Misleading! Liberia did not exchange ECOWAS chairmanship with Nigeria for UN non-permanent seat

Claim: An ex-government worker asserted that “Liberia exchanged  the ECOWAS Chairmanship for the non-permanent seat in Guinea Bissau in July 2023 to Nigeria.”

Verdict: DUBAWA’s research found that Nigeria was elected to the chairmanship position of ECOWAS, but Liberia did not give the spot to Nigeria.

Full Text 

Liberia won a seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on June 3, 2025. 

Following this, a former special assistant under the government of ex-President George Weah has attributed the win to Weah.

Aloysius Howe stated in a Facebook post that Liberia won the bid for a seat on the UNSC under Weah’s regime.

He claimed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union endorsed Liberia’s candidacy, and that “Liberia exchanged the ECOWAS Chairmanship for the non-permanent seat in Guinea Bissau in July 2023 to Nigeria.”

ECOWAS’ chairmanship is the leadership role of the chairperson of the authority, comprising the heads of state and government of the community.

Howe’s post was met with criticism, with the majority of the commenters saying that he wrote it out of hatred for the ruling establishment, under whose administration Liberia won the non-permanent seat.

Given the political undertone of the post, DUBAWA launched an investigation.

Verification 

DUBAWA got a copy of the 1993 revised treaty of ECOWAS. The treaty states that the community’s chairpersonship is obtained only through an election. 

According to Article 8, session 2 of the treaty, the chairperson’s office shall be held every year by a member state “elected by the authority.”

The authority, by definition, is the authority of heads of state and government of the community, which is the supreme institution of ECOWAS.

In July 2023, following the one-year tenure of Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Embalo, an election was conducted for the chairmanship position. This caused Nigeria to become the chairman of the community.

In a communique issued by ECOWAS on the 9th day of July 2023, it stated, “the Heads of State and Government elected H.E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as President of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government for a one-year term.”

DUBAWA also contacted Howe through Facebook Messenger to ask about the source of his information, but he did not respond as of the time of this report.

As the treaty indicates, no single member state has the authority to appoint another member state as the chairperson of the authority. 

Conclusion 

Howe’s post that Liberia exchanged the ECOWAS chairmanship with Nigeria is misleading.