President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday evening, returned from Bamako, Mali, after many hours of failed consultations and closed-door meeting meant to mitigate the political crisis in Mali, Page 36 learnt.
The meeting was attended by the host President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Presidents Machy Sall of Senegal, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire.
A resistance group, M5, is insisting that the Constitutional Court must be dissolved, and the President resigns, before peace can return to the country.
Crisis erupted after the court nullified results of 31 Parliamentary seats in the polls which held recently, awarding victory to some other Candidates, which the resistance group has said was at the instigation of President Keita.
Riots on July 10, in the country, led to the killing of some protesters by Security Agents, causing the crisis to spiral out of control, hence the intervention by the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.
A statement by Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President, on Media and Publicity, in Abuja, on Friday, said that the ECOWAS Leaders listened to a brief by the ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and Leader of the opposition, Imam Mahmoud Dicko.
According to him, the representatives of opposition alliance, M5, and Civil Society Organisations, also addressed the ECOWAS Leaders, at the meeting.
“The host President also briefed the Heads of State and government on the socio-political situation in the country, especially the disagreements that spiralled into protests and violence’’, Adesina said.
The Leaders of ECOWAS, have agreed to hold a Summit, on Monday, following the failure of the efforts of Thursday’s events to yield any positive result in the country.