The Presidents of three neighbouring West African countries are being hosted at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by President Bola Tinubu, the ECOWAS Chairman.
The colleague-presidents visiting President Tinubu on Tuesday are; Patrice Talon of Benin Republic, Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau; and Mohammed Bazoum of Niger Republic.
Although reasons for the meeting were officially not available as at the time of filing this report, the visiting presidents, who arrived the Aso Rock Presidential Villa at about noon, are expected to be discussing, primarily, issues around economies with their host.
The three presidents arrived the Presidential Villa one after the other and were received at the forecourt of his office by President Tinubu.
Soon afterward, he led the West African leaders into a private session at his office.
While the specific agenda of Tuesday’s meeting is not yet public, it comes barely nine days after President Tinubu assumed the Chairmanship of the Authority of Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States.
The leaders are expected to discuss security and economic development in the sub-region.
Tinubu is likely to reiterate his stance on defending democracy in the subregion given the spate of coups in recent years.
Guinea-Bissau had survived an attempted coup in February 2022. However, the civilian governments of Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso had been toppled between 2019 and 2022.
