Mali Crisis: PMB Receives Briefing From Jonathan

TRACKING ___President Muhammadu Buhari has received reports from ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, former President Goodluck Jonathan on the ongoing crisis in Mali.

Receiving Jonathan yesterday, PMB assured that he would consult with key leaders of ECOWAS countries in order to find a solution to the crisis.

According to a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, the former President was at State House, Abuja, in company of President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.

“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.

The former President had briefed President Buhari on his activities as Special Envoy to restore peace to Mali that was rocked by protests against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has spent two out of the five years second term in office.

A resistance group, M5 is insisting that the Constitutional Court must be dissolved and the President must resign before peace could return to the country.

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.

“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 will have banana republic’s all over the place,” Dr Jonathan submitted.

The former President thanked President Buhari for providing a Presidential jet for the mission, thereby making their trips convenient and comfortable, just as he appreciated the Itakpe-Warri railway complex named after him last weekend.

Reacting to the development, Jonathan said he had already written a letter of appreciation to President Buhari and commended him for carrying on with the railway programme and other legacy projects inherited from previous administrations.

The former President said what Buhari has done was the proper thing to do.

On his relationship with President Buhari who defeated him in the 2015 Presidential election, Jonathan described it as cordial.

“I think you’ve been seeing me coming to see the President and you’ve been seeing us having very friendly conversation, our relationship is ok.”