By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
After months of not wearing any face covering since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, President Muhammadu Buhari was sighted on Thursday with one.
But that was outside the shores of Nigeria.
President Buhari announced on Wednesday that he would visit Mali on Thursday to dialogue with other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders on how to resolve the political crisis in the landlocked country.
Buhari made up his mind to go on the peace mission after he was briefed by ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The president and some regional leaders, led by ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government Chairman, President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger Republic, agreed to meet in Mali to engage in further consultations.
Others expected to participate in the meeting in Bamako are Presidents Ibrahim Keita (Mali), Machy Sall (Senegal), Nana Akufo-Addo (Ghana), and Alassane Ouattara (Cote d’Ivoire).
The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had recommended the compulsory use of face mask while in public as one of the guidelines meant to curtail further spread of the virus in the country.
But while visitors to the Presidential Villa are always seen with face masks, Buhari has never been seen with one.
But in a photograph shared by his personal photographer, Bayo Omoboriowo, on Thursday, the President adorned face mask in Bamako, Mali.
The photograph showed the President with the white face mask as he disembarked the presidential jet.