The presidential tenure of Niger’s ousted leader, Mohamed Bazoum, officially ends on Thursday, but the former president faces an uncertain future as he remains in detention with little prospect of release or trial.
NOP NIGERIA understands that Bazoum, 66, assumed office on April 2, 2021, after winning the presidential election with 55 per cent of the vote.
However, he has been held in a wing of the presidential palace in Niamey alongside his wife since a military junta led by General Abdourahamane Tiani seized power in the West African country on July 26, 2023.
Despite his removal from power, Bazoum has refused to resign.
His legal team argues that the end of his official tenure should not be recognised because he has been unable to perform his duties since the coup.
“His term was interrupted and did not resume. If Mr Bazoum returns to power tomorrow, the duration of his detention will not be taken into account in the exercise of his duties,” Moussa Coulibaly, a member of the lawyers’ collective representing the former president, told AFP.
However, political analyst, Valery Ntwali, who specialises in coups in sub-Saharan Africa, said Bazoum’s legal standing had effectively ended.
According to him, the former president had “lost his legality since the constitution on which he was elected was suspended”.
Following the coup, the military leadership suspended Niger’s constitution and replaced it with a new charter adopted in March last year.
The charter allows the junta to remain in power for another five years, with the possibility of renewal. Since the military takeover, no elections have been conducted.
Ntwali said, “It remains uncertain which law prevails, that of the military junta that took power by force, or the one in place before the coup.
“There’s no international authority imposing its view. Rather, there are national authorities who will negotiate with the junta and others that do not recognise it.”
Although the Nigerien junta has taken a strong stance on national sovereignty and criticised Western influence, it has not been completely isolated internationally.
The government recently resumed security cooperation talks with the United States, two years after forcing American troops involved in anti-jihadist operations to leave the country.
At the same time, Niger has strengthened ties with Russia.
Relations remain strained with France, the former colonial power, which has repeatedly called for Bazoum’s release. Tensions also persist with the European Union.
Earlier this month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution demanding the immediate release of the former president, sparking anger among Sahelian military governments and protests in Niamey and Ouagadougou.
“It’s a failure on the part of the international community, I don’t know how we were unable to secure the release of this democratically elected president,” said French Member of the European Parliament Christophe Gomart.
“Europe carries weight in Africa, it gives money to a number of African countries; the European Union should have exerted pressure,” he added.
Trial Unlikely Despite Lifted Immunity
Bazoum’s presidential immunity was lifted in 2024, but his lawyers believe the official end of his term is unlikely to hasten legal proceedings against him.
According to Mohamed Seydou Diagne, another member of his legal team, the junta may see the detained leader as a strategic asset.
“For the junta, it’s less a question of law than security: what matters to them is that President Bazoum serves as a human shield,” Diagne said.
Nearly three years after the coup, Bazoum remains confined in the presidential residence under strict conditions.
Coulibaly said the former president and his wife are still held in the same location and under similar circumstances.
After almost three years in detention, Bazoum is “still held in the same place, and in the same conditions” with no windows, doors, or visitors except his doctor, the lawyer added.
