As part of efforts of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation to fulfill its
mission to promote peace and prosperity in Nigeria and Africa, former
President Goodluck Jonathan met with the US Congress House Sub
Committee on Africa on the challenges facing Christians in Nigeria and
the Niger Delta issue.
The former President, who was invited by the US Congress sub committee
and spoke in his capacity as Chairman of the Goodluck Jonathan
Foundation, said that implementation of the resolutions of the 2014
National Conference is the panacea that will prevent ethnic and
religious tensions that lead to crises such as the recent Southern
Kaduna killings.
He also identified impunity as a factor that contributes to the
reoccurrence of such violence, noting that if those behind previous
violence were not prosecuted then likeminded individuals and groups
would be emboldened to repeat the same act.
Dr. Jonathan talked about his efforts to end impunity, specifically
citing the case of Kabiru Sokoto, the mastermind of the Christmas Day
bombing of Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger state who
was arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned by his
administration and was the first successful prosecution of a terrorist
attack on a place of worship in Nigeria’s history.
He said: “That promise was fulfilled on the 20th of December 2013 when
Kabiru Umar, aka Kabiru Sokoto, was sentenced to life imprisonment
after my administration investigated that crime, identified him as the
mastermind, arrested him and diligently prosecuted him and some of his
associates.”
The former President also noted that his administration’s prosecution
of the perpetrators of the deadly bombing of an office of the
Independent National Electoral Commission also in Madalla on April 8,
2011 was the first successful prosecution of terrorists in Nigeria.
While supporting the 2014 National Conference’s recommendation for an
independent Religious Equity Commission to be set up to apprehend and
arrest perpetrators of ethnic and religious violence, Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan maintained that ending impunity will also mean ending these
tensions.
On the Niger Delta, the former President said he fully aligned with
the views of the 2014 National Conference which called for True and
Fiscal Federalism as the way out of agitations in the region and in
other parts of Nigeria.
He also said that interventionist agencies like the Niger Delta
Development Commission tend not to be effective due to over
politicization.
The former President opined that the almost overnight development of a
state like Akwa-Ibom proved that what the region needed was resource
control not interventionist agencies.
The meeting was attended by Chairman of the U.S. House Sub-Committee
on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International
Organizations, Congressman Christopher H Smith and other influential
staff of the Committee.
