President Bola Tinubu said the military junta in Niger Republic would have been attacked if not for him.
Tinubu stated this when he met a group of northern Muslim clerics at the Villa.
The guests paid him visit in respect of the crisis in Niger Republic occasioned by the dethronement of the civilian President Mohamed Bazoum via a military coup.
The clerics had earlier visited the francophone nation and met with the junta and on return to Nigeria expressed indisposotion to proposed military action by the Economic Community of West African States against the coupists.
The President, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, told the Ulamas that he has been disuading ECOWAS and other interested parties bent on invading Niger from treading that ground.
“I am managing a very serious situation. If you take ECOWAS aside, other people will react, those who are outside of our control. I am the one holding those sides back. I am the one holding back ECOWAS, “ Ajuri quoted his principal as saying.
