Jonathan Keeps Mum on Corruption Cases Against Former Aides, Officials

• Meets Buhari, sues for unity, peace in Nigeria, N’Delta
• Says he makes nocturnal visits to State House
• Holds meeting with PDP BoT

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has continued to refuse to speak on the ongoing corruption cases against some of his former aides and officials who worked for his government, insisting that he would speak about the issue at the “appropriate time”.

Jonathan, who spoke to State House correspondents wednesday in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammdu Buhari, said: “I don’t want to talk about that, because there are too many cases that are in court, it will not be fair to make comments.
“I will talk at the appropriate time when most of these things are resolved.”

The former president said he was in the State House to brief the president on his mission to monitor the upcoming elections in Zambia and called on Nigerians to work towards a united country.
He also solicited for peace in the Niger Delta, saying that there could be no development without peace.

Jonathan said: “It’s not just about me but about all the traditional rulers, elders and opinion leaders that are of the Ijaw ethnic nationality.

“We have been in touch to see that peace reigns in the country. Those of you who have followed my stand when I was here; my emphasis was that we need a united Nigeria and I always emphasise that Nigeria is great not just because of oil.

“So many countries produce more oil than Nigeria, but nobody notices them. We are great because of our size, the human resources we have, the diversity we have, so if we fragmentise the country into small components we will be forgotten by the world.

“That has been my focal position and without peace there cannot be development anywhere in the world, we are all working collectively to see that issues are resolved.”

Providing further insight on his visit to the State House, the former president said: “You asked why I came to see the president today; one key thing is that having been a head of a government, a former president, you become state property.

“That’s the privilege you have, but every privilege has its corresponding responsibility, and once you become state property, your international engagements that have to do with public addresses and some international assignments becomes national assignments, so you must brief the president.
“Even when I was here, former presidents used to do that and came to brief me. I have been coming here; most times I come at night, that’s why you don’t see me.

“So I came to brief the president on some of my engagements. As you are aware, I will be leading the AU elections monitoring team to Zambia. I came to brief the president about some of these external engagements. It is the tradition.”

After leaving the State House, Jonathan was reported to have held a meeting with the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last night in Abuja.

Although details of the meeting were sketchy, party sources said the meeting was slated to discuss the protracted crisis in the PDP following the removal of its former national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and how to resolve the problem.

The division within the PDP and a retinue of court orders and counter-orders pose a serious threat to the future of the party as a counter-balance to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).