President John Mahama and his Nigerian counterpart, Goodluck Jonathan, have held discussions in Abuja on the margins of the World Economic Forum – Africa event.
The discussions were centered on the concerns, support and plans of leaders and Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) regarding the activities of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
President Mahama, who is the Chair of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, was accompanied by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo.
“Any destabilization of Nigeria is a destabilization of the whole of the West African sub region,” President Mahama told the media after their meeting.
‘’I came here on behalf of our other ECOWAS heads of state to express our solidarity with the government and people of Nigeria in the face of these terrorist attacks that have been occurring. As you are aware, ECOWAS has a Common Anti-Terrorism strategy and as Chair of ECOWAS I have been speaking with other Heads of States and they believe that we should activate the anti-terrorism strategy,’’ he added.
According to him ECOWAS will call a meeting of joint intelligence chiefs in Accra next week. ‘’We are inviting Cameroun and Chad to join so that together we can see how we eliminate this security threat to the sub region,’’ he said.
President Mahama told the media that offers of support by the international community is welcomed.
‘’The international effort to join with Nigeria to fight Boko Haram is a very welcomed development because it is not Nigeria’s problem alone,’’ he reiterated.
By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana