Jonathan Leads West Africa Elders Mission to Senegal Polls

Former President Goodluck Jonathan will lead the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) mediation mission to Senegal ahead of the country’s March 24, 2024 presidential election.

Jonathan, who is the WAEF Chairperson, will lead other notable African leaders including Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, former Under-Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel and former president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as well as staff of the WAEF secretariat to observe the Senegal election.

Communications officer for Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, Wealth Dickson Ominabo, said in a statement on Thursday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State that members of the Mission have already left Abuja on Thursday for Dakar and will be there from 21 – 27 March 2024.

He stated that the team would meet with key stakeholders, including outgoing President Macky Sall, opposition leaders, civil society, the security authorities and the country’s electoral commission.

Also, the executive director of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation and head of the WAEF secretariat, Ms Ann Iyonu, stated that WAEF is a “forum primed for mediation, advisory and conflict resolution roles to ensure that election-related conflicts are reduced to the barest minimum in the West Africa sub-region.”

She added that the Forum is “made up of former Presidents and statesmen who have volunteered to deploy their enormous leadership experience and wisdom towards promoting peace and progress in the sub-region.”

She noted further that while in Dakar, members of the Mission would closely observe the process of elections and continue to engage the political leaders and other stakeholders in Senegal until the 2024 election procedures are peacefully and successfully concluded.

WAEF, going by this mandate, had played similar roles during elections in The Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia.