Nigeria Commends Niger Junta for Releasing Bazoum’s Wife and Son

Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has commended the Niger junta for releasing the wife and son of former President Mohammad Bazoum.

The release comes after months of being held under house arrest following Bazoum’s overthrow in July 2023.

Tuggar, who is also the Chairperson of the Mediation and Security Council of ECOWAS, said that the release of Bazoum’s family is a logical step in bringing normalcy back to the country and the region in general.

He reiterated the call to the government led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani to hasten the release of Bazoum from its custody and allow him to fly to a third country as a step towards further talks on lifting sanctions and initiating the transition to constitutional rule.

The release of Bazoum’s wife and son has been met with positive reactions from Nigeria and other countries in the region.

The West African regional bloc Ecowas had ruled that the family’s detention was arbitrary and ordered their release. Niger’s military junta has ignored the ruling and has said that there would be a transition of up to three years to civilian rul

The last French troops withdrew from Niger last month, and the country has been facing power outages due to sanctions imposed by Ecowas.

The Niger junta has warned that it will defend itself against any intervention, and there are growing concerns about the health of Bazoum and his family.