- Chief Ben Obi said Jonathan conceded defeat to Buhari after meeting with the peace committee
- The former aide said the inter-party conference helped to douse tension in the country
- He noted that many people predicted that the country will go up in flames but peace reigned eventually
Chief Ben Obi who is the former special adviser to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has said that the Abuja Declaration of 2015 played a great role in his conceding defeat to Muhammadu Buhari.
It was reported that Obi who is now the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) noted that the National Peace Committee led by a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar also played a significant role.
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Obi who was special adviser to Jonathan on inter-party relations was honoured with the 2017 Nelson Mandela Leadership Award and said Jonathan was able to take the advice of the Peace Committee and concede defeat to Buhari when he knew he had lost the election.
He said: “I also want to place on record the magnanimity of former president Jonathan through who I applied to hold this support and my application was quite clear on the end result; so, it is an application that Jonathan could easily have minuted upon saying, ‘SA rejected or SA not approved.
“At that time, the whole world was expecting that the country would go up in flames and go into blazes but former president Jonathan gave the go ahead for that to happen and it was also in the spirit of that, and because of the international personalities that we assembled here that it was easy to put in place a smooth transition that he did not wait for INEC to complete the announcements of results before he picked up his phone and congratulated General Muhammadu Buhari as he then was.
“I am particularly delighted that President Buhari has always made mention of this great feat of Jonathan. So, to that extent, I see Jonathan as a great African statesman.
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“When we finished the summit, Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ki Moon, sent his representative to personally come and congratulate me from Senegal; Ambassador Ibn Chambas who flew in congratulated me for this feat and to ask me to organize the National Peace Committee, which I did in conjunction with Bishop Mathew Kukah.
“We went to John Cardinal Onaiyekan and assembled the list of those who today are members of the National Peace Committee with General Abdulsalami Abubakar as chairman and Ebitu Ukiwe his deputy. This was how we were able to transit power from Jonathan’s administration to the Buhari’s administration.."
Meanwhile, Jonathan reminded Nigerians of a statement he made in 2014 about how his administration will be missed for its total freedom.
The former president made this reference in a picture he shared on Thursday, August 24.
Jonathan reminded Nigerians of his quote where he said: "I am the most abused and insulted president in the world, but when I leave office, you will all remember me for the total freedom you enjoyed under my government."
Watch NAIJ.com TV video below of a Nigerians talking about the Jonathan administration