President of Ghana, Prof. Nana Akufo-Addo has been elected as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the 57th ECOWAS Summit which held in Niamey, capital of Niger on Monday, September 7.
The summit is being held at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre, where leaders evaluated reports form the 44th Ordinary Session of the Mediation and Security Council at the Ministerial Level and the 84th Ordinary Session of the Ecowas Council of Ministers, which preceded the Summit, among others.
Akufo-Addo will now replace the former Chairman of the community, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger.
Ghana Ministry of Information announced this via its Twitter handle.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has just been elected as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the ongoing 57th ECOWAS Summit, which is being held in Niamey, capital of Niger.
#Breaking President @NAkufoAddo has just been elected as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the ongoing 57th ECOWAS Summit, which is being held in Niamey, capital of Niger pic.twitter.com/TBhFzxoBAW
— Ministry of Information (@moigovgh) September 7, 2020
During the summit, President Buhari called on African leaders to stop elongating their tenure in office, saying it was becoming a source of trouble.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President made the call while presenting Nigeria’s General Statement.
The statement was titled “President Buhari urges ECOWAS leaders to resist temptation of tenure elongation.”
The statement quoted the President as saying that;
It is important that as leaders of our individual member-states of ECOWAS, we need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region.
As it is, the challenges facing the sub-region are enormous; from socio-economic matters to security issues, the ECOWAS sub-region cannot therefore afford another political crisis, in the guise of tenure elongation.
I urge us all to resist the temptation of seeking to perpetuate ourselves in power beyond the constitutional provisions.
He added;
I commend those in our midst that have resisted such temptations, for they will be deemed exceptional role models in their respective countries and the sub-region as a whole.
Related to this call for restraint is the need to guarantee free, fair and credible elections. This must be the bedrock for democracy to be sustained in our sub-region, just as the need for adherence to the rule of law.
