The Labour Party has claimed that Nigeria cannot be playing an ‘big brother’ role in Africa amid the ongoing political crisis in Niger Republic while its citizens are hungry.
President, Bola Tinubu, who is the Chairman of the regional bloc, had said “no option is taken off the table including the use of force as the last resort” in his closing remarks at the extraordinary meeting of ECOWAS leaders in Abuja on Thursday.
The bloc also directed the immediate enforcement and monitoring of sanctions on the Republic of Niger military junta.
Also, the bloc ordered the “deployment of the ECOWAS standby force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger”.
The bloc also called on the African Union, AU, partner countries and institutions to support the resolutions taken by the sub-regional body.
ECOWAS lamented that efforts made to have a peaceful dialogue with the military junta in Niger were rebuffed.
But a statement issued by Obiora Ifoh, LP national publicity secretary on Saturday while reacting to the matter, said the current socio-economic challenges Nigeria is facing make it unwise for the government to be involved in any war.
The statement reads, “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.
“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.
“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.”