Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali coups: Osinbajo departs for ECOWAS talks in Ghana

By Matthew Eloyi

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo left Abuja this morning for Accra, Ghana to represent Nigeria at an Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government deliberating today on the political situation in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.

This was contained in a press release issued by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity (Office of the Vice President) on Thursday (today).

According to the statement, the meeting which is coming as part of the resolutions reached at last week’s virtual meeting chaired by Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, will review the report of the ECOWAS delegation despatched to Quagadougou to meet with the military junta who recently seized power in Burkina Faso.

The summit will be attended by regional leaders who will be considering imposing additional sanctions after the country was suspended from the regional body last week.

Akande recalled that last Monday, soldiers forced the removal of democratically elected President Roch March Kabore from office in a military coup. The military takeover of government in Burkina Faso follows the same occurrence in Mali and Guinea recently.

He added that President Muhammadu Buhari has been delegating Vice President Osinbajo to represent Nigeria at a series of ECOWAS leaders’ summits on the issues of undemocratic, military takeover of governments in the region.

The Vice President is accompanied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, Presidential Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, himself also an Ambassador, and other top Nigerian diplomats. The VP is expected back in Abuja later today.