President Bola Tinubu has called on West African leaders to close ranks and work together to safeguard democracy in the region, following the recent coup attempt in Benin Republic and renewed instability in Guinea-Bissau.
Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, made the appeal on Sunday, December 14, during his opening address at the 68th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government held at the State House in Abuja.
“The external threats confronting West Africa today demand nothing less than a united front,” Tinubu said.
“Terrorism, violent extremism, unconstitutional changes of government, transnational organised crime, arms for liberation, cyber insecurity, climate shocks, food insecurity and irregular migration,” Tinubu added.
Framing the rising instability as a critical test for the region, Tinubu warned that West Africa “is most vulnerable, not when challenged from outside, but when weakened from within.”
“We do not share geography by accident. We share it by design, by history and by the enduring logic of kinship,” he said, adding that “West Africa is not a random assemblage of borders grown by chance. It is a family bound by memory, culture, struggle and aspiration.”
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Tinubu stressed that dialogue and solidarity, not coercion, should guide ECOWAS responses to crises.
“We remain persuaded that fraternity, not force, must define the future of our community.
“Yet history reminds us that ECOWAS can only fulfil its purpose or aspiration when every member state upholds the values of purity, justice and equality within its domestic affairs,” he said.
He called for collective action to confront regional security and economic challenges.
“No single member state, regardless of size or theme, can achieve enduring stability in isolation,” Tinubu said.
“Our security, prosperity and resilience are better built together. We must sit at the same table, speak with one voice and act with shared results,” he urged.
The session comes amid growing instability across West Africa following a wave of coups, including in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, recently in Guinea-Bissau, as well the thwarted attempt in Benin.