Fix Nigeria first before meddling in Niger Republic affairs, LP tells Tinubu

The Labour Party (LP) has asked President Bola Tinubu to fix Nigeria first before “meddling” in the affairs of the Niger Republic.

On Thursday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), during its second extraordinary meeting, directed the deployment of standby military troops to restore constitutional order in the Niger Republic.

Reacting to the development in a statement on Saturday, Obiora Ifoh, LP national publicity secretary, said now is not the time for Nigeria to be involved in a war because “the socio-economic situation in the country has so badly deteriorated to the extent that Nigeria is wallowing in abject poverty, hunger, and unemployment”.

“The leadership of the Labour Party has been following the recent political development in the Republic of Niger, and how Nigeria-led ECOWAS has threatened to lead the regional nations into a war of purging the coupists out of government from our neighboring country,” Ifoh said.

“We believe sincerely that charity should always begin at home. The holy book also said that one needs to remove the log on one’s eyes before talking about a spec on another’s eyes.

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“The poor economic policies of the government, the hike in the prices of petroleum products, and the soaring forex situation have further deteriorated the living conditions of the people.

“So, with a country with such an enormous crisis, thinking of waging war against another country or defending democracy is not only laughable but misconceived and misdirected.

“We already have enough crises on our hands, from insecurity, hunger, unemployment, poverty, and poor infrastructure amongst others, I think the government has enough tasks to focus on rather than footloose into the internal affairs of another country.

“Nigeria cannot be playing the big brother of Africa when the people are hungry. We are giant of Africa only in name but we are far from living up to that expectation. The government needs to think about Nigeria first. We have enormous challenges on our hands.

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“The government must focus on how to restore our economy, rebuild infrastructure, create jobs, and end killings and insecurity in Nigeria rather than waste time, resources, and energy in the affairs of another sovereign nation.