The military junta has refuted the circulating reports about the expulsion of Nigerian Ambassador Mohamed Usman from Niger Republic.
According to the statement released on Friday, August 25, by the Niger Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Usman, along with a few Western diplomats, was directed to depart the West African nation.
In a statement sighted by Saturday Telegraph, the Foreign Ministry issued a 24-hour ultimatum for the diplomat to leave the country or face the due consequences.
The statement reads, “The ministry is giving Mr Mohamed Usman 48 hours to leave the Nigerien territory in response to Nigerian Ambassador’s refusal to reply to an invitation by the ministry for a discussion on Friday, August 25, at 11.30 a.m., and due to other actions of the Nigerian government contrary to Niger’s interests.”
The German ambassador to Niger was also expelled for the same reason.
“In reaction to German Ambassador Olivier Schnakenberg’s refusal to reply to an invitation by the ministry for a discussion on Friday, August 25 at 11.00 a.m., and due to other actions of the German government contrary to Niger’s interests, the ministry is giving 48 hours to Mr. Olivier Schnakenberg’s to leave the Nigerien territory,” it said in a separate statement.
Earlier, Niger’s military administration also gave the French ambassador, Sylvain Itte, 48 hours to leave the country.
But in yet another statement, the foreign affairs ministry denied the first memo.
“Contrary to the information deliberately distilled on social networks which report a decision by the Nigerien authorities ordering the Ambassadors of Germany, Nigeria, and the United States of America to leave Nigerien territory within 48 hours, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, African Integration, and Nigeriens Abroad specifies that the said information is false and that only the Ambassador of France in Niger is declared persona non grata.”
“Also, the Ministry reminds those who are agitated and still doubt the expression of its sovereign will, that Niger does not need authorization or an interpretation of the Vienna Convention of 1961, to exercise its prerogatives and have Ambassador Sylvain ITTE leave, after these 48 hours ubur D Done in Niamey on August 25.”
A source in the Nigerian embassy in Niger told Newsmen that the junta was not aware of the expulsion of Usman.
The source said the military regime that ousted the government of President Mohamed Bazoum exactly a month ago was embarrassed by the reports.
