Ghana has strongly condemned the coup attempt perpetrated in Niger, calling for the strict respect of the legitimacy and the constitutional order.

Niger’s security forces thwarted an attempted military coup at the West African country’s presidential palace early Wednesday just two days before the newly elected president is to be sworn into office.

The attack by a military unit on Niger’s presidential palace was an attempted coup, the government’s spokesman said, adding several people were arrested and others are being sought.

President-elect Mohamed Bazoum is due to be sworn in on Friday.

It will be the first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents in Niger since the country became independent in 1960.

At a ceremony to receive open letter from the Niger ambassador to Ghana, Mrs. Lamido Salamatou Bala Goga, Ghana’s foreign affairs minister Shirley Ayokor Botchwey, noted: “I think this is something that we must commend Niger for because it went in for the first and second round”.

“We, as Ghana, had to come in to support with some electoral materials and we gladly did that because of how we treasure the relations between our two countries”.

She added that “The president [of Ghana], as ECOWAS Chair, condemns all forms of unconstitutional moves to remove a government…Africa, West Africa, have gone past that and it is not something that should be entertained at all. It is something that is strongly condemned from our end as chair of ECOWAS and I believe that all the ECOWAS heads of states and the countries will condemn this kind of behaviour”.

Niger is the world's poorest nation, according to the UN's development rankings for 189 countries. It has seen four military coups, most recently in 2010.

Ms Botchwey also emphasised Ghana’s commitment towards consolidating existing friendly ties and expanding the scope of economic and technical cooperation between the two countries.

Niger is the world's poorest nation, according to the UN's development rankings for 189 countries. It has seen four military coups, most recently in 2010.