ECOWAS parliament hails France

By The Nation Newspaper

The Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has commended the leadership of the ECOWAS and France for the success recorded in the war against terror in Mali.

He said Mali and Guinea Bissau were test cases for the survival of peace, democracy and integration in the sub-region.

Ekweremadu, who is also the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, stressed that the Community Parliament would take legitimate steps to reinforce the quest for lasting peace, security, democracy, and good governance in the sub-region.

He spoke at the opening of the First 2013 Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament on the Political Crisis in Mali and Guinea Bissau in Abuja yesterday.

The Speaker said: “Terrorism anywhere is terrorism everywhere and a threat to peace anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere.

“I, therefore, wish to commend the government of France and the ECOWAS institution for doing the needful and for showing leadership and courage when it mattered most.

“The Community Parliament will not spare any legitimate steps to reinforce the quest for lasting peace, security, democracy, and good governance in Mali and Guinea Bissau.

”We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that no part of this sub-region is surrendered to nefarious and anti-democracy interests in whatever guise they may come.”

The plenary also witnessed the swearing in of the maiden delegation of the Cote d’Ivoire to the Parliament. The Speaker expressed happiness that the vacuum created by the absence of Cote d’Ivoire in the sub-regional Parliament over the years due to political crisis in the country had been successfully filled. Ekweremadu, therefore, enjoined members of the Ivorian delegation to immediately go to work and contribute their quota to the integration, democratisation, and development process in the sub-region.

Meanwhile, the ECOWAS Parliament has elected two new Deputy Speakers. Hon. Kaboure Alexis of Burkina Faso replaced Hon. Sere Sereme Saran of the same country as Second Deputy Speaker, while Hon. Simon Osei Mensah of Ghana replaced his compatriot, Hon. Michael Nyaumu as the Fourth Deputy Speaker.

The First 2013 Extraordinary Session will consider and adopt the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Political Crisis in Mali and Guinea Bissau