Here are the words of Nigeria’s ex President Goodluck Jonathan after he emerged from a brief meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock on Wednesday:
Purpose of visit
“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 this external engagement. It is the tradition,”
“One key thing is that having been a head of a 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 engagement, that has to do with public addresses and some international assignment becomes a national assignment, you brief the president. Even when I was here the former presidents used to do that and see me. I have been coming but most times I come in the night that’s why you don’t see me.
‘Nigeria is great, there’s no need for secession’
“It’s not just about me but about all the traditional rulers, elders and opinion leaders that are of the Ijaw ethnic nationality; 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 is 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 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.”
Buhari’s Anti corruption war
“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.
