Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck
Jonathan on Wednesday downplayed the importance of his latest visit to
President Muhammadu Buhari, noting that he had on previous occasions
visited President Buhari, even at night.
According to The Cable,
Jonathan made the disclosure while speaking with state house
correspondents before exiting the villa. Jonathan said he had met the
president many times without the notice of journalists, because such
meetings were in the night.
He added that as a former president, he had become a property
of the state and visits to the president should be expected.
“You asked why I came to see the
president today; one key thing is that having been a head of government,
a former president, you become a state property,” he said.
“That’s the privilege you have but every
privilege has its corresponding responsibility, and once you become a
state property, most of your international engagements that have to do
with public addresses and some international assignments, they become
national assignments; you brief the President.
“Even when I was here, the former
presidents used to do that and see me. I have been coming; most times I
come in the night; that’s why you don’t see me.
“I came to brief the president about
some of my engagements. As you are aware, I will leading the AU
elections monitoring team to Zambia, I came to brief the president about
some of these external engagements. It is the tradition.”
Jonathan also spoke on resolving renewed
agitation in the Niger Delta, saying all the stakeholders must be
involved in efforts to find solutions.
“It’s not just about me but about all
the traditional rulers, elders and opinion leaders that are of the Ijaw
ethnic nationality,” he said.
“We have been in touch to see that peace
reigns in the country; those of you that have followed my talks when I
was here, my emphasis was always that we need a united Nigeria and I
always emphasise that Nigeria is great not just about the oil. So many
countries produce more oil than Nigeria but nobody notices them.
“We are great because of our size, the
human resources we have, the diversity we have. If we fragmentise the
country into small components, we will be forgotten by the world. That
has been my focal position and without peace there cannot be development
anywhere in the world; we are all working collectively to see that
issues are resolved.”
Asked for his comments about the fight
against corruption, he said: “I don’t want to talk about that one
because there are too many cases that are in court.
“It will not be fair to make comments; I will talk at the appropriate time when most of these things are resolved.”
Credit: The Cable
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