The ECOWAS Summit in Guinea Bissau has just appointed Nigeria’s President Ahmed Bola Tinubu as Chair of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government for the next one year.

He takes over from Guinea Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

Tinubu’s electoral victory in February 2023 is subject of an ongoing legal challenges by two opposition political parties, the PDP and the Labour Party over alleged irregularities.

Tinubu’s election to the ECOWAS rotational Chair follows a precedent set in 2020, when Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo was similarly elected while the challenge to his electoral victory was also pending in court.

What does this say about leadership recruitment process in West Africa, with democracy believed to be in recession?