By Sadiq Umar – Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday met behind closed door with his successor President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
The former President arrived the Presidential Villa Wednesday afternoon at about 2.00. p:m, in a Black Range Rover marked KWL 86 CN.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the former president said he was at the Villa to intimate President Buhari of the decision of the African Union (AU), to appoint him head of its observer team to the elections in Zambia.
“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.
“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 be leading the AU elections monitoring team to Zambia, I came to brief the president about some of these external engagements. It is the tradition.”
The former President also spoke on the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta, saying the strength of Nigeria lies in her unity in diversity.
“We are great not because of oil, afterall some countries produced more oil than us. We are great because of our size, the human resources we have, the diversity we have. If we fragmentize 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.
“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 emphasize that Nigeria is great not just about the oil. So many countries produce more oil than Nigeria but nobody notices them”.
However, the former President declined questions on the ongoing trials of alleged corrupt persons including some of his party members; aides and cabinet members and political appointees.
He said it would not be proper for him to comment on the matter, since some of them were already before various law courts across the country.
“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,” he said.
