In an interview on ARISE TV monitored by The News Chronicle, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim of the Centre for Democracy and Development and Prof. Jideofor Adibe of Nasarawa State University, were on hand to tackle issues arising from the decision by the Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic juntas to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Prof Jibrin who was critical of the actions of the three landlocked West African countries, said though it is a heavy blow for the ECOWAS that needs to be addressed so it doesn’t get out of hand, yet the exiting nations have more to lose than ECOWAS in view of their economic and social dependencies on the broader ECOWAS. He recalled that when Mauritania left ECOWAS in 2012, the country gave a year’s notice which is the proper way to go unlike the abrupt decision of the military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Prof Adibe sees it as a failure of deterrence. He believes that there were more effective measures ECOWAS would have taken in reacting to the coups that happened in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic. ECOWAS played its entire card. There were some strategic mistakes on the path of ECOWAS, for deterrence to be effective it has to be credible and ECOWAS seems to lack that credibility.
He said ECOWAS has no card again to play since it has dealt all it moves without any meaningful result; hence it is seeking to return to the negotiating table. For him, ECOWAS needs to show in handling the matter that it is an ECOWAS of people rather than ECOWAS of Heads of States, calling to note that the military regimes in the exiting nations are popular among the masses in these countries.
