The President of the United States, Mr Joe Biden and his Nigerian counterpart, Bola Tinubu may meet in the coming weeks to discuss military intervention in Niger Republic among the options available to the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) to restore democratic rule in that country.
This became public knowledge on Saturday after the US Special President Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee, paid Tinubu a visit in Abuja and extended Biden’s ‘exclusive invitation’ to meet the Nigerian President on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City to advance discussions further (on the Niger crisis) in late September.
Africa Today News, New York reports that ECOWAS has for the past few weeks been in the forefront of the regional efforts to dislodge the Niger Republic coup leaders who ousted President Bazoum last month.
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Among others measures to force the coup leaders to quit, the regional body has slammed sanctions on Niger Republic while Nigeria cut off electricity supplies to the neighbouring country.
‘We know there is more we can do to incentivize large-scale American investment in Nigeria and we are committed to working closely with you to achieve that, as part of efforts to strengthen the Nigerian economy and the regional economy. We appreciate your willingness to create an enabling environment for that. President Joe Biden is asking to meet with you on the sidelines of UNGA and you are the only African leader he has requested to meet. It is a mark of his high regard for your leadership,’ a statement by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, quoted the U.S. Special Envoy as saying.
As for Tinubu, he accepted the offer and stated that democracy is still being improved upon, even in advanced democracies like the United States and other developing democracies around the globe.
The Nigerian President earlier said he will only advance the interest of the Nigerian state in his approach toward ECOWAS’ handling of the regional standoff.
He also advised Phee to ensure that U.S. policy is intentionally collaborative with independent African democracies at a time when they are under assault by anti-democratic forces within and outside of the continent.