President Bola Ahmed Tinubu says war is not ideal for Nigeria’s economic reforms amid the tension in the Niger Republic.

Aguri Ngelale, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this on Saturday following a meeting between Tinubu and the US Presidential Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee.

Tinubu called on the US to deepen democracy in the West African sub-region through collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.

He explained ECOWAS remained committed to exploring all options for restoring democracy in the Niger Republic.

“We are deep in our attempts to peacefully settle the issue in Niger by leveraging our diplomatic tools. Despite its readiness for all options, I continue to hold ECOWAS back to exhaust all other remedial mechanisms. War is neither ideal for my economic reforms nor the region, but the defence of democracy is sacrosanct. The ECOWAS consensus is that we will not allow anyone to buy time insincerely,” he said.

A military junta truncated Nigerien democracy on July 26.