2023 Election: Jonathan Speaks On Supreme Court Ruling

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday, met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Jonathan, while fielding questions from State House reporters, spoke on the ruling of the Supreme Court, which affirmed the victory of President Tinubu.

The apex court struck out the petition of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi.

The former president in his reaction to the court ruling, called on political leaders and former presidents to come together so that citizens would not suffer.

When asked about the Supreme Court verdict, he said: “We need to bring all our political leaders, including all our former presidents, together; we will not be fighting; if top leaders continue fighting, they will not suffer that much, but the downtrodden will suffer. And we want to end that tension so we move forward.

“My visit would have taken place since last week but it couldn’t hold but today it has now coincided with the judgement of the Supreme Court judgement of yesterday (Thursday). So, it is an opportunity for me to also congratulate Mr President.

“We talked a lot about the country. You will see more of me because there are certain things we discussed and the country must move forward. Elections are over and so we must move forward.”

Details Of Goodluck Jonathan’s Meeting With Tinubu

Jonathan, while speaking at the end of the meeting with Tinubu, described himself as a “roving ambassador”.

The former President spoke while fielding questions from State House reporters after a closed-door meeting with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Jonathan revealed that he came to brief President Tinubu on his regional, continental, and international assignments.

He further stated that he used the visit to congratulate him on his victory at the apex court.

Jonathan said, “I have been involved in a number of things in West Africa and Africa. In fact, tomorrow (Saturday), I will be in Kenya and on the 14th of November I will be in Liberia, so I am like a roving Ambassador seeing how we can bring peace to the subregion and the continent.”

Speaking on how Nigeria could lead Africa with the successful transition of power, Jonathan said: “That is what all Africans are saying, I had a programme on democracy dialogue and Prof Lumumba spoke there, he emphasized the need for Nigeria to take a lead in Africa. Yes, we have challenges economically now but we still have what it takes to lead Africa.

“These are some of the issues I will continue to have conversations with Mr President, including briefing him on all my foreign programmes. They are not personal issues, traditionally, former presidents when they go outside the country for continental or regional programmes and even some international. When you come home, you brief the president that is the tradition.

“When you see me here, what we come to do, to move Nigeria forward and to move ECOWAS forward and to move the African continent forward.”