Osinbajo to represent Buhari at ECOWAS summit in Ghana

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will represent President Muhammadu Buhari at an extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Ghana.

Laolu Akande, Osinbajo’s spokesperson, in a statement on Sunday, said ECOWAS members will discuss the political situation in the Republic of Mali.

Akande said the vice-president would depart Abuja on Sunday for Accra.

According to him, the meeting, which will be attended by leaders across the region, is part of efforts to resolve the situations in Mali and Guinea.

Last week, President Buhari had promised that Nigeria would work within the requirements of ECOWAS to ensure that Mali returns to democracy.

The political crisis in Mali took a different turn in August 2020 when the military seized power from President Ibrahim Keita. After the coup, the country instituted a political transition with a timeline of 18 months from September 15, 2021.

Bah N’Daw, Mali’s former defence minister, was named president of the country’s new transitional government, while Assimi Goita, leader of the military junta, was named vice-president. They were appointed to oversee the transition period.

But in June 2021, there was another coup led by Goita, who accused the interim president and the then Prime Minister Moctar Ouane of trying to sabotage the country’s transition.

Two days after seizing power from N’Daw, Goita declared himself president.