President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to work with Mali within the requirements of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS).
Buhari disclosed this on Thursday, when he received a Special Envoy from Col. Assimi Goita, the transitional president of Mali.
The team led by Col. Abdoulaye, Mali’s minister of territorial administration and decentralization, briefed President Buhari on the conclusion of the national conference on state-rebuilding held in Bamako on the 27th to 30th December, 2021.
While reacting to this, the president admonished Malians to be united as no one could love them more than themselves. Adding that all citizens and stakeholders should work with the tenets of ECOWAS in order to restore peace to the nation.
“I am pleased you have briefed the ECOWAS chairman too. Nigeria will work within ECOWAS limitations to assist Mali. Every country has its issues. We fought our own civil war before, we may not know the totality of the internal politics of each country. But we will make as much sacrifice as we can for Mali, within ECOWAS requirements.” Buhari said.
Col. Abdoulaye thanked Nigeria for the support given to his country in terms of bi-lateral relations and for the continuous aid rendered to the ECOWAS mediation team which was chaired by former president Goodluck Jonathan.
He further assured the President that the vision and plans of Col. Goita was to speedily return Mali to democracy. He also said this will be concluded as soon as possible, once Mali completes the review of laws guiding elections.