…As VP Osinbajo attends ECOWAS extraordinary summit in Ghana
President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in Paris, France, where he will be participating in the first edition of the Paris Peace Forum, taking place between November 11 and 13, 2018.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, President Buhari is expected to join the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres and other world leaders in discussing contributions towards global peace while underscoring the imperative of collective action.
He will also join other world leaders to commemorate the centenary anniversary of the Armistice signed on November 11, 1918, between the Allied Forces and Germany in the forest of Compiegne in France to end the First World War. Also, the President will attend a luncheon hosted by his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, in honour of visiting heads of delegations.
Organised by the French Government and several Non-Governmental Organisations, (NGOs), the Forum is based on the “simple idea that international cooperation is key to tackling global challenges and ensuring durable peace.
Before returning to Abuja, the President and his delegation will have an interactive session with the Nigerian Community in France.
Also yesterday, Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, represented President Muhammadu Buhari at an Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Accra, Ghana on the political situation in the Republics of Guinea and Mali.
This was disclosed in a statement issued yesterday by the V-P’s spokesman, Laolu Akande.
According to the statement, the meeting, which was the third on the same agenda this year, will assess previous resolutions and further review the political situation in the Republics of Guinea and Mali.
Recall that ECOWAS leaders in the communique issued at the end of the last special summit in Accra had, amongst other resolutions, decided to freeze the financial assets of members of the military junta, place a travel ban on them, while also demanding that the junta return Guinea to constitutional rule within six months.
The Vice President had restated Nigeria’s position on the situation in Guinea at the summit, where he called for the unconditional release of President Alpha Condé and called for more pressure to be put on the country’s military leaders to return the nation to democratic rule.
While commending the efforts of stakeholders in Mali, Osinbajo re-emphasised the need to strictly respect and follow the electoral timetable for transition to civil rule. He also proposed engagement with the military junta and all stakeholders in Guinea and the enforcement of necessary “punitive measures that will ensure that the military junta does not overstay in power
The Vice President also restated Nigeria’s position calling on all leaders to always respect the principles of democracy and the Constitutions of their respective countries.
