A new vista of peace has opened after the Economic Community of West African States recently lifted its decision to suspend a four-month-long ban on Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali from the regional bloc. It cancelled the sanctions placed on the military regimes in the three countries after they overthrew their elected civilian governments. ECOWAS should pursue the détente with vigour.

ECOWAS ordered sanctions on the trio for their undemocratic actions in 2023. But Nigeria’s President and Chairman of ECOWAS, Bola Tinubu, advocated the lifting of sanctions on the countries at the February 26 and 27 technical consultation meeting in Abuja. He had involved one of ECOWAS’ founding fathers and former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, to galvanise support for regional stability and coordinated security in the region.

The former Nigerian leader had advised ECOWAS to “consider the implementation of the following: lifting of all the sanctions imposed on Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger; withdrawal by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger of their notices to leave ECOWAS, and the participation of all 15 ECOWAS Heads of State in a summit to discuss the community’s future, regional security and stability, and the international community’s role given the current geopolitical context.

“ECOWAS is more than a coalition of states. It is a community established for the good of our people based on shared history, culture, and tradition.”

ECOWAS had earlier summarily suspended the membership of the countries instead of exploring the robust option of dialogue with the three Sahel countries. At a point, it threatened to wage war with its neighbours to reinstall democracy. Unfortunately, this sent the wrong signals to these countries.

In a way, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali consider ECOWAS as a stooge of the Western imperialists. To drive this home, they refused to dialogue, withdrew their membership from ECOWAS, and formed another regional bloc, the Alliance for Sahel States, to protect their interests.

In the case of Niger, it retaliated by blocking aviation travel routes from Nigeria. In August, it cut military ties with Nigeria, France, its former colonial ruler, and the United States. Dialogue is a better option than threats.

The ripple effects of the trade sanctions with Niger and other Sahel states created tensions in Northern Nigeria. The pre-existing relations, affinity, and trade routes between the five Northern states and Niger Republic were stymied by the sanctions in which Nigeria cut off electricity supply.

Also, the suspension adversely affected the strategic collaboration between Nigeria’s Joint Task Force and the military of the country to tackle terrorism. The war against insurgency cannot be won without robust international and regional collaboration.

Clearly, military intervention in governance leads to grave violations of human rights, gagging of freedom of the press, public participation, and justice. Soldiers have no business in government.

However, the reasons for the upsurge of coups in West Africa should be given critical attention. Issues of corruption, bad governance, mismanagement of human and natural resources, and attempts by democratic leaders to perpetuate themselves in office after the expiration of their tenures, among others, emboldened soldiers to overthrow civilian governments.

Therefore, democratic governments in Africa need to be transparent, accountable, and selfless in delivering the dividends of democracy. ECOWAS should encourage democratic tenets to blossom while supporting the conduct of free, fair, and credible elections amongst its member states.

Tinubu must learn from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, who deployed tact and diplomacy to stifle the ambitions of the former president of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, to continue in office after the constitutional expiration of his term. President Macky Sall of Senegal is toeing the same line, ECOWAS must stop his funny moves.

Crucially, ECOWAS should secure commitments to revert to civilian rule within a stipulated time frame from the juntas.

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