The dislocation of ECOWAS

(Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso Quit)

On Sunday, January 28, 2024, the 15-member Pan-West African organization, ECOWAS, was thrown into uncharted turmoil as  Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger sent official notices to the organization announcing their intention to leave the bloc with immediate effect.

Although it is not clear how this will eventually pan out, as per the Ecowas Treaty, member states wishing to withdraw must give a year's written notice, during which time it must continue to abide by its provisions until the expiration, the announcement sent shockwaves across the subregion.

Many commentators from the affected countries were jubilant as they chorused loudly: Good riddance to toxic ECOWAS rubbish.

Per their joint statement, the three countries said that their withdrawal from the bloc has become necessary as ECOWAS had become a "threat" to member states. The statement added that the regional bloc introduced "illegal, illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible" sanctions on the countries.

Their joint statement read by Colonel Amadou Abdraman, a spokesman for Niger's authorities, on Niger's national television, said:

"After 49 years, the valiant peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger note with regret and great disappointment that the ECOWAS organization has departed from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism.”

The Colonel faulted ECOWAS for failing to help the three countries in their fight against terrorism and other challenges. He also accused Ecowas of going: "under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles, has become a threat to member states and peoples.

Few people will argue with the fact that the organization appears to be under the influence of former colonial masters who refused to let go. French President Macron's recent pronouncements certainly do not help matters.

The three countries who were founding members of the organization said it was a "sovereign decision" to withdraw from Ecowas.

It should be recalled that both Mali and Burkina Faso have previously threatened to quit the Economic Community of West African States in August last year with the warning: "Any military intervention against Niger would lead to the withdrawal of Burkina Faso and Mali from ECOWAS, as well as the adoption of legitimate defense measures in support of the armed forces and the people of Niger.”

Although threatened military measures were not applied after the coup in Niger, the leaders of ECOWAS subjected the country to harsh economic and trade sanctions. According to the UN Resident Coordinator in Niger, Louise Oben, this has led to the country "quickly running out of funding, of medicine. People are running out of food."

The move to quit was undoubtedly well coordinated as on the eve of the announcement of their withdrawal Niger held a meeting of the Sahel Security Alliance (SAE) which the three countries formed in November last year to counter ECOWAS moves.

Established in 1975 with the goal: “To promote co-operation and integration ... in order to raise the living standards of its peoples, and to maintain and enhance economic stability,” few people will argue that the organization has lived up to its billing.

Few citizens rate the almost 50-year-old organization highly; many consider it a USELESS talking shop for corrupt and otiose misleaders with no interest in their people's welfare.

West Africans, especially those who have been to Europe, question why after almost half a century of existence, citizens continue to be barricaded behind the colonial garrisons that are euphemistically called countries. They wonder how they can travel unmolested in the 27 countries of the EU while corrupt Customs and Immigration officials subject them to the most dehumanizing humiliations in their own region.

Among the questions citizens also ask is why after almost fifty years, ECOWAS leaders cannot connect the sub-region with good rail or road links to facilitate easy movement of goods and services. Or why there is no harmonization of telecommunication services to protect citizens from being fleeced by foreign Telcos.

Perhaps, given the ire of the people in the three countries which led to the military interventions, West Africans want to know why, given the tectonic shifts in Global Geopolitics, those who purport to lead them appear to be happy in maintaining the neocolonial setup where they remain hewers of woods while the West continue its business as usual of siphoning off their wealth. West Africans are neither blind nor dear, they can see and hear what other societies are achieving, and they wonder what type of leaders will be happy to keep people living like in the Dickensian era - where basic services like potable water and electricity remain major production.

In order to understand the huge calamity that befell ECOWAS, it is necessary to just take a look at the map. ECOWAS used to cover a land area of 5,114,162 km2 (1,974,589 mi2), out of which Niger has a land area of 1,266,700 square kilometers (489,200 mi2), Mali 1,240,192 km2 (478,800 mi2) and Burkina Faso  274,200 km2 (105,870 mi2).

Simple math: The three countries cover a total land area of 2,781,092 km2 (1,078,870 mi2) or 54.38% of the total landmass of ECOWAS. And with the enormous natural resources of the AES - gold, uranium, oil, ECOWAS has been truly diminished.

Although this is the first time in the bloc’s nearly 50 years of existence that members withdrew in such a manner, the surprise here is that some people expressed surprise. Our Elders say that if you push a goat to the wall, it will bite you back.

Current ECOWAS leader, Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu, encouraged and enabled by his fellow misrulers, principally his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo, have themselves to blame for the current mess.

In five separate articles, I wrote and warned President Tinubu against his inept handling of the crises:

First, they came for Libya, Now they are gunning for Niger!: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/first-they-came-for-libya-now-they

A public Appeal To President Tinubu: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/a-public-appeal-to-president-tinubu

Why I think that Nigeria will not intervene in Niger [Expanded]: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/why-i-think-that-nigeria-will-not

Some questions for President Tinubu: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/some-questions-for-president-tinubu

A public Appeal To President Tinubu: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/a-public-appeal-to-president-tinubu

It is sad that it is on his inept and corrupt head that the 49-year-old organization verge on total collapse.

Yoruba proverb: Oba to je ti ilu toro, oruko e ko ni pa re, eyi to de je ti ilu fon kan, oruko e na ko ni pa re / The King, under whose rule the town was peaceful will never be forgotten, the one under whose rule the town was destroyed will also not be forgotten.

It is time for Africans to wake up and ask: In whose interests are their otiose misrulers governing?

Corrupt misleaders like Tinubu and co have brazenly turned the AU, ECOWAS, and the rest of the organizations that were set up to promote African unity and development into mere tools of their Western curators and sponsors.

As one Malian said: “You see, it is this continual meddling into our affairs through our institutions that they have hijacked that forced us to exit ECOWAS. If ECOWAS is complaining that we violated their texts in announcing our exit, because we didn’t follow the year notice beforehand, then they should show us the texts in their own protocol that says they could impose illegal, illegitimate, inhumane, and irresponsible sanctions on Niger. A bunch of incompetent and hypocrites! Anyway, a luta continua!”

Let us read some of what I wrote in my “A Public Appeal To President Tinubu”: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/a-public-appeal-to-president-tinubu

How will Tinubu explain himself to Nigerians if the Junta in Niamey decided to disrupt the flow of the River Niger and deprived the Kainji Dam of water required to run the turbines?

It is quite sad to witness a Nigerian leader behave so unwisely and so unreasonably in the way Tinubu acted in his handling of the crisis in Niger. Even as Russian troops pummeled their Ukrainian foes, President Putin scrupulously kept all the agreements his country signed.

Tinubu’s advisers also badly let him down. They should have told him to calm himself down and, perhaps, reminded him of another Yoruba proverb: Ọba to jẹ taye gun, orukọ ẹ ko ni pa rẹ, eyi o dẹ jẹ, taye o sin mi, orukọ ẹ na ko ni parẹ / The King, under whose rule the town was peaceful will never be forgotten, the one under whose rule the town was destroyed will also not be forgotten.

For better or for worse, Tinubu is carrying the Yoruba race on his ancient shoulders: it must never be said that it was a Yoruba man who set fire to Africa and ignited a pan-African war. Yoruba people in every corner of the world ought to get it across to Tinubu that the reputation of the Yoruba race is not his to besmirch.

Another Yoruba proverb: Bi arà ilé ẹni ba njẹ kokoró buruku, ti a ko ba sọ fun, aruwo ẹ o ni jẹ ka sun loru / If a member of your family is swallowing poisonous critters and you fail to warn him, his groaning will keep you awake at night!

The Mother of All Question: Why is Tinubu not willing to write his name in Gold among the pantheon of African gods and heroes by leading ECOWAS to get France to renegotiate its Pacte Coloniale agreements, and grant Niger better terms for its minerals!

Why, in the name of African gods and ancestors, is Tinubu not willing to lend his authority to the decolonization of Africa? It shouldn’t require fire-breathing Pan-Africanists to know that the current neocolonial setup in much of Africa, especially in West Africa, is simply untenable.”

As Malian analyst Abdoul Diallo, head of Radio Couleurs Media, told Sputnik Africa: "We cannot remain in an organization under the influence of foreign powers. The sanctions against Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger were not taken lightly. The ECOWAS leaders were instructed by France and its allies to take criminal measures against our people," Diallo stressed.

©️Fẹmi Akọmọlafẹ

November 23, 2024

Fẹmi Akọmọlafẹ is a farmer, writer, and published author.

My latest book, “Africa: A Continent on Bended Knees” is available on:

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Africa: Destroyed by the gods: https://tinyurl.com/vglfk7w

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Comradely,

Femi Akomolafe