Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, has been re-elected for another one-year tenure as Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and Government.
Tinubu’s first tenure will officially end on July 9, 2024. However, he was re-elected by a unanimous decision of fellow Heads of Government at the 65th Ordinary Session of the Authority held at the State House, Abuja, Sunday.
“I have accepted to continue to deliver on this service with the great men and women on this democratic journey, to serve our interest and build democratic values on the structure we inherited,” Tinubu said in his acceptance speech.
Tinubu was first elected as Chairman of the Authority at the 63rd Ordinary Session of the regional bloc held last July in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau.
Throughout his first term, the Nigerian leader faced significant challenges, particularly the occurrence of military coups in member states.
President Tinubu adopted a firm stance against unconstitutional changes of government in Niger Republic, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea, leading to the imposition of sanctions on these nations.
However, ECOWAS later lifted the sanctions, opting for a more diplomatic approach to address the issues.
In addition to managing regional instability, Tinubu played a crucial role in the success of the 2024 Senegalese elections by facilitating dialogue among stakeholders.
During the AES maiden summit in the Nigerien capital of Niamey on Saturday, Niger Republic’s military leader Abdourahamane Tiani accused ECOWAS of incompetence in tackling jihadists’ incursion into the region.
“Our people have irrevocably turned their backs on ECOWAS,” Tiani insisted.
“The AES is the only effective sub-regional grouping in the fight against terrorism,” Tiani declared on Saturday, calling ECOWAS “conspicuous by its lack of involvement in this fight”.
The exit came as the trio shifted away from former colonial ruler France, with Tiani calling for the new bloc to become a “community far removed from the stranglehold of foreign powers”.
