Former President Goodluck Jonathan, during the meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, briefed him about the crisis in Mali.
The former President during the meeting reported to President Buhari his activities as ECOWAS Special Envoy to restore calm to Mali, rocked by protests against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has spent two out of the five-year second term in office.
Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, also said in a statement on Tuesday that Jonathan used the opportunity to express his appreciation for the Itakpe-Warri railway complex named after him last weekend.
The former President visited Buhari in the company of the President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
After being briefed of the situation in Mali, President Buhari said he would consult with key leaders of ECOWAS countries in order to find a solution to the crisis rocking the Republic of Mali.
“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,” President Buhari said.
He thanked Dr Jonathan for his comprehensive brief on the situation in Mali, “which you had been abreast with since when you were the sitting Nigerian President.”
A resistance group in Mali, M5, is insisting that the Constitutional Court must be dissolved, and the President resign, before peace can return to the country.
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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.
According to Jonathan, “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.”
The former President thanked President Buhari for providing a Presidential jet for the mission, “thus making our trips convenient and comfortable,” and he equally expressed appreciation for the Itakpe-Warri railway complex named after him last weekend.
“It was a big present for me. Thank you very much,” he said.
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