President of the Republic of Cote d’ Ivoire, Allassan Qouttara, has said that Nigeria’s elections which saw President Goodluck Jonathan, an incumbent conceding defeat to an opposition was a rare gesture and great legacy for the African continent.
Qouttara, who was on a private visit to the Aso Rock Villa on Monday told State House corespondents at the end of his meeting that President Jonathan had won his admiration for that singular action, said his action was not a surprise as he has always demonstrated he was more West African than Nigerian by his contributions in quelling the crisis in Mali, Guinea Bissau, and Togo.
Qouttara, noted that avoiding violence and civil war when elections hold in Africa should be the ought most objective of leaders on the continent being in mind that the people are more important than power.
“I came on a private visit to see my friend and brother and to congratulate the Nigerian people for the conduct of the presidential election. On May 29th there will be inauguration and swearing in of the President-Elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. So I wanted to tell you (Jonathan) our appreciation for the leadership we have received from you during all these years.
“Mr. President, you know about five years ago Cote D’ Ivoire had presidential elections and I won the election and the incumbent president decided not to leave office. This brought a civil war and 3000 people were killed and we were put at hotel and under the protection of the United Nations for about four and half months. There were days we could not even have food or water because the hotel had been barricaded and encircled by the former president and it was only after four and half months of imprisonment in these hotel that finally that were able to leave the hotel after the former president was caught and finally left office for me to take over.
“I’m saying this to say that what happened in Nigeria is a lesson to all of us, please accept my admiration. I think avoiding violence, avoiding civil war when we have elections in Africa should be our ought most objective. People are more important than power. And Mr. President my good friend I’m not surprised by what you did and I wanted to congratulate you, to congratulate the Nigerian people, to congratulate the President-elect, this election in Nigeria is a legacy for the African countries and I think we owe you a lot in ECOWAS. I will like to also say that for two years I was chairman of ECOWAS after yourself and we had to deal with very difficult issues like the wars in Mali, the terrorist implementation in Northern Nigeria, the problem in Guinea Bissau, the problems in Togo. You were always present. For us you are a West African before being a Nigerian and we thank you for what you did for West Africa.
“And we also were together to set up the partnership ageement with the European Union and only West Africa has been able to do this.
“My brother you have shown support to me during the difficult years I went through, you’ve shown friendship to me all these years and so I wanted to tell you thank you,” the Cote D’Ivoire President said.
