Buhari makes first foreign trip in 5 months, off to Mali

President Muhammadu Buhari will today (Wednesday) leave for Bamako, Republic of Mali, on a one-day visit.

This followed the briefing he received on Tuesday from the ECOWAS Special Envoy to the country, former President Goodluck Jonathan.

• Mali crisis: Buhari gets report from Jonathan, to consult ECOWAS leaders
• Mali opposition spurns crisis mediation offer

Buhari and some ECOWAS leaders led by the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the sub-regional organisation, President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger Republic, agreed to meet in Mali to engage in further consultations towards finding a political solution to the crisis in the country.

This is the first time in over five months Buhari will travel out of Nigeria since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, in a statement on Wednesday, said the host president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita as well as the presidents Machy Sall of Senegal, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire were expected to participate in the Bamako meeting.