Ghana’s Akufo-Addo Emerges New ECOWAS Chairman
A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder in a final ruling that jailed eight defendants to between
The President of Ghana, Prof. Nana Akufo-Addo, has emerged as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
He was elected president at the 57th ECOWAS Summit in Niamey, capital of Niger on Monday.
The Ghana Ministry of Information announced this via its Twitter handle.
“President @NAkufoAddo has just been elected as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the ongoing 57th ECOWAS Summit, which is being held in Niamey, capital of Niger,” it tweeted.
During the summit, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), warned ECOWAS leaders against elongating their tenure in office beyond constitutional limits.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President made the call while presenting Nigeria’s General Statement.
The statement was titled “President Buhari urges ECOWAS leaders to resist temptation of tenure elongation.” seven and 20 years, state media reported.
“Five of the convicts were given 20 years in prison and another three were jailed for 7-10 years,” the official Saudi
The statement quoted the President as saying that “It is important that as leaders of our individual member-states of ECOWAS, we need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region.
“As it is, the challenges facing the sub-region are enormous; from socio-economic matters to security issues, the ECOWAS sub-region cannot therefore afford another political crisis, in the guise of tenure elongation.
“I urge us all to resist the temptation of seeking to perpetuate ourselves in power beyond the constitutional provisions.
“I commend those in our midst that have resisted such temptations, for they will be deemed exceptional role models in their respective countries and the sub-region as a whole.
“Related to this call for restraint is the need to guarantee free, fair and credible elections. This must be the bedrock for democracy to be sustained in our sub-region, just as the need for adherence to the rule of law.”
Press Agency said, citing a spokesman for the public prosecutor.
None of the defendants were named in what was described as the final court ruling on the killing which had sparked an international outcry.
The verdict came after Khashoggi’s sons said in May they had “pardoned” the killers, a move condemned as a “parody of justice” by a UN expert.
The family’s pardon spared the lives of five unnamed people sentenced to death over the 2018 murder in a
December court ruling, which was lambasted by human rights groups after two top aides to the crown prince were exonerated.
Khashoggi — a royal family insider turned critic — was killed and dismembered at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, in a case that tarnished the reputation of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Khashoggi, a 59-year-old critic of the crown prince, was strangled and his body cut into pieces by a 15-man Saudi squad inside the consulate, according to Turkish officials. His remains have not been found.
Riyadh has described the murder as a “rogue” operation, but both the CIA and a United Nations special envoy have directly linked Prince Mohammed to the killing, a charge the kingdom vehemently denies.
Meanwhile, a UN expert has dismissed the court, decrying especially that top officials who allegedly ordered his killing had walked free.
“The Saudi prosecutor performed one more act today in this parody of justice. But these verdicts carry no legal or moral legitimacy,” UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard said in a tweet.
She denounced the fact that “the high-level officials who organised and embraced the execution … have walked free from the start”, and that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman “has remained well protected against any kind of meaningful scrutiny in his country”.