President Muhammadu Buhari Saturday at the 59th ECOWAS summit in Accra called on West African leaders to pressure Mali military regime to ensure return to democracy. 

In May, Mali’s president Bah Ndaw and prime minister Moctar Ouane were ousted in a coup led by Colonel Assimi Goïta. 

Mr Buhari, whose regime has been pushing to erode democratic ideals by shrinking the civic space gagging the media in Nigeria, made this call at the 59th Ordinary session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS held on Saturday at Accra, Ghana, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement. 

He called on African leaders to exert pressure on Mali military leadership to ensure restoration of democracy. 

“While democracy continues to develop in our sub-region, recent events in Mali are sad reminders that vigilance remains a crucial imperative to protect people’s aspirations to freely choose the form of government they want,” Mr Buhari said. 

“Pressures are needed to ensure that the transition process in Mali, which is halfway to its conclusion, is not aborted.

A further slide in Mali could prove catastrophic to the sub-region, considering that about half of that country is unfortunately under the grip of terrorists.”