TWO columnists of National Record last week discussed the ECOWAS-AES faceoff, which may make another discussion on the issue seem unnecessary. Whilst Prof Jibrin Ibrahim discussed the challenges posed by the Confederation of the Sahel States (AES) to Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mr Owei Lakemfa discussed the blunders of ECOWAS in addressing the AES challenge.
In line with the theme of this column, I wish to highlight another perspective on the ECOWAS-AES faceoff.
No democratically elected president in ECOWAS can walk the same distance in his country, and elicit as half support as the coupists have received in Niamey. Because the elected democrats have transformed themselves into democratic generals, ensconced in democratic ivory towers, far away from the madding crowd who elected them.
The fury, sanctions, and threats of forceful restoration of ousted democratic regimes in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have inevitably punctured ECOWAS. Unsatisfied with the olive branch to reopen borders, remove sanctions, and readmit them back to ECOWAS, the conflict has deepened. This culminated in the 6th July Confederal inaugural summit of the three Sahel states, which makes the military generals unrepentant coupists who are still in the trenches, taking up the fight with the democratic generals in ECOWAS to a higher level.
The ECOWAS strategists thought that their tough stance was deterrent enough to send the coupists shivering to the negotiating table, to hurriedly accept whatever terms would be reeled out to them. The strategists were mistaken, because the intransigence and fury of the coupists were high. ECOWAS could easily force a single military coupist into submission; but to take three of them at a time was a tactical blunder, which has been costly to the bloc.
Almost half a century ago, Nigeria and Togo, under military generals, played crucial roles which led to the formation of ECOWAS. But regretfully, Nigeria’s current ECOWAS chairmanship, under an elected general, has placed it in an awkward situation to play a role in apart the bloc. Nigeria escalated its role in the faceoff above its chairmanship to an untenable height. President Tinubu regards it as a personal diplomatic issue, who can’t tolerate military regimes next door. This was what informed the tough, uncompromising stance, which led to the sanctions and threats of military invasion. This was what infuriated the military coupists, that escalated the faceoff.
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Was the tough stance intended to ignite a war to divert attention of the citizens of ECOWAS member States, to the misrule of their elected generals? Or, was it a neo-imperialist strategy for the American and Western military industrial complexes to line their pockets and those of their local allies, if West Africa was plunged into an avoidable war?
Thank God, the decision to forcefully return the ousted democratic regime in Niger Republic was as unpopular there, as it was in Nigeria, which made Northern senators to play a crucial role, which led to the easing of tensions, and the reopening of borders.
The French have all along been uncomfortable with the potentials of Nigeria. This underscores the French desire to clip its wings in the region, and the continent. The strained relations of the confederate West African states with France do not preclude them from being the weakest link in sub-continental unity, which ECOWAS failed to take into account.
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The landlockedness, poverty and insurgency in the confederation do not guarantee that they could be kicked around by sub-regional paper tigers who have refused to take the log out of their eyes to clearly see the specks in the eyes of the threesome generals. Most of them have forgotten how they came to power through extra democratic means.
The camaraderie displayed by the AES Generals at the Diori Hamani International Airport, and the enthused Nigeriens who thronged the 10-kilometre road to the Presidential Palace in Niamey, applauding the confederate Generals underscore effective mobilisation of their nations to rally around national renaissance, against neo-imperial controls and their proxies in ECOWAS.
To most citizens of ECOWAS member states, the civilian generals, specialists in pocketing electoral commissions; tinkering with democratic timelines; slavish submissions to the dictates of Western values for a fee; and enforcers of draconian IMF and World Bank therapies, aren’t better than the populist military generals in the West African confederacy. Most of them are worse off under the democratic generals, due to their unpalatable governance praxes.
No democratically elected president in ECOWAS can walk the same distance in his country, and elicit as half support as the coupists have received in Niamey. Because the elected democrats have transformed themselves into democratic generals, ensconced in democratic ivory towers, far away from the madding crowd who elected them.
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How could the Bassirou Diomaye Faye team resolve the fight, and persuade the coupists out of their trenches? Should President Faye offer an olive branch to them with a negotiated return to democratic rule at the dictate of the coupists, which could enable them to transmute into democratic generals? Having rode the national renaissance high horse, the coupists could hardly return to ECOWAS except on their terms, which the democratic generals in ECOWAS would find demeaning.
To have a watery geographical expansion trajectory, the confederacy might borrow a leaf from Obadiah Mailafia’s Christian Middle Belt in Northern Nigeria, who tortuously creates a unique community of faithful out of geographically detached areas (from Christian territories in Kebbi, Yobe up to Taraba states).
Like in Mailafia’s dreamy Christian land, should there be a coup in Ghana, Liberia or Sierra Leone, far away from the Sahel states, they would still become automatic members of the confederacy, as military displacement of democratic regime would be the inclusive criterion for membership, not geographical contiguity.
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Isn’t there a tendency that with the poor leadership praxes of the democratic generals in ECOWAS, who have alienated most of their citizens, the confederacy could, like Mailafia’s dream zone, tortuously escalate in the region, and beyond, with the confederate generals assuming the tribuneship of the people, to deliver them from neo-imperialist controls, unending insurgency, and the impunity of the democratic generals ?
To most citizens of ECOWAS member states, the civilian generals, specialists in pocketing electoral commissions; tinkering with democratic timelines; slavish submissions to the dictates of Western values for a fee; and enforcers of draconian IMF and World Bank therapies, aren’t better than the populist military generals in the West African confederacy. Most of them are worse off under the democratic generals, due to their unpalatable governance praxes.
The AES-ECOWAS confrontation and divergence provide a template to sub-regional bodies in other parts of Africa. Good governance, and zero tolerance for corruption would tame prospective military coupists. And if untamed, give and take engagement is a better approach than tough uncompromising stance, the type deployed by ECOWAS, which has given rise to the new confederacy in West Africa.
Jahun, a commentator on public affairs, writes from Dutse, Jigawa State capital. He writes this column every Wednesday under the title: ‘The Other Perspective’. He can be reached via email @: aminuhabibu58@gmail.com or WhatsApp: +234 703 903 8088.
