Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has explained the role played by Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the restoration of civilian rule in Burkina Faso.
The restoration came a day after President Muhammadu Buhari hosted an extraordinary session of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja, where it was decided that last week’s military coup in the West African nation cannot stand.
Osinbajo, who represented President Buhari on Wednesday in Ouagadougou, among select group of West African leaders in the Burkinabe capital, said the leaders were there “to convey the recommendations agreed by ECOWAS leaders in Abuja, and we have witnessed the reinstatement of President Michel Kafando as the Transition President of Burkina Faso.”
Speaking with reporters in the capital city after a series of consultations, meetings and a formal ceremony, Osinbajo stated that the restoration of civilian authority in Burkina Faso “is a very good sign, a positive thing,” observing that ECOWAS played a significant role in the process.
He said: “As you know President Kafando had been detained by the Presidential Security Regiment – the presidential guard – but they have now stepped down as you can see, and they are now part of the process to ensure that the transition goes on. What we have seen today is how ECOWAS states came together basically to agree and see to it that President Kafando was reinstated and now that has been accomplished.”
Praising the leaders of ECOWAS, including Buhari, President Boni Yayi of Benin, and the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Macky Sall of Senegal with the leaders in the West African region, the Vice President said “now we are all looking at how to advance the transition process here in Burkina Faso.”
He said while there is still difficult issues to be resolved as fallouts of the coup crisis, it was clear that progress would continue judging from the fact that the people were determined, all the groups involved are now engaged in the process and are cooperating.
Osinbajo reiterated Nigeria’s continued brotherly support for Burkina Faso, while commending the international community for coming together to condemn the coup.
According to him,”I think it is very clear going by the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and the legal instruments of the African Union, that coups are no longer fashionable and no longer acceptable. In fact, it is punishable to take power by force. As soon as this coup took place, the entire ECOWAS, AU and the entire international community rose with one voice against it.”
After Tuesday’s summit in Abuja hosted by President Buhari, ECOWAS selected a group of six leaders, one each from Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Togo, Niger and Ghana, to visit Ouagadougou and proffer the recommendations of the West African nations towards solving the disruption of civil transition in Burkina Faso.
President Yayi of Benin was named as facilitator, while Nigeria was represented by the Vice President. In what included a series of talks and events all Wednesday, leaders from the six West African nations met with the RSP, Burkina Faso military and civil leaders and presided over the formal ceremony to effect the restoration of power from the presidential guards, led by General Gilbert Deirdre.
On his arrival on September 23 – in the Burkinabe capital, Prof. Osinbajo was received at the Ouagadougou Airport by General Deirde, while he was escorted back on return through the same airport by the restored Transition President Kafando. He returned to Nigeria Wednesday night.
Source:THE NATION
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