.Mourns elder statesmen
IBRAHIM QUADRI
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has described the death of the Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF leader, Chief Edwin Clark almost at the same time as a great loss to Nigeria, noting they were men of courage and wisdom, who meant well for the country.
Speaking when he paid a condolence visit to the Adebanjo family at his house in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos in the company of former Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma and former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Chief Bode George, Jonathan said for the two of them to have died simultaneously was a great shock, because they worked together for the interest of Nigeria.
Jonathan said the late Chief Adebanjo was an upright man that was committed to the growth and development of Nigeria for the benefit of all.
He noted that it was people like him that made the 2014 conference he convened a success, saying without people like him and other leaders there, it wouldn’t have taken place.
“Our dear leader was not the leader of Afenifere alone, he was a leader of this country. He was a man with enormous wisdom, courage and willingness to do the right thing for this country.
“He believed in truth and justice. No nation can grow when there is no truth and when there is no justice.
“Those were the things he was known for. We are not surprised that he led the Afenifere credibly well.”
Jonathan said that when a nation was not moving as expected there was a need for a comprehensive dialogue.
He explained that the composition of the 2014 conference was credible, Jonathan said, “I gave them total authority to discuss what is good for this country.”
Jonathan said he would have loved to implement the recommendations of the confab before leaving office in 2015, but for the crisis in his party, which frustrated him from implementing the recommendations of the Confab.
“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 thought initially I wanted to manipulate the system.
“I remember in the beginning when there were issues, some came to me, they said president we want to know if there were some areas you were interested in. I say look, I can’t even advise you, you are more experienced than me. You are the leaders, Supreme Court justices, more than 50 percent of members were more experienced than me, it was a benevolent privilege that made me to do that setting up the Confab.”
He recalled that people today still make reference to that conference, urging for the need to revisit it whenever there is any issue at hand.
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