Nigeria, June 23 -- Only last month, on 28 May, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) celebrated its 50th anniversary with huge fanfare, commemorating the event with official ceremonies in Ghana and Nigeria.

Back in 1975, the leaders of Nigeria and Togo; Yakubu Gowon and Gnasssingbe Eyadema had traversed the region and rallied 16 nations to sign the famous Lagos Treaty, which engendered unity and free trade in the West African subregion.

On Sunday, 22 June, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under whose stewardship ECOWAS marked the Golden Jubilee, handed over the chairmanship of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, after two successive mandates. President Tinubu's leadership in the regional body's highest d...