The President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), on Monday, called on leaders of West African countries to stop elongating the tenures. The Spokesperson to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu said in a statement that the President made the call in Niamey, Niger Republic on Monday. Buhari, alongside other regional West African leaders, is attending Fifty-Seventh Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government. WuzupNigeria reports that leaders of two West African countries – Guinea and Ivory Coast – are currently seeking third terms in office after constitution amendments. Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, who has governed since 2011, said in March he would not run again. He, however, mad a U-turn after his preferred successor, then-Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died in July, and the party asked him Ouattara to reconsider. His opponents say the two-term limit in the constitution bars him from running again, but Ouattara claims his first two mandates do not count under the new constitution adopted in 2016. Also in Guinea, President Alpha Condé of Guinea will be contesting for a third term in office after using a March 2020 constitutional reform to circumvent a two-term limit on presidential mandates. The two elections will hold in October. Buhari said “As leaders of our individual Member-States of ECOWAS, we need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region. “Related to this call for restraint is the need to guarantee free, fair and credible elections. This must be the bedrock for democracy to be sustained in our sub-region, just as the need for adherence to the rule of law,” the President added. In the Monday’s summit, the president of Ghana, Prof. Nana Akufo-Addo, was elected as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).