Legal expert Justice Osai Ahiakwo has attributed the withdrawal of three former Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) members – Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali – from the Sub-African regional organization to President Bola Tinubu’s immediate response to the overthrow of Niger’s elected President Mohammed Bazoun.
In a statement released in Calabar, Ahiakwo criticized Tinubu, both as Nigeria’s leader and head of ECOWAS, for not setting a positive example in addressing the economic challenges in Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
He emphasized that the departure of the three countries did not come as a surprise, pointing out the need for implementing the right diplomatic policies to address persistent issues like bad governance, corruption, insecurity, poverty, and unemployment in the Republic of Niger and beyond, factors that led to their abrupt withdrawal from ECOWAS.
“President Tinubu was unable to address the remote causes of the takeover of legitimate government by way of sponsored coups by the military juntas. There was no serious dialogue(s) between the sub-regional organization and the coupist.
“In combating corruption, Tinubu must be sincere and transparent enough to clean up the system of government of Nigeria before efficiently managing the commonwealth of the Economic Community of West African States,” he said.
Ahiakwo agreed that the blame for their exit should be on the leadership of ECOWAS.
The legal expert advised that to enthrone the true principle of democratically elected government, the leadership of ECOWAS should embody itself with the potential and capacity to offer good governance.
But the lawyer insisted that the military juntas controlling the three nations were not legitimate governments.
