•Mahama and Tinubu in Abuja
Ghanaian President, John Mahama, yesterday visited his Nigerian counterpart, Bola Tinubu, at the State House in Abuja.
The visit, the first since his inauguration on January 7 is to brief Tinubu – who also doubles as the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government – on his recent visit to Burkina, Mali, Niger, reports Channels TV.
Briefing journalists, the Ghanaian leader said he was in Nigeria to keep Tinubu updated on diplomatic efforts with the military junta leaders of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, aimed at addressing regional security and stability.
Mahama acknowledged the complexities of the regional issue but assured that with continued constructive dialogue all pending issues between the Alliance of Sahel States and the Economic Community of West African States will be resolved.
“I came to thank him for the honour done me during my inauguration but also to brief him on the visits to the sahealean countries Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and to bring him up to date with some of the issues and to discuss with him. As ECOWAS chairman, its my duty to come and brief him on the some of the concerns that were raised there so that we continue to dialogue with those other countries.
“Well it’s a complicated situation and it’s not as easy as we think. We just need to continue to dialogue and see how we can continue to dialogue together,” Mahama stated.
Responding, Tinubu said his talks with the three Alliance of Sahel States (AES by its French acronym) were essential to safeguarding lives and fostering prosperity across the region.
“I feel good that he is here in the first place. I am indeed very happy with the efforts he has made to have a bridge between the AES countries and the ECOWAS. It’s not a bad idea for us because of the security situation in the Sahel region and what economic opportunity that we must embark to ensure security of lives and prosperity of our citizens,” Tinubu said.
“The innocent people in this episode are the citizens of those countries not much about us the leadership. The citizens must be the first beneficiary and the first point of reasons together.”
Relations between Ecowas and the three Sahel countries have been tense since the military seized power in Niger in 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.
After the Niger coup, Ecowas imposed crippling sanctions on the country, such as border closures, a no-fly zone for all commercial flights and the freezing of central bank assets. Negotiations between Ecowas and the juntas have taken place since then – but have failed.
