President Bola Tinubu on Sunday called on leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to emulate Ghana’s democratic practice following the country’s recent successful presidential and parliamentary elections.

Tinubu made the call in his opening speech at the 66th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja.

In the December 7 election in Ghana, the country’s former President John Mahama defeated incumbent Vice President Mahamud Bawumia to emerge as president-elect. In a rare occurrence, Bawumia called to congratulate the winner even before the official results were declared.

Tinubu, who is the ECOWAS Chairman, said what happened in Ghana was worthy of emulation by other countries in the region.

He commended President Nana Akufo-Addo, who was attending the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government for the last time as Ghana’s President, for the successful election.

“Just a week ago on the 7th of December 2024, presidential election and parliamentary elections took place in Ghana which is the second largest democracy in our region. One of the leading candidates who happens to be the incumbent Vice President, His Excellency Mahamud Bawumia, together with the leading party, New Patriotic Party (NPP) conceded defeat and accepted the outcome of the election by congratulating the President-elect, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama of National Democratic Congress (NDC), for his victory even before the announcement of the official results,” Tinubu said.

“This gesture as it happened in Nigeria in 2015 demonstrated political maturity and respect for the wish of the people of Ghana. Today, we have the man I will refer to as Mr Democrat, I congratulate the President Nana Akufo-Addo and the people of Ghana for the successful elections and urge all of us in the region to learn from this good democratic practice and prioritise our countries’ national unity to ensure political stability of the region that this manner of peaceful transition recalls the culture of democracies not only in West Africa but also in the entire African continent,” he said.

Tinubu also commended Senegal for the recent successful conduct of parliamentary elections.

He called for cooperation among the ECOWAS member states in protecting their citizens and providing an enabling environment for the citizens to thrive, saying that raising the living standards of the citizens was an obligation.

Tinubu further noted that the various ECOWAS policies have so far bolstered economic cooperation.

The meeting went into a closed-door session after the speeches.