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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Jonathan Meets Babangida, Buhari, Others This Week

Goodluck, These people you are meeting will plot your downfall !!!


From George Oji





As part of his on-going general consultation with major stakeholders across the Nigerian nation since his assumption of office last week, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan will this week meet with former President Ibrahim Babangida and former Head of State, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). Jonathan is also expected to meet with some other key national leaders across the country within the week.
THISDAY gathered that the meeting with the two former leaders would have taken place last week but for the very tight schedule of the acting President.
Jonathan Friday night met with former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. THISDAY gathered that like the Thursday meeting between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Jonathan, the Friday night’s meeting with Abubakar took place at an undisclosed venue in Abuja. The meetings, THISDAY further gathered, are holding at the instance of the acting president and he is using the occasion to explain to the leaders the fact that the administration is a continuation of the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Presidency. Jonathan also listens to the advice offered him by the various leaders.
Presidency sources also told THISDAY that a meeting between the aides of President Yar’Adua and those of the acting President is also expected to hold this week. The meeting is to seek ways for the two teams to work together and cooperatively to advance the programme of the administration.
“We are going to have a meeting between the various aides to fashion out ways of working together for the good of the administration. After all, whether anybody likes it or not, it is still the same President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Presidency that is running,” the source explained.
Babangida and Buhari are expected to meet with Jonathan separately. The acting President had also met with Lt. Gen. T. Y. Danjuma.
Also last week, the group of some eminent elders led by former Head of State, Dr. Yakubu Gowon met with the acting President. Other members of the group who called on Jonathan at the Presidential Villa Abuja included former President Shehu Shagari, former Interim Head of State, Ernest Shonekan, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alpha Belgore, former Governor of Plateau State, Chief Solomon Lar, Senators Jonathan Zwingina, Isaiah Balat, Chief Edwin Clark, Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, Ahmed Joda, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, and Mrs. Christy Silas
The acting President, while addressing the eminent elders during the visit, assured Nigerians of his determination to do what was right and in the larger interest of the majority of Nigerians. Jonathan’s explanation came after the elders had urged him to be “focused, courageous, decisive, firm, but fair, honest and just,” in the discharge of his office.
The elders had also advised Jonathan to scale down the seven-point agenda of the Yar’Adua’s administration to four in order to be effective and impactful on the lives of Nigerians. The four critical areas of focus according to the group were listed as free, fair and credible election, infrastructure, energy and power as well as peace and security.
Spokes person of the group and former Information and National Orientation Minister Professor Jerry Gana who fielded questions from State House Correspondents at the end of their parley said “the elders just came to wish the acting president well and to say to him be focused, courageous, decisive, firm, but fair, honest and just.”
The acting President had at the meeting also noted the need to emphasise what can be done quickly to impact positively on the lives of Nigerians within the shortest possible time.
He assured that the administration would work towards stable power supply, ensure adequate security of Nigerians through the on-going reform of the Police and improve on the Nigerian Police Force's intelligence gathering capacity.

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