President Goodluck Jonathan will today attend the 47th Ordinary Session
of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of
State and Government holding in Accra, Ghana.
The summit, which coincides with the
40th anniversary of ECOWAS, will receive reports on the current situation in
Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau and deliberate on issues of democratic
consolidation and regional peace and stability.
West African leaders are due to
discuss a proposal aimed at limiting presidential mandates to two terms at a
regional summit on Tuesday, officials said.
The talks by members of West
Africa's ECOWAS bloc come as several long-standing African presidents are approaching
legal term limits. Attempts to change the law, or circumvent it, have sparked
unrest in Burundi and Burkina Faso.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the top United
Nations official in West Africa, told Reuters that countries in the region
without term limits would be encouraged to introduce them.
Togo and Gambia do not have term
limits.
Another official with direct
knowledge of the talks said leaders would be asked to commit to protecting
clauses on term limits from any broader revisions of constitutions.
ECOWAS can suspend members who do not comply
with regional measures. 
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