President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that only God could effectively police the vast and porous border between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger.
Buhari spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while receiving in audience the former vice president, Mr. Namadi Sambo, who heads ECOWAS Election Mission to the West African country.
“We share more than 1,400 kilometers of border with that country, which can only be effectively supervised by God.”
Buhari assured the ECOWAS mission of Nigeria’s readiness to provide robust support to the Republic of Niger which will hold presidential and national assembly elections later this month.
“I will speak with the president, and offer his country our support. We need to do all we can to help stabilize the Sahel region, which is also in our own interest,” he said.
He applauded President Mahamadou Issoufou for not attempting to tamper with the constitution of his country, and elongate his stay in power, after serving for a maximum of two terms.
“I come from Daura, a few kilometers to the Republic of Niger, so I should know a bit about that country. The President is quite decent, and we are regularly in touch.
He is sticking to the maximum term prescribed by the constitution of his country,” Buhari said in a statement made signed by his special adviser on media and publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.
Sambo congratulated President Buhari on the successful rescue of the abducted schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, in Katsina State, and also his 78th birthday, last week.
He pledged that ECOWAS would ensure peaceful and fair elections in the Republic of Niger, despite current political, legal, and security issues. He said that meetings were being held with the relevant stakeholders to ensure free, fair, and credible polls.
The Guardian
