The House of Representatives has asked the Federal Government to leverage Nigeria’s diplomatic channels with ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) to secure the release of Nigerian soldiers and aircraft in Burkina Faso.

The lower legislative chamber passed the motion at yesterday’s plenary, following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Ojuawo Adeniyi, a lawmaker from Ekiti.

Early this month, the Confederation of Sahel States (AES) accused an aircraft carrying 11 Nigerian soldiers of violating Burkinabe airspace. AES is a breakaway West African regional union comprising Burkina Faso, Mali and the Niger Republic. Assimi Goita, the Mali junta leader, described the landing as an “unfriendly act carried out in defiance of international law”.

The AES said it authorised its member states to neutralise any aircraft violating its airspace. According to TheCable, the incident occurred at the same time Nigerian troops carried out air strikes in Benin to help foil a coup. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had said the C-130 aircraft was on a ferry mission to Portugal. On December 11, Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the soldiers and the aircraft are still in the West African country.

Leading the debate on the motion, Adeniyi said the prolonged uncertainty surrounding the aircraft and its crew could negatively affect national morale, civil-military confidence and Nigeria’s image within the sub-region. He said swift, coordinated and transparent action is necessary to safeguard national security interests and uphold Nigeria’s sovereignty.

The motion was unanimously adopted when Benjamin Kalu, the presiding officer, called for a voice vote. Consequently, the House mandated the committees on foreign affairs, defence, air force and national security to interface with the ministries of defence as well as relevant intelligence agencies, to ensure the prompt resolution of the issues, and report back within two weeks.