By Chijioke Okoronkwo
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will depart Abuja on Sunday for Accra, Ghana to represent Nigeria at an Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, who disclosed this in a statement, said the summit was on the political situations in the Republics of Guinea and Mali.
Sunday’s extraordinary meeting, which will be the third on the same agenda in 2021, will assess previous resolutions and further review the political situation in Guinea and Mali.
Osinbajo had participated at the 2nd ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit on the political situation in Guinea and Mali held on Sept. 16 in Accra, Ghana.
Before that, he also attended a virtual ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit held on Sept. 8 on the same agenda.
ECOWAS leaders in the communique issued at the end of the last special summit in Accra had, among other resolutions, decided to freeze the financial assets of members of the military junta.
The regional body also placed a travel ban on them, while also demanding that the junta returned Guinea to constitutional rule within six months.
Nigeria’s position on the situation in Guinea had been restated by Osinbajo at the summit, urging for the unconditional release of President Alpha Condé.
Nigeria also called for more pressure to be put on the country’s military leaders to return the nation to democratic rule.
The vice president had commended the efforts of stakeholders in Mali and re-emphasised the need to strictly respect and follow the electoral timetable for transition to civil rule.
Osinbajo will be joined in the trip by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Zubairu Dada.
The vice president is expected back in Abuja later on Sunday.
(NAN)
