against the Niger coup leaders.
“We know what we’ve experienced in Borno.
“I don’t think our president has directly experienced a war situation before.
“If ECOWAS declares war in Niger, it means Nigerian government has declared a second war against us in Borno,” he said.
Saleh Modu, a trader and resident of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, agreed with Khaji’s view.
He said that two of his family members married Nigerien women with one of them still living in Niger.
“We are the same people. The sanction Nigeria imposes on Niger is affecting us too. We can’t take goods to Niger now; our relations there are suffering because Nigeria has cut off their electricity; food prices are costly. So, joining in war against Niger is senseless,” he told Sunday Sun.
Modu appealed to President Tinubu to opt for dialogue in resolving the political crisis in Niger rather than going to war.
Katsina residents won’t fight Nigeriens
In Katsina State, Nigeria shares two prominent border posts with Niger Republic: Jibia, in Jibia Local Government Area, and Kongalam, in Mai’Adua Local Government Area.
The two border posts exclude so many other routes officially designated as “illegal” through which residents of the border communities conduct their social and economic activities.
A number of Nigerians living at the borders do not envisage any ECOWAS war with Niger Republic.
“There isn’t going to be any war,” Umar Sale, a resident of Jibia, said in an interview.
“This is because we are brothers and sisters with our neighbours in Republic of Niger.”
Apprehension in Jibia
But despite the optimism in Katsina town, residents of Dan Isa, a semi-urban settlement near Jibia, have remained apprehensive weeks after the military putsch in Republic of Niger and threats of an imminent war.
Most shops in the area have been shut, businesses grounded for lack of goods because of the closure of the borders.
“If there is war, we are likely going to suffer some of the effects,” Saidu Mohammed, a resident, said.
Mohammed also feared that, “this is a border town which Nigerian troops will go through to prosecute the war. And the ones from Republic of Niger will also come here; then we will be caught in the middle.”
However, another resident, Umaru Isah, said that the current situation had further united them with their Nigerien neighbours.
“Nothing can separate us from the Nigerien
people who live near us. We intermarry; we engage in the same businesses and we share the same religion,” he said.
Then he advised ECOWAS to back down on its decision, saying “the military coup in Niger has already taken place and cannot be reversed except by the soldiers in that country.”
Kano
In Kano State, most of the people have renounced the move by ECOWAS to go to war in Niger, citing different reasons the body must not unleash its might on their immediate neighbours.
Sunday Sun spoke to a number of stakeholders, opinion molders and thinkers in the ancient city.
First is elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai, who said: “Nigerians should first differentiate between Nigeria and ECOWAS. I think the action that is being proposed is not by individual countries, but a collective action by ECOWAS countries. It is not a question of Niger versus Nigeria. Nigeria is a member country of ECOWAS and the decision of ECOWAS is on Nigeria. People must understand that. It is not about Tinubu.
“With regard to the intervention or not, I will prefer diplomacy because in all wars, even during the Second World War, the end of it all is arrived at the conference table. So, I prefer the solution that would be arrived should be through discussion. Conflict pays nobody. When there is conflict, everybody is a killer. You kill my people, I kill your people.
‘If there is war between us and Niger, certainly there will be destruction of property; there will be killings on both sides. It is better that there is no war. If there is war certainly, it would affect businesses in the North, it would affect both sides. We saw it during the Civil War. The consequences of the Civil War are still being felt across Nigeria till date’
“What you may not know is that we sell a lot of things to Niger Republic just as they sell to us. If they are not buying, our traders here will lose a lot. So, it is not as easily said. Closing the borders is hurting both ways. We also use their country to export a lot of things.
“A lot of families here have links and relatives in Niger Republic . Anywhere you go, it is the same story particularly in Sokoto, Jigawa, Katsina, Maiduguri, we have families that have links with them. So, you can see the level of inter-relationships. They share seven borders with seven states in Nigeria and so you can see the size of the population that have relationship with Niger.”
Also, the Publicity Secretary of the Retired Army, Navy, Airforce Officers Association (RANOA), Captain Yusuf Abdulmalik (rtd) appealed to President Tinubu to deploy diplomacy and dialogue than going to war with Niger Republic to resolve the issues.
Speaking to Sunday Sun in Kano, the octogenarian insisted that a reasonable number of Nigerians from the core North have their historical backgrounds in Niger Republic, adding that some of them are related to Niger Republic through inter-marriages.
He, therefore, insisted that deploying Nigerian soldiers against the Niger Republic is like asking brothers to kill one another while insisting that the people of the North (Hausa/Fulani) and their neighbours in Niger Republic are brothers and should never go to war with each other.
Captain Abdullamalik added that, “during the Nigeria Civil War, the people of Niger Republic gave their Nigerian counterpart their full support against the Biafran forces. I remember they stood their ground against President Charle de Gaulle, the leader of France, and ensured that he did not use the land borders of Niger Republic to extend any form of military support to Biafra.
“Is Niger Republic the first country to suffer from military intervention in the West African sub-region? Why the huge interest in their case? Why is it that everybody, including Nigeria is interested to the extent of recommending war as a solution?”
Abdulmalik, who fought the Nigerian civil war, warned that modern day warfare is not a joke, adding that as simple as it appeared, overcoming Niger Republic in military combat may not be an easy task given the number of foreign interests that are supporting them or are likely to back them against ECOWAS or Nigeria.
For the Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum, Kano State Chapter, Dr Goni Faruk Umar, “there have been coups in different countries in African before – Mali, Burkina Fasso and then now Niger. Once there is a coup, diplomacy demands that certain steps should be taken, military action should be the last resort.
“If you are going to take certain steps regarding a coup, what do you normally do, you look at the genesis of the coup. Is it for the people or anti-people? If everybody come out to support the coup plotters, should we undermine it? What is democracy?
“Democracy is a system that respects the views of the citizens. If they are in support, the foreign countries should support them and if they are not, the best the foreign countries can do is to allow them to resolve their issue. Has anybody taken military actions against Sudan?
“In a nutshell, what I am saying is the people in Niger, the majority of the people in Niger are in support of the coup. They have given their reasons- exploitation from France and they want to now control their resources. Now, ECOWAS is set to ensure peace in the region. If going into another country should destabilize the region, should we go into it? This is my point. That is why I think that we should have taken precaution in announcing the action that ECOWAS will take.
“Well, you can see the reactions of the people of the two countries as it relates to the border. Nigerians at the border are against any military action.
“My understanding is that President Bola Tinubu was not diplomatically properly advised. First of all, he should have looked at the relationship. There are several things in common – culturally, religiously, socially and economically.
“Remember that the reason we are supplying Niger with 70 per cent of their electricity is due to an agreement that was signed which holds that rather for them to build a dam which would now affect the water flow into Kainji Dam and that would affect distribution of electricity in Nigeria, we allowed the water to flow and we would supply Niger with electricity which they are doing. Now we have broken that agreement.
“If you close the border and you now cut electricity, who are you hurting? You are, of course, hurting the people you want to protect. It does not affect the coup plotters. It does not affect them. Any action you are taking, it should not affect the people you say you want to protect. Three, because of lack of knowledge regarding international relationship, this government did not take into consideration the reaction of the international community. What the coup plotters are saying is that all their resources are exploited by a foreign country and they want to be independent.
“The war between Ukraine and Russia should have taught us a lesson. If we strike Niger militarily, which countries are going to protect and support them? All the countries in West Africa that have similar take-overs have come out to say that they would support them. There are countries in ECOWAS that are against military and we have heard that Russia is going to support the Niger government. So, you can see that if care is not taken the West African region would now become like what we are seeing in Syria.”