Nigeria retains AU Security Council seats, as Tinubu arrives Ethiopia

Nigeria, on Thursday made made significant gains, retaining strategic positions at the ongoing African Union AU summit, as President Bola Tinubu arrived in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, to participate in the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government, on Thursday night.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said in a statement on Friday, that the President who arrived Addis Ababa late Thursday night, was received at the airport by Eshetu Legesse, the Ethiopian Deputy Chief of Protocol, Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Nasir Aminu, the charge d’affaires of the Nigerian embassy in Ethiopia.

Tuggar, while briefing the President on the summit and about some diplomatic wins for the country, a session that stretched until about 2 a.m. on Friday, revealed that the AU re-elected Bankole Adeoye as African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, even as Nigeria also retained her seat on the African Union Peace and Security Council, reaffirming, in the words of Tuggar, “Nigeria’s leadership and commitment to peace and security on the continent”.

The President is being accompanied by Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance; Abubakar Badaru, Minister of Defence; Jumoke Oduwole, the Minister of Trade and Investment; Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation; Muhammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation; Balarabe Abbas Lawal Minister of Environment and Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of State for Finance.

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Others are Mohammed Mohammed, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, and Emmanuel Ogalla, a Vice Admiral , and Chief of Naval Staff.

This year’s AU summit, under the theme “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations,” focuses on reparatory justice and racial healing.

President Tinubu is expected to deliver a speech at the Summit-level meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council, where discussions will focus on current security challenges on the continent, including the escalation of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The President will also participate in meetings on health financing, establishing an Africa Credit Rating Agency, and climate change.

President Tinubu will return to Abuja on Monday, February 17.