Nigeria’s President and Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has applauded President John Mahama’s visit to the three Sahel nations, emphasising that his diplomatic efforts aimed to improve the security landscape in the Sahel region and foster economic opportunities across West Africa
President Tinubu commended his Ghanaian counterpart, John Mahama, during a meeting at the State House in Abuja on Thursday.
This followed Mahama’s briefing to the ECOWAS Chairman regarding his diplomatic efforts with the military junta leaders of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, aimed at addressing regional security and stabilit
Further speaking on President Mahama’s efforts, the ECOWAS Chair, President Tinubu said his talks with the three AES was essential to safeguarding lives and fostering prosperity across the region.
“I feel good that he is here in the first place. I am indeed very happy with the efforts he has made to have a bridge between the AES countries and the ECOWAS. It’s not a bad idea for us because of the security situation in the Sahel region and what economic opportunity that we must embark to ensure security of lives and prosperity of our citizens.
“The innocent people in this episode are the citizens of those countries not much about us the leadership. The citizens must be the first beneficiary and the first point of reasons together.” President Tinubu added.
For his part, the President of Ghana, John Mahama, said he visited the Nigerian Leader to update him on emerging issues from his diplomatic talks with the military leaders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Mahama acknowledged the complexities of the regional issue but assured that with continued constructive dialogue all pending issues between the Alliance of Sahel States and the Economic Community of West African States will be resolved.
“I came to thank him for the honour done me during my inauguration but also to brief him on the visits to the sahealean countries Burkina faso, Mali and Niger and to bring him up to date with some of the issues and to discuss with him. As ECOWAS chairman, its my duty to come and brief him on the some of the concerns that were raised there so that we continue to dialogue with those other countries.
“Well its a complicated situation and its not as easy as we think. We just need to continue to dialogue and see how we can continue to dialogue together.” President Mahama added.
It would be recalled that ECOWAS at its last meeting maintained a position of openness towards the three AES states—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger despite their official withdrawal from the bloc.
ECOWAS extended a six-month grace period, allowing these countries to reconsider their decision and potentially rejoin the community.
