African Leaders Should Emulate Ghana’s Presidential Election – Tinubu to ECOWAS Members

By Adeola Omotola Last updated Dec 15, 2024

President Bola Tinubu has urged West African Leaders to emulate what happened in Ghana concerning the presidential election. The election ha become a talking point as the incumbent vice president lost to a former president of the West African country.

Tinubu was heading the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit when he made the statement calling on African leaders to accept defeat.

Democratic principles, free and fair elections are still elusive in wider African continent as leaders spend decades ruling their countries.

Tinubu said, “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.”

President Tinubu recollected what happened in Nigeria in 2015 when his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari beat the then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, who accepted defeat and went on to congratulate Buhari even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the winner of the poll.

“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,” Tinubu said.