Again, President Buhari Receives Briefing From Goodluck Jonathan On Mali Crisis

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met with former President, Goodluck Jonathan, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

During the meeting, Jonathan who is the Economic Community of West African States Special Envoy to the Republic of Mali, briefed the President about his follow-up mission to the country.

Buhari and four other ECOWAS leaders had in July visited Bamako, capital of Mali, followed by a virtual extraordinary summit of the sub-regional body.

Jonathan, who was in Mali from Monday to Thursday last week, recounted his meetings with stakeholders including political and religious leaders, ambassadors of the United States, France, Russia, Germany, European Union, and other important personalities key to peace and cohesion in the country.

The main opposition group, M5, he said, continued to insist on the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, a position not acceptable to ECOWAS, which insisted only on democratic process in change of power within its jurisdiction.

“We told them that no international organisation including the African Union, United Nations and others would agree with their position. We continued to emphasise the need for dialogue,” Jonathan stressed.

He added that the Constitutional Court had been reconstituted and inaugurated, while vacancies in the Supreme Court had been filled, thus sorting out the judicial arm of government.