At a Glance
- ECOWAS leaders shaped West Africa’s path from trade pact to security powerhouse.
- Chairs navigated coups, conflicts, and currency talks to foster regional stability.
- Leadership decisions cemented ECOWAS’s role in democracy, peacekeeping, and economic integration.
West Africa’s path to economic integration has been shaped by a cadre of influential leaders who steered the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) through pivotal moments in the region’s history.
Since its founding in 1975, ECOWAS has evolved from a trade-focused alliance into a political and security heavyweight, often at the center of peacekeeping, democracy restoration, and economic policy debates.
From Nigeria’s Yakubu Gowon to Sierra Leone’s Julius Maada Bio, the bloc’s chairs and power brokers have navigated coups, conflicts, and currency talks while advancing the vision of a unified regional market.
This list spotlights 20 African leaders whose leadership, diplomacy, and strategic decisions left an indelible mark on ECOWAS’s legacy and its role in shaping West Africa’s stability and growth.
Gen. Yakubu Gowon (Nigeria)
Founding chair in 1975. Gowon helped convene the Lagos meeting that produced the ECOWAS treaty and set the integration agenda for the bloc’s first decade.
Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo)
A tireless regional campaigner in the 1970s and a two-time ECOWAS chair, Eyadéma was central to the early political architecture and face of the organisation during its formative years.
Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
An elder statesman of Francophone West Africa, Houphouët-Boigny provided diplomatic ballast and economic rationale for regional cooperation during ECOWAS’s early decades.
Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria)
As early chair and later as a democratic president, Obasanjo repeatedly invoked ECOWAS for mediation and stability initiatives — a figure who bridged military and civilian eras in Nigerian and regional leadership.
Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal)
Senegal’s first president chaired ECOWAS soon after its foundation and symbolised the intellectual and diplomatic case for West African unity.
Jerry Rawlings (Ghana)
Rawlings chaired ECOWAS during the 1990s when the bloc expanded its peace operations; he played a visible role in attempts to stabilise Liberia, Sierra Leone and other conflict zones.
Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso)
A regional power broker for decades, Compaoré served as ECOWAS chair and later as a behind-the-scenes mediator in multiple crises across francophone West Africa.
Ibrahim Babangida (Nigeria)
Babangida’s tenure as Nigeria’s head of state coincided with a deeper Nigerian investment in ECOWAS’s security role; he chaired the bloc during a turbulent era for the region.
Sani Abacha (Nigeria)
Abacha, another Nigerian head of state who chaired ECOWAS, presided over a period when regional politics and military power were tightly intertwined with ECOWAS diplomacy.
Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria)
As head of state (and later president), Buhari has been a recurrent figure in ECOWAS chair rotations and in debates over military coups, sanctions and regional order.
Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria)
Jonathan’s presidency was notable for diplomatic activism — Nigeria under his watch engaged ECOWAS mechanisms to manage elections and transitions in several neighbouring states.
Yahya Jammeh (The Gambia)
Jammeh’s refusal to cede power in 2016 precipitated an ECOWAS military and diplomatic response — a watershed moment that tested the bloc’s willingness to enforce election outcomes. (ECOWAS forces intervened to restore the elected government in 2017.)
Marcel Alain de Souza (Benin)
As president of the ECOWAS Commission (2016–2018), de Souza played a public role in operationalising ECOWAS responses to crises, linking bureaucratic leadership to political action.
Cheikh Tidiane Gadio (Senegal)
A diplomat who chaired the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and the Peace and Mediation Council, Gadio led critical negotiations in the early 2000s, notably around Côte d’Ivoire.
Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal)
Wade’s presidency overlapped with pivotal ECOWAS discussions about regional trade and political reform; he remains influential in Francophone networks that shape ECOWAS diplomacy.
Lansana Conté (Guinea)
Conté’s time as head of state saw Guinea engage in the security and political dialogues that tested ECOWAS’s mediation toolkit.
Siaka Stevens (Sierra Leone)
An early ECOWAS chair whose era reflected the organisation’s first attempts at collective governance among diverse post-colonial states.
Ernest Bai Koroma (Sierra Leone)
Koroma was an active voice in regional security debates following Sierra Leone’s civil war, supporting ECOWAS peace consolidation and reintegration programs.
Umaro Sissoco Embaló (Guinea-Bissau)
As a recent ECOWAS chairman (and active regional actor), Embaló’s stint underscored shifting alliances and the resurgence of security priorities in the Sahel and coastal states.
Julius Maada Bio (Sierra Leone)
Elected ECOWAS chair amid escalating regional instability in 2025, Bio’s brief highlights the bloc’s immediate focus on restoring democratic norms and confronting the Sahel security collapse.
