MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2023) Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been elected chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for 2024 to succeed Bissau-Guinean leader Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
"We will not allow coup after coup in Africa again. We will take democracy seriously with African Union and extend the same to the European Union including Britain and America. Democracy is very tough to manage but it is the best form of government and we all ascribed to it," Tinubu said at the 63rd ordinary session in Bissau, as quoted by Nigerian newspaper Punch.
The Nigerian leader called on other Western African presidents to strengthen democratic institutions and ensure the observance of human rights and the rule of law, saying that during his ECOWAS leadership the cooperation with the transitional countries, including Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, will be intensified to expedite their return to democratic rule.
ECOWAS was founded in 1975 in Nigeria and comprises 15 member countries of the Western African region including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
