Access to the residence and offices of Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was blocked off on Wednesday by members of the elite Presidential Guard, a source close to Bazoum said.
The reason for the action was however unclear.
But the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu reacted immediately that the sub-regional group “stands firmly with the elected government in Niger and equally conveys the absolute resolve of leaders in our sub-region that we shall not waiver or flinch on our stand to defend and preserve constitutional order”.
The landlocked West African state is one of the most unstable nations in the world, experiencing four coups since independence from France in 1960 as well as numerous other attempts on power.
Access was sealed off both to Bazoum’s official home and offices in the presidential complex in Niamey, although there was no abnormal military deployment or sounds of gunfire in the area, and traffic was normal, an AFP journalist saw.
Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021, is France’s close ally.
The country’s last coup occurred in February 2010, overthrowing then president Mamadou Tandja.
However, there was an attempted putsch on 31st March 2021, just two days before Bazoum’s inauguration, according to a security source at the time.
Several people were arrested, including the suspected ringleader, an air force captain named Sani Gourouza.
He was arrested in neighbouring Benin and handed over to the Niger authorities.
Ousmane Cisse, a former interior minister under a military government of transition that ran from 2010-2011, was later detained for his suspected role in the attempted coup.
A second bid to oust Bazoum occurred in March this year “while the president… was in Turkey,” according to a Niger official, who said an arrest was made.
The authorities have never commented publicly on the incident.
In January 2018, nine soldiers and a civilian were sentenced by a military court to jail terms ranging from five to 15 years for having attempted to topple Bazoum’s predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou, in 2015.
Those convicted included General Souleymane Salou, a former army chief of staff and a member of the junta that had forced out Tandja in 2010.
Lying in the heart of the Sahel, Niger is two-thirds desert and persistently ranks at the bottom, or near it, in the UN’s Human Development Index, a benchmark of prosperity.
It has a surging population of 22.4 million, driven by a birthrate averaging seven children per woman.
The country is struggling with two jihadist campaigns – one in the southwest, which swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015, and the other in the southeast, involving jihadists based in northeastern Nigeria.
In a statement he personally signed in his dual capacity as Nigeria’s leader and Chairman ECOWAS Authority of Heads of Government, President Tinubu said: “It should be quite clear to all players in the Republic of Niger that the leadership of the ECOWAS Region and all lovers of democracy around the world will not tolerate any situation that incapacitates the democratically-elected government of the country.
“The ECOWAS leadership will not accept any action that impedes the smooth functioning of legitimate authority in Niger or any part of West Africa.
“I wish to say that we are closely monitoring the situation and developments in Niger and we will do everything within our powers to ensure democracy is firmly planted, nurtured, well rooted and thrives in our region.
“I am in close consultation with other leaders in our region, and we shall protect our hard earned democracy in line with the universally acceptable principle of constitutionalism”.
