Be loyal – Dominic Nitiwul advises ECOWAS defence chiefs

Ghana’s Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, has urged the defence chiefs in the West Africa sub-region to be loyal to their heads of state and ECOWAS. He was addressing a gathering of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDS) in Accra as they put plans in place to activate a standing army to intervene in Niger.

He told the gathering, “Your presence alone sounds and gives me a powerful message to the world that you are united in carrying out the directive of the heads of state and governments of ECOWAS  and that after today and tomorrow’s meeting, you will put in place a plan to ensure that a standby force is activated and that democracy will be restored in Niger.”

According to Dominic Nititwul, the mere fact that presidential guards in certain West African countries seize power and hold their presidents, hostage, means no one is safe. That he said is the more reason why defence chiefs should be loyal and follow the instructions of their bosses.

“If Presidential guards in Guinea and Niger take hostage of their president, nobody in West Africa is safe. That is why I urge you to continue to be loyal to heads of state, I urge you, to continue to be loyal to Ecowas directives and to give effects that the days that coup d’etats enjoy the support of our people are over.”

He said, it is normal for people to always have dissenting views in a democratic setting and that is okay as the region has differing views on military intervention. However, he said the time has come for people to face reality and consume democracy over military rule.

“Yes, in a democracy people will agree to disagree, but the vast majority of our people in West Africa are with you, the vast majority of the people of West Africa do not want to be under the difficulties that we are facing today.”