PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu is said to have authorized a group of Muslim scholars to meet with the military junta in Niger Republic in a bid to resolve the socio-political crisis in that country.
The religious leaders, who disclosed this while speaking with reporters after meeting with the President, said their offer had been accepted by the President.
The clerics led by the national leader of the Jama’a tul Izalatul Bid’ah wa Iqamatus Sunnah, Sheikh Bala Lau, advised the Nigerian leader against the use of force in Niger.
“We want to find a lasting solution. We want peace and harmony to reign not only in Nigeria but in the sub-Saharan region and globally. So, the whole Ulama advised Mr President, that we want peace and reconciliation,” Sheikh Lau told journalists after the meeting with the Nigerian leader.
Also speaking, the spiritual leader of the Ansarudeen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdurrahman Ahmad, said Mr Tinubu promised that “if we could also talk to the people on the other side, for them to be ready to give concessions, then ECOWAS, that he is chairman of is also ready.”
“The president like he said welcomed our intervention and he has promised that if we could also talk to people on the other side for them to be ready to give concession, that the ECOWAS that he is Chairman of will also be ready to.
“Other than that, the president deplored coup d’etat in the Sahel region and as a democrat himself he said that he will do everything to ensure that there is democracy, justice, freedom and peace in the sub-region,” Sheikh Ahmad said.
Meanwhile, former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and 14th Emir of Kano, Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi, has met with the coup leaders in Niger Republic.
Sanusi, who visited President Tinubu on Wednesday to brief him on his mediation effort in the neigbouring country, said he took the initiative to meet with the junta on his own.
