A former Member of the House of Representatives, Dr Usman Bugaje, has said President Bola Tinubu’s loyalists who served with him when he was Lagos governor misled him on the post-Niger coup crisis.
Some of Tinubu’s loyalists from Lagos who are also in the presidency have been dubbed ‘Lagos Boys’.
Bugaje, who represented the Kaita/Jibaya Federal Constituency of Katsina state from 2003 to 2007 said the Lagos Boys exhibited arrogance and failed to consult experts before advising Tinubu to threaten Niger after the coup.
Recall Nigeria’s neighbouring nation, Niger experienced a coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023.
Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, who served as the commander of the Nigerien presidential guard has taken over since then.
President Tinubu, the Chairman of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) sent a delegation to the Niger’s junta seeking the return of the democratically elected government but efforts put abortive.
The ECOWAS chair also issued threats of using military force to end the military takeover but Tchiani did not bulge.
Tinubu, after several efforts failed, closed the Niger-Nigerian border, and cut electricity, medicine, and others.
Speaking about how the Nigerian government handled the Nigerien crisis, Bugage who just returned from the coup-hit nation said Tinubu acted beyond the ECOWAS brief.
Bugaje, former House Chair on the Foreign Affairs Committee disclosed this in an interview with Trust TV.
“The social media says that ‘Lagos Boys’ know everything. So, maybe this is the arrogance they came with. They think and don’t consult; whatever it is,” Bugaje said.
“I want us to see that as a country we have violated the norms, we have done things that are far beyond the ECOWAS brief, and that has created a lot of negative reactions from Niger.”
Based on his interactions with Nigeriens when he visited their country, the ex-federal lawmaker said, “Niger is taking these things with a lot of humility and decorum; and they are still saying that despite what you people have done to us, we still see Nigerians as our brothers, we still see these colonial boundaries as artificial, not barriers.”
After the meeting over the weekend, ECOWAS has lifted sanctions imposed on the three Sahel junta-led nations – Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.