Former foreign affairs minister, Alhaji Sule Lamido has said President Bola Tinubu’s inadequate exposure in international diplomacy made the latter to found himself walking on a very tightrope following the crisis between ECOWAS and Niger Republic.
The former foreign affairs minister, in a statement posted on his Facebook timeline, said;
“I thought President Tinubu would have from the onset looked into the chemistry of the cocktail called ECOWAS before taking weighty decision on any issue that affects the region and its consequences on any issue that affects the region and its consequences on his country”.
Alhaji Sule Lamido explained that “In the last couple of days, two brotherly and sisterly countries were almost on the brink of war neither of which any of them could fathom or justify”.
According to him “The big brother Nigeria has become entangled in a far fetched multilateral moral pretense of regional formation called ECOWAS that it has jettison its fundamental primary responsibility to the constituency (Nigeria) that gave it the legal authority to that membership”.
The former Jigawa governor noted that “since the coup d’état in Niger some weeks back, President Tinubu has found himself walking on a very tight rope.
“He has never been exposed to international diplomacy and can fittingly be called a novice in this field”.
“The fact that he is an emperor with total dominance of the most populous and prosperous State of Lagos does not confer on him any wisdom in diplomacy.
“But he is also the luckiest Nigerian president had he desired to harvest from the wisdom and experience of former Presidents and Heads of State Nigeria is so richly blessed with”.
He added that President Tinubu should have found out what is the history of one of the oldest members of the region, that is, President Alassane Quattara of Ivory Coast.
Alhaji Lamido maintained that there is total unanimity in Nigeria that the country (Nigeria) should not go to war with Niger for so many reasons given by all and sundry especially the seven states contiguous to Niger Republic.
The next thing for President Tinubu now is to embark on damage control and repair and this brings him to the time to now harvest from the connection and wisdom of our former Presidents and Heads of State as someone rightly advised over BBC Hausa service.
“These leaders are highly respected and trusted not only in our sub-region but globally. It is true there is no love lost between President Tinubu and some of them, but certainly, on any issue that affects Nigeria no matter how remote, those leaders will always be there for Nigeria.
“Time is not on the side of both countries. What we had in last one thousand years has been lost in matter of few weeks. But we have the bond and love for each other to build on,” Lamido emphasised.
