Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has arrived in Conakry, the capital city of the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, to represent Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the inauguration of Guinea’s President-elect, Mamady Doumbouya.
The inauguration, scheduled to take place on Saturday at the GLC Stadium in the Nongo district of Conakry, follows the conclusion of Guinea’s December 2025 general elections. The election marked the end of a four-year military transition which began after the country’s 2021 coup, and now ushers in a new civilian administration under President-elect Doumbouya.
According to a statement released on Friday by Stanley Nkwocha, the Senior Special Assistant to Nigeria’s President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, Vice President Shettima was received on arrival by senior Guinean government officials as well as by officials from the Embassy of Nigeria, demonstrating the diplomatic significance of the event.
Okay News reports that Nigeria, under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope foreign policy doctrine, has increasingly positioned itself as a diplomatic stabilizer within West Africa. The country has taken a leading role within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a 15-member regional economic and political bloc, particularly as the organization continues to confront post-coup transitions, security crises, and ongoing debates over constitutional governance in the region.
Nkwocha stated that Vice President Shettima’s trip “affirms Nigeria’s leadership role within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).” He added that the decision to dispatch Nigeria’s vice president “demonstrates Nigeria’s commitment to the restoration of constitutional order across the sub-region.”
By attending the inauguration, Nigeria seeks to reaffirm multilateral alignment with Guinea and strengthen diplomatic ties across West Africa at a time when several countries in the region — including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — have undergone military political transitions that have reshaped their relations with ECOWAS.
Beyond political symbolism, Nkwocha also noted that the visit “serves as a strategic mission to expand the economic corridor between the two West African nations,” signaling that Nigeria views the Guinea transition not merely as a democratic milestone, but as an opening for greater regional economic cooperation, trade, and development partnerships.
The presence of Vice President Shettima at the inauguration represents one of Nigeria’s highest-level diplomatic engagements with Guinea since the transition period began, reinforcing Abuja’s stated commitment to regional diplomacy grounded in stability and democratic norms.
