Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, on Sunday, revealed that his administration could not implement the report of the 2014 Confab he set up because of the crisis within his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at that moment.
Jonathan, who came in the company of former Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma and former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP Chief Bode George, disclosed this in Lagos when he paid a condolence visit to the family of late Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the Afenifere leader, at Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
He said convening the CONFAB was made possible because of people of integrity like Chief Adebanjo.
Jonathan said he would have loved to implement the confab’s recommendations before leaving office in 2015, but the crisis in his party prevented him from doing so.
“I didn’t know that the issue of the national conference would even come on board; without people like him and other leaders there, it wouldn’t have taken place because they initially thought I wanted to manipulate the system.
“I remember in the beginning when there were issues. Some came to me, and they said president. Could you let us know if there are some areas you are interested in? I say, look, I cannot even advise you; you are more experienced than I am. You are the leaders, Supreme Court justices; more than 50 per cent of the members were more experienced than me; it was a benevolent privilege that made me do that by setting up the Confab.”
He said people today still refer to that conference, urging a revisit whenever an issue arises.
Jonathan, however, described the deaths of the Afenifere leader, Chief Adebanjo, and the PANDEF leader, Chief Edwin Clark, almost at the same time as a significant loss to Nigeria because they were men of courage and wisdom who meant well for the country.
He said for the two of them to have died simultaneously was a great shock because the two of them worked together for the interest of Nigeria.
Jonathan said the late Chief Adebanjo was an upright man committed to Nigeria’s growth and development for the benefit of all.
He noted that people like him made the 2014 conference he convened successfully.
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