President Bola Tinubu meets with the outgoing President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, at State House in Abuja. The two hold a closed-door meeting, with Touray accompanied by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye. According to the reports, details of their discussions are not made public.
Touray is described as a Gambian diplomat who takes office as head of the ECOWAS Commission on July 3, 2022. He becomes Commission President following nomination by The Gambia and endorsement by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government. His four-year tenure is expected to run until 2026, with the visit occurring shortly before he formally concludes his term.
The sources also note that Touray previously served as The Gambia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and later as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under former President Yahya Jammeh. They add that Touray succeeds Ivorian diplomat Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, who led the Commission from 2018 to 2022, and that the transition occurs as ECOWAS continues addressing political, economic, and security challenges in West Africa.
