President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been re-elected as the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), about one year after he took over the leadership of the regional bloc.
Tinubu, whose first tenure is to elapse on July 9, 2024, was elected by a unanimous decision of fellow Heads of Government at the 65th Ordinary Session of the Authority held at the State House, Abuja, on Sunday.
This comes hours after he was reportedly stepped aside as the chairman of the West African bloc.
During his opening remark at the summit, President Tinubu urged ECOWAS member states to make financial commitments to help in the battle against terrorism in the region.
“As we move to operationalise the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) in combating terrorism, I must emphasize that the success of this plan requires not only strong political will but also substantial financial resources,” he told the gathering.
“We must therefore ensure that we meet the expectations and recommendations set forth by our ministers of defence and finance in order to counter the insecurity and stabilise our region. Member states must make extra commitments to providing resources for stabilising the region.”
In recent years, ECOWAS has been hit by a wave of coups in member nations. Niger Republic, Mali, and Burkina Faso have been taken over by junta leaders.
While they were lifted in February, the countries left the regional bloc a few days later. The trio said they have “irrevocably turned their backs” on ECOWAS and have instead formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
ECOWAS had in the wake of the coups imposed a raft of sanctions including border closure on the three nations.
During the AES maiden summit on Saturday in the Nigerien capital of Niamey, 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 said.
Tinubu was elected Chairman of the Authority at the 63rd Ordinary Session of the regional bloc held last July in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau.
