The thawing of ECOWAS sanctions against Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the so called Alliance of Sahel States, echoes a Yoruba dismissal of an errant child.
When the parent dotes over the child, the appeal is: child, please don’t kill me. What will I do with myself if you hurt yourself? But with a wilful and recalcitrant one, the message changes: child, don’t kill yourself!
In a show of infantile bluffing, the three countries claimed they were “immediately” quitting ECOWAS, the West African regional socio-political bloc. “With immediate effect!” is the military’s lingo of martial outlawry — so, so impatient with due process or any tinge of legality.
Nigerians should know! Wasn’t that what the military used to destroy the federal civil service, and reduce it to today’s shadow of itself, even when an impatient junta claimed it was fixing it?
Kudos to ECOWAS for taking the bluff in its strides.
Kudos to the ever-dovish Gen. Yakubu Gowon, an officer-as-gentleman if ever there was one, and the lone surviving founding father of ECOWAS, when it was founded in Lagos in May 1975; and Gen. Gowon was Nigeria’s military Head of State.
Kudos too to President Bola Tinubu, ECOWAS Chair, for applying wisdom and maturity, in dealing with deluded tri-juntas, hell bent on ruining their countries — as the political military pretty much did with Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and many other countries, an avoidable condition these countries still grapple with today.
But now that stringent economic sanctions are relaxed, and the peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger can breathe, ECOWAS should never soften on its core principle: a loud no to military rule.
The threat to apply military force on Niger to force back democracy was a region ready to do anything — almost anything — to banish the thought of military rule. Why?
When the juntas misgovern their peoples — and it’s a matter of time before they do so — other West African states would take the can, with so-called Big Brother Nigeria lugging more than its fair share, with distressed people swarming its territory for passable life.
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So, if the trio want to pull out of ECOWAS despite the ECOWAS appeal, let them exercise their military right. But they must give the adequate one-year notice. Even if these juntas can overthrow their own municipal laws, they must not be allowed to flout the ECOWAS law governing membership, and allied protocols.
When the so-called Alliance of Sahel States unravel as the Concert of Pariah States that they really are, Hardball would be here to say: we told you so.
The snag though is that they would have again wasted the lives, hopes and aspiration of their peoples — as the political military did here in Nigeria for much too long.