As calculations for the 2015 presidential elections draw closer, President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday held a close-door meeting with former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar, and a former South African President, Thabo Mbeki.
The meeting which held inside the President’s official residence at the Presidential Villa in Abuja also had some top officials of the Nigerian government present.
Though, none of the participants at the meeting spoke about it when they came out, it is believed that the meeting held as a result of the current political situation of the country.
The Nigerian presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on 28th March while the governorship and House of Representatives elections would hold on 11th April.
Abubakar, the chairman of the National Peace Committee for 2015 General Elections, had on Saturday met with the nation’s service chiefs, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar III; Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan; Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah; former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe; Special Adviser to the President on Inter- Party Relations, and Senator Ben Obi over the election
It is believed the former Head of State discussed the outcome of Saturday’s meeting with the President.
Abubakar had recently called for a change in the way the country is governed in a statement he addressed to Nigerians adding that it was necessary to state this in the interest of the country.
He said it had become necessary for the country to identify and diagnose the causes of disaffection and anger, adding that the country was currently at crossroads, unsure of which way to go.
Abubakar had said then: “There is palpable desperation everywhere in the land; we are in a situation in which everyone is dissatisfied with what is going on, but nobody is sure of what to do, or what is going to happen next,” Abubakar had stated.
“This nation has suffered greatly and lost thousands of lives to the Boko Haram insurgency, with more than a million people displaced within the country, and tens of thousands have been forced across our borders into neighbouring countries.
“In one of the most senseless attacks, more than 2,000 people were said to have been killed in a single attack in Baga town of Borno State last week. This is clearly unacceptable, and we feel the time has come to restore the people’s confidence in the ability of government to confront, repel and put a stop to the impunity of the insurgency.
“We must force our politicians to accept and learn to play by the rules; and in their politicking adopt the highest ethical conduct, especially during campaigns and the conduct of the elections themselves.
“The inordinate ambition of some of our politicians, especially their do-or-die attitude in their quest for power, their way of subverting the electoral process in order to get to power must be checked by this nation or else they will terminally check-mate it.
“All Nigerians of goodwill must, therefore, rise to tell politicians and, indeed, all Nigerians that Nigeria is greater than the ambition and ego of any of its citizens; and at every encounter with whoever, this nation must prevail.”
