Atiku pledges ECOWAS restoration, border reopening for 2027

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has outlined a series of foreign policy and domestic economic pledges for the 2027 presidential election, including a commitment to restore Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and to reopen Nigeria's land borders. Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), presented these proposals in recent interviews and a video statement, criticizing aspects of the current administration's policies.

Atiku stated that if elected, he would work to reverse the withdrawal of the three Sahel nations from ECOWAS, a move that followed military coups and the imposition of sanctions by the regional bloc. He argued that Nigeria and ECOWAS adopted the wrong approach by isolating the countries. "I will get the ECOWAS leaders to sit down and deliberate, and we will use ECOMOG troops to ensure peace," Atiku said, suggesting the deployment of the regional monitoring group to strengthen security and combat terrorism. He partly blamed the deterioration in relations on the stance taken by President Bola Tinubu during his tenure as ECOWAS chairman when Niger's military seized power in 2023....