President Bola Tinubu has encouraged the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to re-engage with sub-regional nations whose democratic administrations were deposed in military coups in order to agree on a realistic and short transition plan for them.
Tinubu stated this on Sunday at the 64th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja.
WesternPost had reported that President Tinubu hosted 15 Heads of State and Government at the 64th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS event held at the presidential villa’s old banquet hall in Abuja.
Speaking about the frequency with which juntas remove democratically elected governments from office, Tinubu stressed that ECOWAS should be ready to offer them material and technical help in order to accomplish the declared goals.
Speaking further, Tinubu underlined the need to preserve our people’s ability to choose their leaders and further deepen the democratic gains made in the area.
He reminded that the area had decided on particular punitive actions to be applied to any member state choosing to choose an illegal transition in government.
Niger Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea are the four nations in question; all have been placed under military control since their elected constitutional leaders were forcibly removed.
However, he added: “While the imposition of punitive sanctions may pose challenges, it is important to underscore that the struggle to protect the fundamental liberties of our community citizens must be upheld and respected.
“To this end, I would like to reiterate the imperative of re-engaging with the countries under military rule based on realistic and short transition plans that can deliver democracy and good governance.
“On our part, we should be prepared to provide them with technical and material support to ensure the achievement of these strategic goals.”
The president noted that the summit was taking place at a time of significant developments not just in the sub-region but globally, when the world was confronted with the challenges of democratic consolidation, economic difficulties, the climate change crisis, and food insecurity, among others.
In his remark, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, regretted that the military authorities have “unfortunately shown little remorse as they hold onto their untenable positions.”
“Despite the successful application of the sanctions, we observed with concern some breaches of the sanctions, including the massive movement of physical cash by individuals across the borders,” he stated.
“And in line with the provisions of our community texts, she granted humanitarian access to medical and humanitarian goods for the sake of the people. But reports from humanitarian agencies show that the military authorities have been interfering with the flow, easy access of humanitarian support.
“Despite the successful application of the sanctions, we observed with concern some breaches of the sanctions including massive movement of physical cash by individuals across the borders.
“Let me acknowledge the continuing support of our development partners with whom in recent times, we have decided several financing agreements including, for example, the seven simplified financial agreements with the european union covering the areas of trade, migration, energy and agriculture amounted to 212 million euros.”
