Akufo-Addo attends Sassou Nguesso’s inauguration in Brazzaville

President Akufo-Addo left Accra on Thursday for Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, to attend the swearing-in of that country’s President-elect, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

He is attending the event in his capacity as Chairperson of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The President was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, and officials of the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.

He will return to Ghana on Friday, April 16, 2021.

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia will act in his stead.

The 77-year-old Denis Sassou Nguesso is the longest-serving President of the Republic of Congo.

He won his fifth term by a landslide victory over his main opponent, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, who died from Coronavirus a day after the presidential election.

Denis Sassou Nguesso polled 88 percent of the vote cast in March 2021.

Who is Denis Sassou Nguesso

The African leader is one of the world’s longest-serving presidents, earning him the nickname “emperor.” He has led Congo for a total of 36 years and is now poised for another five-year term.

The former paratrooper first became president in 1979 and remained in power for three consecutive terms.

He lost the country’s first multi-party elections in 1992, but he returned to office in 1997 after a civil war.

In 2015, a constitutional amendment lifted the ban on presidential candidates over the age of 70, and removed the two-term limit, allowing him to run again the following year.