Nigerian Senators have rejected the request by President Bola Tinubu for permission to deploy Nigerian troops to Niger Republic as part of an ECOWAS force to reinstate the democratically elected president of the country,
Recall that Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was deposed on 26 July in a coup led by his presidential guards.
ECOWAS leaders at a meeting in Abuja four days later gave the coup leaders a seven-day ultimatum to restore constitutional order or face the possible use of force. The regional body imposed sanctions on the coup leaders with Nigeria also cutting electricity supplies and closing its borders with the poor West African nation.
Following the refusal of the coup leaders to backtrack, West African defence chiefs said they had drawn a plan for military action as part of which President Tinubu wrote the Senate for permission to involve Nigerian troops in the action.
However, at an executive session on Saturday, the senators rejected the request by the president.