TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has promised that Nigeria will work within the requirements of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ensure that Mali returns to democracy.

Buhari said this on Thursday when he received a special envoy from Assimi Goita, the transitional president of Mali, at the presidential villa in Abuja.

At the meeting, Buhari was briefed by a team led by Abdoulaye Maiga, Mali’s minister of territorial administration and decentralisation, on the national conference on state rebuilding held in Bamako in December 2021.

According to a statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, Buhari said nobody can love Mali more than Malians themselves, and urged them to work within the tenets of ECOWAS to ensure that the country is back to constitutional rule.

Buhari added that Nigeria will make “as much sacrifice” to assist Mali.

“I am pleased you have briefed the ECOWAS chairman too,” the president was quoted as saying.

“Nigeria will work within ECOWAS limitations to assist Mali. Every country has its issues. We fought our own civil war before.

“So, we may not know the totality of the internal politics of each country. But we will make as much sacrifice as we can for Mali, within ECOWAS requirements.”

The special envoy appreciated Nigeria for the support in terms of bilateral relations and the help rendered to the ECOWAS mediation team led by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a related development, a special meeting of ECOWAS is scheduled to hold on Sunday to deliberate on the political situation in Mali.

The political crisis in Mali took a different turn in August 2020 when a coup overthrew President Ibrahim Keita and a political transition with a timeline of 18 months was instituted on September 15, 2021.

Bah N’Daw, Mali’s former defence minister, was named as president of the country’s new transitional government, while Goita, leader of the military junta that ousted the former president, was named vice-president.

N’Daw and Goita were appointed to oversee an 18-month transition that would culminate in fresh elections.

But in June 2021, there was another coup led by Goita, who accused the interim president and the then Prime Minister Moctar Ouane of trying to sabotage the country’s transition.

Two days after seizing power from N’Daw, Goita declared himself president of the country.