What Buhari Discussed With Jonathan And Obasanjo On Closed Doors

Nigerian major newspapers have continued to focus on the visit of Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo to President Muhammadu Buhari.
The presidency has said the private visits of former presidents, Jonathan and Obasanjo made to President Buhari would not stop the anti-corruption war, Vanguard reports.
Recall that Jonathan had visited Buhari on Thursday, August 6, and about 24 hours later, Obasnjo was at the president villa for a closed door meeting with Buhari.




 

Mallam Garba Shehu , the senior special assistant on media and publicity, said: “The meeting between former Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan with President Buhari were private and confidential. The president can call them for advice. But it will be unfair for anybody to feel or say it was to stop the war against corruption. The war will continue to go on.”
This followed speculations that the visits of the former presidents were aimed at protecting them from Buhari’s anti-corruption war.
The Punch reports that the meeting between Jonathan and Buhari was held inside the president’s official residence, no third person was admitted and no photograph of the night visit was allowed.
This was Jonathan’s first visit to the president at the presidential villa since he left in the morning of May 29 for the Eagles Square, wheere he handed over to Buhari.
 

Unlike Jonathan’s visit, a photographer attached to the president managed to take a picture of Obasanjo and Buhari during his visit.
It was gathered that Obasanjo, during his meeting with Buhari, told the President to ensure that all funds stolen under the Jonathan administration were recovered in order to strengthen the anti-corruption image in the international community.
According to The Nation, former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar facilitated the meeting between Jonathan and Buhari.
Jonathan had reportedly complained that the president was not sticking to the peace accord they signed and sought for understanding on alleged corrupt practices and mismanagement of funds under his administration.
 

 In response, Buhari was said to have insisted that all looted funds must be returned to the nation’s coffers, while restating his pledge that Jonathan had nothing to fear at all.
In other news
  The Guardian reports that President Buhari may not be in a hurry to sell Nigeria’s three refineries because it may place the economy in the hands of the private sector and lay it open for possible exploitation which may bring hardship to poor Nigerians.
 

It was gathered that the president’s decision might have been buoyed by the feat of local engineers who successfully carried out the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the ailing refineries after the original manufacturer turned down an offer to rehabilitate them.
Meanwhile, the new Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, will from this week start inviting oil traders who were awarded crude oil swaps and offshore processing contracts by NNPC during the administration of Jonathan, This Day reports