- Hails President For Naming Itakpe-Warri Railway Complex After Him
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the efforts by ECOWAS to restore peace back to Mali, currently paralized by political turmoil.
Jonathan, an ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, was at State House, Abuja, in company of President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
Following the briefing by Jonathan, President Buhari said he will consult with key leaders of ECOWAS countries in order to find a solution to the crisis rocking the West African country.
“We will ask the President of Niger, who is the Chairman of ECOWAS to brief us as a group, and we will then know the way forward,” Buhari said.
He thanked Jonathan for his comprehensive brief on the situation in Mali, saying, “You had been abreast with (the situation) since when you were the sitting Nigerian President.”
The former President had briefed President Buhari on his activities as Special Envoy to restore peace to Mali, rocked by widespread protests.
Protesters have been asking President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has only spent two out of the five years second term in office to step down.
A resistance group, M5, is insisting that the Constitutional Court must be dissolved, and the President resign, before peace can return to the country.
Crisis had erupted after the court nullified results of 31 parliamentary seats in the polls held recently, awarding victory to some other contenders, which the resistance group said was at the instigation of President Keita.
Riots on July 10 had led to the killing of some protesters by security agents, causing the crisis to spiral out of control, hence the intervention by ECOWAS.
“ECOWAS can’t preside over the removal of an elected President. Not even the African Union (AU), or the United Nations (UN) can do it. Leaders must be elected and leave under constitutional processes, otherwise we would have Banana republics all over the place,” Dr Jonathan submitted.
The former President thanked President Buhari for providing a Presidential jet for the mission, “thus making our trips convenient and comfortable.”
Jonathan also used the opportunity to express gratitude to President Buhari for naming the Itakpe-Warri railway complex after him last weekend.
“It was a big present for me. Thank you very much,” he said.
