Ahead of the expiration of the Tenure of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS on July 9, 2024, presidents and representatives of member states are currently meeting at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja.
The meeting is said to be the 65th Ordinary Summit of the regional Heads of States.
Barring any last minute change of plan, the meeting might announce a new Chairman of the West African regional body to steer their affairs for the next one year.
However, nothing is certain until the completion of the summit which started at about noon in the Nigerian seat of power.
President Tinubu’s tenure as a ECOWAS leader was characterized by the coup in some member countries, with efforts still ongoing to bring back Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso into the regional bloc.
All efforts by ECOWAS to bring back the countries has failed to yield the desired outcome with the President of the Commission, Omar Touray, recently expressing disappointment over Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger’s reluctance to rejoin the regional bloc.
Touray, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the 92nd Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers on last week in Abuja, disclosed that despite ECOWAS’s efforts to engage the countries, they have not responded positively to their covertures.
