Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has downplayed
the importance of his latest visit to President
Muhammadu Buhari.
On Wednesday, Jonathan visited Buhari at the
presidential villa, drawing the curiosity of journalists
on the purpose of the meeting.
But 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.”
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