A presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Peter Obi, on Monday, consulted former President Goodluck Jonathan on the state of the nation ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Obi disclosed this after a closed-door meeting with the former president in Abuja. He led a delegation of South-East political leaders to the meeting, including serving and former lawmakers, as well as former Governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, the former Anambra State governor said the visit was part of ongoing consultations ahead of the 2027 elections.

“Notable South-East leaders have come in consultation with our respected former president. That is basically what it is—on the 2027 elections and, overall, about Nigeria,” Obi said.

Obi has been holding meetings with political heavyweights across the country as part of ongoing consultations ahead of the ADC presidential primary for the 2027 general elections.

Last week, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party was in Bauchi with South-East leaders, where they held a closed-door meeting with Bala Mohammed.

Speaking after the meeting, Obi said the visit was focused on building national unity and strengthening cooperation across regions.

“My purpose is to solicit the support and cooperation of His Excellency and the stakeholders of Bauchi and the North-East in our quest to unite this country. We want to have a united country to build a future for our children.

“The country cannot continue the way it is today; we are headed in the wrong direction, and we need to reverse that for everybody. That is the simple purpose of why we are here – to seek the support of the stakeholders of Bauchi in building a new Nigeria that will be of benefit to all,” he added.

In a defining moment that underscores the evolving synergy between public institutions and community-driven security frameworks, the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) led by the Executive Secretary/CEO, Dr. Ayo Ogunsan has hosted the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu at her headquarters office, Alausa-Secretariat, Ikeja, in a visit that resonated far beyond ceremonial optics. It was a convergence of leadership, legacy, and a shared commitment to sustaining a security architecture that places people at its core.

The visit not only reaffirmed Lagos as a pacesetter in security innovation but also spotlighted the LSSTF as a national model for effective collaboration between government, private sector stakeholders, and law enforcement. With candid reflections, strong endorsements, and renewed calls for collective responsibility, the gathering became a platform for both introspection and forward-looking commitments.

Speaking at the historic visit to LSSTF, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Disu, delivered a heartfelt address laced with gratitude, reflection, and a deep sense of institutional memory. “I am so happy to be here today. This is one of my greatest days because as a Commander of Lagos Rapid Response Squad (RRS), I had a wonderful time with LSSTF. LSSTF is a model that virtually all the states in Nigeria have come to understudy us, even Force HQ came and they started the version of RRS in Abuja FCT.”

He painted a vivid picture of operational efficiency enabled by LSSTF support. “They made our jobs very easy. I had 2000 men to manage, I had many operational vehicles, I had 40 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) at a point working in perfect condition, I had 3 helicopters, my own patrol vehicle came in set so that when one is being serviced, the other one is working.”

“The equipment, tools, vehicles are enough to give any Commander worries but I never had to worry because the Lagos State Security Trust Fund LSSTF is there. All I needed to do is to write to them that 2 of our vehicles have been involved in accidents, two engines are knocked, tyres are needed and all these things are provided. I had a store in our office at RRS which is stockpiled with batteries in their hundreds, tyres in their thousands, everything that is needed to manage the vehicles without contacting them. The big issues they managed and almost every week, they call me to come and pick vehicles. So this helped to remove my mind from vehicle repairs and made me have time to concentrate on policing Lagos,” Disu said.

IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu particularly attributed his success as the Commander of Lagos Rapid Response Squad RRS to the immense support of the LSSTF. “If people are talking to you about the efficiency of the RRS, the Lagos State Police Command, I can say that 70% of the achievements came from LSSTF. LSSTF is a model that everybody should come and see how it works. If Mr. President can say, I know him well, Apart from working with him, I believed it is from my record working as Commander of RRS Lagos. The truth is when the tools are there and the human beings are there, there will be successes. I remember that the people called RRS our police, in fact when some of our officers are sick, people will call to check in on them. And that is to show that people don’t hate the police, they want an efficient police. That’s why I have to pay a courtesy call to LSSTF now that I am in Lagos on an operational visit.”

He then used the opportunity to call for more support. “I also came to solicit support for the Lagos State Police Command, we all know the importance of Lagos and know the influx of people from all over the nation into Lagos, these are the men managing the security. As you have always done, please give us the support, give us the vehicles and help us to activate the helicopters because with the eye in the sky it makes the job easier.”

Recounting the formative years of his career, he emphasized the enduring value of mentorship. “When I started my work as a Police officer, I remember I met Mr. Adedigba who retired as a DCP. He became my mentor, I gained a lot from him and up till date, he taught me great lessons. He speaks fluent English, and also speaks pidgin English fluently. That’s the value of mentorship.”

Following the IGP’s remarks, the LSSTF CEO, Dr. Ogunsan, delivered an impassioned address that blended commendation with a strategic appeal for sustained support.

“The Executive Governor of Lagos State, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu loves you immensely. You have shown us a unique style of policing by finding a critical balance between the people and the Police. You have succeeded in giving people hope that Police is your employee. Anything you tell us to do, we will do it,” Ogunsan declared.

He did not shy away from addressing the funding realities confronting the Trust Fund. “We need money to run the LSSTF and only a few people are doing the job. Donor apathy is setting in over the years, especially now that we have security trust funds springing up all over states.”

In a strategic appeal to the IGP’s influence, he added, “We want to take advantage of your office as IGP. When people come to you and tell you what you need, tell them as a Lagosian, ‘I want you to do this for Lagos and LSSTF because you actually have a stake in Lagos.’ Please help chip in a word for LSSTF.”

The private sector echoed strong support for both the IGP and LSSTF. A Board Member of LSSTF and CEO of Prime Atlantic, Mr. Ayo Otuyalo emphasized the importance of leadership in policing, stating, “Leadership in the Police is important. We are happy that we see it in your service. We will give you all the support.”

Similarly, a board member of LSSTF and Managing Director of Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative, Mr. Ubon Udoh, reinforced commitment to LSSTF’s mission. “To hear the things said about you is to tell about the quality of life you are living. We have a good relationship. As a board member of the LSSTF, you have our commitment to get additional funding. Thank you for all you have done as we look forward to celebrating you.”

Also, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police and Board Member of LSSTF, DIG Agboola Oshodi-Glover rtd, lauds IGP Disu’s leadership, “When you went to Rivers State Command, you succeeded, you were later posted to FCT Police command, you succeeded, I said, this is my man. I read your posting to FCID Annex Alagbon as the AIG, suddenly I heard a new IG was appointed, I was very happy, congratulations IGP.”

The visit also featured the presence of the IGP’s entourage, including AIG Zone 2, AIG Olorundare Moshood Jimoh; Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command, CP Tijani Fatai; ACP Operations, ACP Ehindero Lawrence; ACP Operations Admin, ACP Aka Shittu; DPO Alausa Division; and PPRO Lagos, SP Abimbola Adebisi, among other officers. Also in attendance are the director of Admin, LSSTF, Mr. Adegbola Lewis and the Executive Assistant, LSSTF, Mrs. Adaobi Nwankwo among others.

In a symbolic exchange that underscored mutual respect and partnership, souvenirs were presented by the LSSTF CEO to IGP Disu, while IGP Disu a souvenir to Dr. Ogunsan.

By Tolulope A. Adegoke PhD

PREAMBLE: THE STRATEGIC MOMENT AND ITS IMPERATIVES

The Economic Community of West African States confronts a moment of institutional reckoning without precedent in its fifty-year history. The confluence of democratic recession, the fracturing of regional solidarity, the commodification of the Community’s security space by external actors, and the erosion of popular faith in the tangible benefits of integration has converged to pose a systemic threat to the organization’s foundational relevance. The established toolkit of declaratory diplomacy, automatic suspension, and sanctions escalation has demonstrably exhausted its capacity to compel compliance or to stabilize the regional order.

The way forward, therefore, cannot be a mere intensification of existing methods. It must be a strategic recalibration of ECOWAS’s institutional posture, operational doctrines, and normative architecture. The objective is not the preservation of institutional prestige for its own sake, but the patient, principled, and incentivized reconstruction of a regional political community in which sovereign member states and their citizens perceive membership as a demonstrable enhancement of their national security, economic prosperity, and democratic legitimacy. The following roadmap articulates a sequenced, non-biased, and operationally concrete way forward, structured across five interdependent strategic lines of effort.

STRATEGIC LINE OF EFFORT I: RECALIBRATE THE NORMATIVE FOUNDATION OF THE COMMUNITY

The prevailing perception that the ECOWAS normative framework on democratic governance is applied with selectivity—penalizing military seizures of power while remaining diplomatically passive in the face of civilian constitutional manipulation—has inflicted severe damage on the institution’s moral authority. Rectifying this asymmetry is an indispensable precondition for the restoration of credible institutional leadership.

Action 1.1: Convene an Extraordinary Authority Summit Dedicated Exclusively to Normative Self-Correction

The Chair of the Authority must convene, within a non-extendable 90-day period, an Extraordinary Summit with a single, undiluted agenda item: the critical review and amendment of the 2001 Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. This Summit must not be subsumed within a broader agenda of security or economic matters. Its singular focus signals institutional seriousness and prevents diplomatic evasion.

Action 1.2: Codify and Adopt a Binding Symmetrical Sanctions Regime

The Summit must adopt a formal Supplementary Protocol that introduces, with legally binding precision, a definition of the “Constitutional Coup” or “Incumbent Entrenchment.” This shall be defined as any action by a sitting elected executive, whether through legislative manipulation, compliant judicial ruling, or tailored constitutional referendum, that modifies the fundamental law of the state for the primary purpose of abrogating or eliminating established presidential term limits in order to extend the incumbent’s tenure. The sanctions prescribed for this defined violation must be identical in their automaticity of trigger, procedural robustness, and severity of consequence to those prescribed for classical military coups d’état. This single act of symmetrical legal self-correction eliminates the charge of institutional bias and re-establishes the Community as a principled, impartial guarantor of democratic integrity.

Action 1.3: Mandate the ECOWAS Council of Ministers to Develop a Compliance Monitoring and Early Warning Matrix

The Council of Ministers must be mandated to develop, within 120 days, a transparent, indicator-based Compliance Monitoring and Early Warning Matrix. This matrix must track, on a continuous and publicly accessible basis, the compliance status of every member state against the full spectrum of democratic governance norms, including term limit provisions, electoral calendar integrity, and civil liberties protections. The matrix serves as an objective, depoliticized early warning mechanism that triggers preventive diplomatic engagement before a crisis crystallizes, removing the element of discretionary political judgment that fuels perceptions of bias.

STRATEGIC LINE OF EFFORT II: REPOSITION THE SECURITY ARCHITECTURE FROM PUNITIVE POSTURE TO ENABLING PARTNERSHIP

The region’s security space has become an unregulated, competitive marketplace for external military projection. ECOWAS must fundamentally reconceive its security offer to member states, pivoting from a posture associated with kinetic interventionism to one of technical enabling partnership that sovereign states perceive as enhancing, rather than constraining, their national security.

Action 2.1: Adopt and Promulgate a Binding External Security Partner Code of Conduct

The Mediation and Security Council must convene a high-level Strategic De-confliction and Transparency Dialogue with all external state actors conducting unilateral security operations on the territory of ECOWAS member states. The binding, legally codified outcome shall be an ECOWAS External Security Partner Code of Conduct. Its central provision mandates that all bilateral Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs), defense cooperation memoranda, and security-related basing or access pacts between any external state and any individual ECOWAS member state be formally and confidentially deposited with a centralized registry at the ECOWAS Commission within a non-extendable 90-day period. The objective is a non-prejudicial technical audit ensuring that the cumulative effect of multiple, independently negotiated bilateral arrangements does not inadvertently undermine collective regional security.

Action 2.2: Formally Reconceptualize the ECOWAS Standby Force into a Modular Technical Enabling Capability

The Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security must be directed to present, within 180 days, a comprehensive doctrinal and operational blueprint for the reconceptualization of the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) into a new instrument, provisionally designated the “ECOWAS Crisis Response and Resilience Capability” (ECRRC). This new capability must execute a decisive doctrinal pivot away from large-scale conventional combat power projection—a mission type assessed as operationally unviable and politically irrecoverable in the current environment—and towards the provision of high-demand, low-substitutability technical enabling functions. These core modules shall include a multi-source intelligence fusion and strategic warning cell, a specialized digital border security and management task force, and a dedicated regional counter-financing of terrorism unit operating in institutional coordination with GIABA. This recalibrated offer creates a non-coercive incentive for disengaged states to voluntarily resume security cooperation.

Action 2.3: Establish a Specialized Civilian Harm Monitoring and Accountability Mechanism

The Commission must establish, with immediate effect, an operationally independent Civilian Harm Monitoring and Accountability Mechanism (CHMAM). Its personnel shall be sourced from member states with no direct security-material interest in the Sahelian theatre. Its mandate is the impartial, transparent, and universally applied monitoring, verification, and public reporting of civilian harm perpetrated by all armed actors, including state forces and their external partners. This mechanism depoliticizes the protection agenda and positions ECOWAS as a non-partisan guarantor of humanitarian accountability.

STRATEGIC LINE OF EFFORT III: ENGINEER A CALIBRATED, INCENTIVE-ANCHORED POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

The sterile binary between “immediate unconditional constitutional restoration” and “indefinite unverifiable transition” has produced a protracted diplomatic gridlock. A new engagement framework, grounded in verified deliverables and sequenced incentives, is required.

Action 3.1: Constitute a Permanent, Empowered Panel of Eminent Persons for Silent Mediation
The Chair of the Authority must formally constitute, through a Decision of the Authority, a permanent Panel of Former Heads of State and Eminent Persons. Membership must be curated exclusively from a small cohort of former leaders whose nations possess an unassailable living legacy of peaceful, constitutional, and fully contested democratic alternation of executive power. The Panel’s mandate is to conduct a silent, continuous, indefinitely sustained shuttle diplomacy mission, operating strictly on the methodology of interest-based negotiation. No public statements, no deadlines, and no press releases are to be issued by the Panel. This permanently discontinues the counterproductive practice of “mégaphone diplomacy.”

Action 3.2: Table a Formal, Three-Tiered Transition Compact with Verified Deliverables and Sequenced Incentives

The Commission, under the political guidance of the Mediation and Security Council, must prepare and formally table a comprehensive Three-Tiered Transition Compact as the baseline framework for engagement with member states currently under transitional military administration. The tiers are sequenced as follows:

·         Tier 1 (Immediate Confidence Building): Full, unimpeded humanitarian access to all conflict-affected zones, verified by operational humanitarian agencies; and the release of all political detainees not credibly charged with violent criminal offenses, verified by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Upon successful independent verification, ECOWAS commits to a formal suspension of targeted economic sanctions against the state apparatus.

·         Tier 2 (Sequenced Political Roadmap): A binding 24-month, bottom-up electoral sequence—local elections first, constitutional referendum second, presidential and parliamentary elections third—with a guaranteed statutory role for ECOWAS in the technical vetting of the electoral management body. Upon verification of each phase, incremental incentives are released.

·         Tier 3 (Structural Guarantee Against Self-Dealing): The constitutional entrenchment, prior to terminal elections, of a non-amendable clause prohibiting any serving member of the transitional government from contesting those elections. Upon verification and peaceful transfer of power, all remaining sanctions are lifted, and ECOWAS proactively sponsors the state’s full reintegration and development financing package.

Action 3.3: Formally Delink Humanitarian Access from Political Negotiation
The Commission must issue a binding institutional directive establishing that humanitarian access and the protection of civilian populations are non-negotiable obligations under international humanitarian law and the ECOWAS Treaty. These shall not be treated as bargaining chips within political negotiations. This directive establishes an impartial humanitarian baseline that protects the vulnerable and starves extremist narratives of their recruitment material.

STRATEGIC LINE OF EFFORT IV: CONSTRUCT AND DELIVER A TANGIBLE, VISIBLE ECONOMIC COUNTER-OFFER

Economic sanctions, while a legally mandated instrument, have inflicted disproportionate harm on vulnerable populations and have been successfully weaponized by transitional authorities as evidence of ECOWAS hostility. A serious, fully-funded, and rapidly disbursing economic offer that demonstrates the irreplaceable material value of ECOWAS membership is a strategic necessity.

Action 4.1: Capitalize and Launch the ECOWAS Community Livelihood and Border Zone Resilience Facility

The Commission, in partnership with the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and the African Development Bank, must convene a dedicated donor pledging conference within 120 days to capitalize a substantially expanded, fast-disbursing stabilization instrument. The facility’s exclusive investment focus shall be the cross-border communities whose economic fabric has been destroyed by insecurity and political rupture. Priority projects shall include the rehabilitation of transhumance corridors with negotiated local governance structures, the construction of solar-powered border market infrastructure, and the launch of a massive Community-Based Youth Employment and Apprenticeship Program targeted at displaced youth in frontier zones. All projects must be collaboratively and transparently branded as direct dividends of ECOWAS solidarity.

Action 4.2: Adopt a Unified Institutional Position Linking Debt Relief to Verified Governance Progress

The Authority must adopt a formal Common Position directing its collective diplomatic weight towards aggressive advocacy for a comprehensive, non-punitive, and development-sensitive sovereign debt restructuring framework for all severely affected member states. This advocacy shall be executed at the G20 Common Framework, the IMF Executive Board, and the Paris Club. Critically, the ECOWAS Common Position must explicitly and publicly link a pathway to structural debt relief to the affected state’s independently verified, irreversible progress against the Tier 2 and Tier 3 benchmarks of the Transition Compact. This leverages the international financial architecture as a structurally aligned positive incentive for good-faith engagement, offering a sophisticated alternative to blunt unilateral sanctions.

Action 4.3: Reaffirm and Technically Safeguard the Free Movement Protocol as a Non-Negotiable Community Asset

The Commission must urgently establish a dedicated, technically staffed “Free Movement Safeguard and Facilitation Unit.” This unit’s mandate is to work bilaterally and discretely with all member states, including those in withdrawal processes, to identify and implement the minimal, security-justified, and technically proportionate border management procedures that can preserve the residual functional operation of the Free Movement Protocol for ordinary citizens, even during periods of political estrangement. Preserving this tangible, daily-lived benefit of ECOWAS citizenship protects the human constituency for regional integration and prevents the political fracture from metastasizing into permanent inter-community estrangement.

STRATEGIC LINE OF EFFORT V: INSTITUTIONALIZE A TRANSFORMED STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION AND DIPLOMATIC PROTOCOL

All substantive policy interventions will fail if transmitted through the existing, demonstrably counterproductive communication protocols. A binding institutional transformation of ECOWAS’s mode of public engagement is a standalone strategic priority.

Action 5.1: Institute a Mandatory Linguistic and Register Recalibration Across All Official Communications
The Commission must issue a binding editorial protocol mandating a permanent and institution-wide recalibration of the language employed in all communiqués, declarations, and public statements. The default opening frame of “condemnation, suspension, and ultimatum” must be replaced by a primary, consistent language frame that centers the “non-negotiable, legally binding obligation of ECOWAS to the sustained physical security, human dignity, and economic opportunity of the individual West African citizen.” The primary subjects of all public interventions shall be the identifiable human beings whose lives are affected: the farmer, the trader, the displaced child. This reframes the diplomatic confrontation from a contest between elites into a shared responsibility for protection.

Action 5.2: Permanently Discontinue Mégaphone Diplomacy and Institutionalize a Protocol of Public Humility

The ECOWAS Authority must formally resolve to permanently discontinue the practice of issuing public ultimatum deadlines as an instrument of political mediation. The only regular public updates permitted on the political process shall be confined to measured, independently verified progress on humanitarian deliverables. The substantive, consequential work of political resolution is to be conducted exclusively through the confidential, professional channels of the Permanent Panel of Eminent Persons. This protocol deliberately starves the political crisis of the sensationalist, polarizing public media cycle upon which spoilers and external actors depend, relocating the work of resolution to an environment where trust can be painstakingly reconstructed.

Action 5.3: Launch a Sustained, Decentralized Community-Level Public Diplomacy Campaign

The Commission must design and resource a sustained, decentralized public diplomacy campaign that operates below the level of national media and engages directly with local communities, traditional authorities, women’s associations, and youth networks in border regions. The campaign’s message must be non-polemical and focused exclusively on the tangible, practical benefits of ECOWAS citizenship—the right to travel, to trade, to access education and healthcare across borders—documented through the authentic testimonies of real citizens whose lives have been positively impacted. This ground-level, person-to-person diplomacy rebuilds the popular constituency for regional integration from the bottom up, countering the top-down, state-controlled narratives that currently dominate the information space.

Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke, AMBP-UN is a globally recognized scholar-practitioner and thought leader at the nexus of security, governance, and strategic leadership. His mission is dedicated to advancing ethical governance, strategic human capital development, resilient nation building, and global peace. He can be reached via: tolulopeadegoke01@gmail.com, globalstageimpacts@gmail.com