Diplomatic friction has resurfaced between Nigeria and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s latest remarks sparking sharp reactions in Bamako, Niamey, and Ouagadougou. During a July 30 meeting with traditional leaders, the president linked a surge in insecurity and kidnappings in Nigeria’s northern regions to armed groups allegedly operating from neighboring countries.

The accusation drew an immediate response from Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, who issued a statement on August 7. The document emphasized that terrorism remains a shared threat across the region. “The Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria face the same enemy,” it declared, while expressing the AES’s strong disapproval of Tinubu’s statements.

“The real enemies lie elsewhere”

On the same day, envoys from the three AES member states in Ouagadougou summoned Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires to formally protest Tinubu’s remarks, calling them “inaccurate”. The Burkinabè diplomat highlighted what he described as a disregard for the extensive counter-terrorism efforts undertaken by AES militaries. “We are not responsible for our challenges. The real enemies are elsewhere,” he asserted.

Security conditions in Nigeria’s northwest, particularly along its border with Niger, have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Relations between Abuja and its Sahel neighbors had already reached a low point in 2023 following the coup in Niamey that ousted former President Mohamed Bazoum.