President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has received the outgoing President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray at the State House, Abuja.
Dr. Touray, accompanied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, paid the visit as he winds down his four-year term as President of the ECOWAS Commission, a position he has held since 2022.
Details of the closed-door meeting were not immediately revealed but comes weeks before the Gambian diplomat is ‘due to formally hand over the leadership of the executive arm of the regional bloc.
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Touray, a career diplomat, was unanimously nominated by the Government of The Gambia and endorsed by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government for the 2022-2026 term, and assumed the presidency of the ECOWAS Commission on July 3, 2022.
He replaces Ivorian diplomat Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, who had headed the Commission since 2018.
Prior to his appointment to the ECOWAS Commission, Touray served as The Gambia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and subsequently as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under former President Yahya Jammeh. He was dismissed from the job in September 2009 and then served with the Islamic Development Bank before returning to diplomatic service.