…By Paul Ejime

West African leaders at their 67th Ordinary Summit in Abuja on Saturday 22 June 2025 chose Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio as the new rotational Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government for the next one year.

He succeeds Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu who served for two terms from 2023.

A retired army Brigadier, Bio, 61, ruled Sierra Leone as military head of state from January to March 1996.

As civilian politician he won the presidential election in 2018 and was reelected in a bitterly contested vote in 2023.

The post-election tensions involving two government reported military coups attempts are lingering with Bio’s immediate predecessor Bai Koroma exiled to Nigeria.

Tinubu inherited an ECOWAS inflicted by a resurgent of military incursions in regional politics with four of ECOWAS’ 15 member States now ruled by military juntas.

Three of the military rulers have formed the Alliance of Sahel States, AES and pulled their countries – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger out of ECOWAS.

ECOWAS is 50 this year and negotiations under Tinubu’s leadership to bring back the breakaway countries have so far failed.

This was after an unpopular decision by the regional bloc to use military force to restore constitutional order in Niger after a military coup, which the organisation failed to follow through.