Nigerian Government expresses concern over developments in Chad

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed worry over the recent development in Chad.

Chad, based in the Sahel region lost its President, Idriss Deby Itno, who died of injuries suffered on the frontline on Tuesday.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama in a statement on Tuesday also called for urgent consideration of dialogue among all the stakeholders in the Chad Republic.

“Nigeria expresses great concerns over evolving developments in Chad. The interim leadership of Chad and all stakeholders, at home and abroad, including the two armed groups still fighting must not allow the evolving developments in Chad to feed into more chaos with its attendant consequences,” Onyeama said.

He added that Nigeria is willing to guide the dialogue process and maintain peace within the country that has now lost the president and have him replaced by his son.

“Nigeria is calling for urgent consideration of dialogue among all the stakeholders, which the country says it is ready and willing to guide and mainstream, within the framework of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union.

“An early return to democratic governance in Chad should be the ultimate goal, but the immediate objective is the stabilization of Chad.” The ministry said.

Geoffrey added that, “The influence and relevance of Idriss Deby lay in his capacity to make Chad act as a buffer between North Africa, the Sahel, East and West Africa, and in particular, containing the negative extreme tendencies that are domiciled in these regions.”