By Arowoogun Abiola Ade-Ire

The presidency in the embattled West African country of Niger republic has declared that "the national army was ready to attack the guards if they did not come to their senses".

This declaration came as a result of the announcement on Wednesday 26th July, 2023 by the members of the Niger Republic presidential guard of the detain of the country's president, Mohamed Bazoum inside his palace in the capital Niamey.

The detained Niger President, Mohamed Bazoum.

The incident which could give way to a full-fledged coup d'etat has drawn wide condemnation from around the world, especially, UN, African Union and the West Africa sub-region organization, ECOWAS.

An Aljazeera correspondent reporting on the incident reported that "The West African bloc ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) also lashed what they called an “attempted coup d’etat”. ECOWAS called on the plotters to free Bazoum, while the AU urged the “felon” soldiers involved to return to barracks immediately.

The Niger Presidential officials have however declared that the president under the detain of the "felon soldiers has refused to "give up" power and they have failed to secure the support of other security forces.

"Bazoum has appeared unwilling to accept the plotters’ demands and give up power".

The officials therefore promised that the military loyal to the government will go after the "felon soldiers" as "there was a directive from the army for troops loyal to Bazoum to move in to quell what seemed to be a coup attempt".

Meanwhile, the presidency’s official Twitter account said that Bazoum and his family were well and that negotiations are ongoing.