The coup plotters in Niger are unyielding to the one-week ultimatum given to them by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to quit and allow the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum to return to office or risk military intervention.
Gists9ja reports that the deadline given the military junta expired yesterday, with the putschists remaining obstinate even as they have gone ahead to rally unprecedented support from the civil population who joined them in keeping vigil on the streets of Niamey and other major cities like Maradi on Saturday through Sunday.
Aljazeera news reported last night that an estimated 30,000 people gathered in the capital Niamey at a stadium, some draped in Russian flags, as the threat of regional military intervention looms.
It said a delegation of members of the now-ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) arrived at the scene Sunday to cheers from supporters.
The coup leaders have not issued any statement on the deadline yet.
Our correspondents who are now at the Nigerian borders with Niger in Sokoto, Katsina, Jigawa and Borno states, said though there was no fight, millions of people are in dire straits due to fear of the unknown occasioned by high cost or shortage of basic necessities of life like food and drugs.
The residents, Nigerians and Nigeriens alike, said they detest war and called on ECOWAS to have a rethink in line with a clarion call by prominent groups and individuals.
The Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI) was the latest to call on President Bola Tinubu –led regional bloc to trade with caution.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman (rtd), the group urged ECOWAS to consider the immediate and long-term implications of its actions on the people of the Niger Republic and the wider West African sub-region.
