Janet Samuel,Abuja
The Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is set to elect the first female speaker in the annals of the regional legislative arm.
The Parliamentarians representing Togo at the ECOWAS Parliament are already in Kano North West, Nigeria, where the 2024 Extraordinary Session of the Sixth Legislature of the Community Parliament is ongoing.
It is expected that the delegation from Togo will be sworn in on Thursday and subsequently the new Speaker would emerge among them as the position has been allotted based on the rotational system of the parliament for the Speakership.
Statements emerging from the floor of the Parliament showed that a female parliamentarian, Memounatou Ibrahima, will emerged as the speaker,
Ibrahima was the third Deputy Speaker in the fifth Legislature of ECOWAS Parliament; she has been in the ECOWAS Parliament since 2021.
She is primed to take up the baton from the Nigerian leader of delegation, Senator Barau Jubrin who was elected the First Deputy Speaker at the inauguration of the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament on April 4th 2024 and had to act as the Speaker to avoid creating vacuum of leadership at the Community Parliament,
During the inauguration of the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS on April 4th 2024, the delegation of the Republic of Togo was not present because they had not conducted election to enable the country send their representatives to the Community Parliament.