Following the recent coup in Niger Republic, the Chairperson of ECOWAS, President Bola Tinubu, indicated that the bloc might resort to military force if the coup leaders refuse to hand over power to ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

In the wake of a meeting among the defense chiefs of the ECOWAS member states in Accra, Ghana, the regional organization announced the initiation of the deployment process for its standby force in Niger.

However, Nasir El-Rufai expressed his reservations about this approach, stating on Twitter that a military intervention would result in a fraternal conflict.

“As ECOWAS beats the drums of war, I recall the 1970s rock classic by Dire Straits – ‘Brothers in Arms’, because a war within our subregion is a war between brothers.

“Indeed, the people of Niger Republic are one and the same with those living in Northern Nigeria. Let us bend over backwards to avoid this civil war between brothers,” he wrote.