Following the decision taken by ECOWAS authority to ensure the termination of last week’s military coup in Burkina Faso, the presidential guard have stepped down and are now working to perfect a smooth transition to civilian rule.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who represented President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Ouagadougou, stated this while addressing journalists in the capital city of Burkina Faso after series of consultations, meetings and a formal restoration of power ceremony.

On behalf of a select group of West African leaders who were in the Burkinabe capital, Osinbajo said the leaders were there “to convey the recommendations agreed by ECOWAS leaders in Abuja, and we have witnessed the reinstatement of President Michel Kafando as the Transition President of Burkina Faso”.

He said the federal government joined in the facilitation of the quick restoration of civilian rule in Burkina Faso a day after President Muhammadu Buhari hosted an Extraordinary session of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments in Abuja,

Osinbajo noted that the restoration of civilian authority in Burkina Faso after last week military coup conducted by the country’s presidential guards (known as the Presidential Security Regiment or RSP) was “a very good sign, a positive thing.

He said, “As you know, President Kafando had been detained by the RSP, the presidential guard, but they have now stepped down as you can see, and they are now part of the process to ensure that the transition goes on.

“What we have seen today is how ECOWAS states came together basically to agree and see to it that President Kafando was reinstated and now that has been accomplished”.

Observing that ECOWAS played a significant role in the process that made the restoration possible, Osinbajo praised the leaders of ECOWAS, including President Buhari, President Boni Yayi of Benin, and the current Chairman of ECOWAS, President Macky Sall of Senegal alongside all the leaders in the West African region.

The Vice President said, “Now we are all looking at how to advance the transition process here in Burkina Faso”, even as he explained that, while there are still difficult issues to be resolved as fallouts of the coup crisis, it is clear that progress will continue.

This, he said, was judging from the fact that the people are determined, as “all the groups   involved are now engaged in the process and are cooperating”.

Osinbajo reiterated Nigeria’s continued brotherly support for Burkina Faso, just as he commended the international community for coming together to condemn the coup.

He said, “I think it is very clear going by the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and the legal instruments of the African Union, that coups are no longer fashionable and no longer acceptable”.