President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja, Saturday morning, to participate in the 59th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Accra, Ghana.
President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana is the current chairman of the regional body which recently suspended Mali over the May 25, 2021 ‘coup within coup’.
Then interim Vice President, Colonel Assimi Goita, had ousted President Bah N’Daw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and several of their advisers accusing them of failing to consult him on a cabinet reshuffle.
Buhari will join other Heads of State of Government of ECOWAS for the mid-year statutory meeting of the regional bloc, with the exception of Mali.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, who announced the trip, said former President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, ECOWAS Special Envoy and Mediator to Mali, is expected to present a report on his latest working visit to the West African country to the Summit of the Heads of State.
The Heads of State and Government will also receive a report on ECOWAS institutional reforms, single currency programme and a memorandum on the proposed mechanism of rotation of ECOWAS Member States’ candidature to the Chairmanship of the African Union.
A communiqué will be issued at the end of the Summit.
Shehu recalled that the 59th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government was preceded by the 46th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council (MSC) at the Ministerial Level and the 86th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, in Accra, Ghana.
The MSC, comprising of Ministers responsible for defence and foreign affairs from ECOWAS Member States, considered the security situation in the ECOWAS Region, among other topical issues on the agenda while the 86th Ordinary Session considered a memorandum on the post Covid-19 industry recovery plan, the 2021 mid-term report of the President of the ECOWAS Commission and the ongoing institutional reforms at ECOWAS, among others.
President Buhari will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, Minister of Defence, Maj. General Bashir Magashi (Rtd), Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, the National Security Adviser, Maj. General Babagana Monguno (Rtd), Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar.
The President is expected back in Abuja later in the day.
