Jonathan never called peace committee – Bishop Kukah
BY OUR REPORTER ON AUGUST 11, 2015
NATIONAL , TRENDING (ABUJA)
President Muhammadu
Buhari has met with members
of the National Peace
Committee for the 2015
General Elections led by a
former Head of State, Retired General Abdusalami
Abubakar, behind closed
doors at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja.
This is even as Bishop
Matthew Kukah has denied
that former president
Goodluck Jonathan contacted
the committee to seek it's
intervention over what a national daily (not Daily Sun)
said reported about Buhari
supposedly not sticking to the
peace accord.
The national daily, quoting a
source present at the meeting,
had said Thursday night's
meeting between Buhari and
Jonathan was initiated
because the former president sought for understanding on
alleged corrupt practices and
mismanagement of funds
under his
administration, claiming that
he was hearing about some of the graft allegations for the
first time.
Fielding questions from State
House correspondents after
the meeting with President
Buhari, Kukah – on reports
that Jonathan sought
intervention of the committee – said: "Anybody is free to
come to our committee, but
President Jonathan never by
telephone or another means
talked to the committee.
We
went to see him, but that is after we had already seen
members of the political
parties, members of the civil
society.
We planned to see the
Speaker because we couldn't
see him yesterday (Monday). This is a very planned series of
interventions, essentially just
to hear out everybody and I
think the good news is that
Nigerians are committed to a
new nation, they are committed to ensuring that
the gains and blessings God
has given us come to fruition". Asked why the intervention
has become necessary, the
Cleric said: "This is not an
intervention, it is a hearing
out process. When we just
had an election; it was like a wedding. But now is the
reality of government – now
the marriage and people need
to be encouraged. We need to
reaffirm that this is our
country and the only thing we can collectively be
opposed to is injustice,
iniquity, corruption and in
that regard we all had one
single conversation. "The President has also
reaffirmed the need for this
committee to continue, and
the international community
has very much welcomed the
contributions of the committee. Essentially we are
not policing, but when the
need arises, we help to build
confidence in the process," he
said.
Kukah said the committe gave
a bit of update about the
relevance of the peace
committee itself and how it
can help to nurture what God
has given to Nigerians, during its meeting with President
Buhari. Commenting on the
administration's stance against
corruption, Kukah said: "… In
our conversation with
President Jonathan and
members of the parties, I don't think any Nigerians is in
favour of corruption or is
against the President's
commitment to ensuring that
we turn a new leaf. I think
what we are concerned about is process; it is no longer a
military regime and under our
existing laws everybody is
innocent until proven guilty. "Again, our own commitment
is not to intimidate or fight
anybody. The former
President's commitment and
what he did still remains
spectacular, and I think that President Buhari himself
appreciates that. So our effort
really is to make sure that the
right thing is done". President Buhari and Jonathan
had signed peace pacts ahead
of the March 28 presidential
elections at the instance of the
committee. Others in the meeting were
the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji
Sa'Ad Abubakar III; the
President of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, Pastor
Ayo Oritsejafor; Primate of the Church of Nigeria,
Anglican Communion, Most
Reverend Nicholas Okoh;
Catholic Archbishop of Abuja,
Cardinal John Onaiyekan; a
former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mrs.
Priscilla Kuye; and Senator Ben
Obi, among others.
(Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, DAILY SUN )
NATIONAL , TRENDING (ABUJA)
President Muhammadu
Buhari has met with members
of the National Peace
Committee for the 2015
General Elections led by a
former Head of State, Retired General Abdusalami
Abubakar, behind closed
doors at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja.
This is even as Bishop
Matthew Kukah has denied
that former president
Goodluck Jonathan contacted
the committee to seek it's
intervention over what a national daily (not Daily Sun)
said reported about Buhari
supposedly not sticking to the
peace accord.
The national daily, quoting a
source present at the meeting,
had said Thursday night's
meeting between Buhari and
Jonathan was initiated
because the former president sought for understanding on
alleged corrupt practices and
mismanagement of funds
under his
administration, claiming that
he was hearing about some of the graft allegations for the
first time.
Fielding questions from State
House correspondents after
the meeting with President
Buhari, Kukah – on reports
that Jonathan sought
intervention of the committee – said: "Anybody is free to
come to our committee, but
President Jonathan never by
telephone or another means
talked to the committee.
We
went to see him, but that is after we had already seen
members of the political
parties, members of the civil
society.
We planned to see the
Speaker because we couldn't
see him yesterday (Monday). This is a very planned series of
interventions, essentially just
to hear out everybody and I
think the good news is that
Nigerians are committed to a
new nation, they are committed to ensuring that
the gains and blessings God
has given us come to fruition". Asked why the intervention
has become necessary, the
Cleric said: "This is not an
intervention, it is a hearing
out process. When we just
had an election; it was like a wedding. But now is the
reality of government – now
the marriage and people need
to be encouraged. We need to
reaffirm that this is our
country and the only thing we can collectively be
opposed to is injustice,
iniquity, corruption and in
that regard we all had one
single conversation. "The President has also
reaffirmed the need for this
committee to continue, and
the international community
has very much welcomed the
contributions of the committee. Essentially we are
not policing, but when the
need arises, we help to build
confidence in the process," he
said.
Kukah said the committe gave
a bit of update about the
relevance of the peace
committee itself and how it
can help to nurture what God
has given to Nigerians, during its meeting with President
Buhari. Commenting on the
administration's stance against
corruption, Kukah said: "… In
our conversation with
President Jonathan and
members of the parties, I don't think any Nigerians is in
favour of corruption or is
against the President's
commitment to ensuring that
we turn a new leaf. I think
what we are concerned about is process; it is no longer a
military regime and under our
existing laws everybody is
innocent until proven guilty. "Again, our own commitment
is not to intimidate or fight
anybody. The former
President's commitment and
what he did still remains
spectacular, and I think that President Buhari himself
appreciates that. So our effort
really is to make sure that the
right thing is done". President Buhari and Jonathan
had signed peace pacts ahead
of the March 28 presidential
elections at the instance of the
committee. Others in the meeting were
the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji
Sa'Ad Abubakar III; the
President of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, Pastor
Ayo Oritsejafor; Primate of the Church of Nigeria,
Anglican Communion, Most
Reverend Nicholas Okoh;
Catholic Archbishop of Abuja,
Cardinal John Onaiyekan; a
former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mrs.
Priscilla Kuye; and Senator Ben
Obi, among others.
(Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, DAILY SUN )
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