Restructuring: I expected Buhari to implement confab report – Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan says he personally handed the
report of the 2014 National Conference to his successor, President
Muhammadu Buhari with the hopes that Buhari would implement the
report.

Jonathan, however, said rather than implement the report, Buhari
went on to say he wanted the report to be confined to the dustbin
of history.

The former President said this in his book titled, ‘My
Transition Hours’, which was launched on Tuesday.

He said, “The President-elect took the National Conference
report from me and I felt confident of it being used to chart the
success of a better Nigeria. Two years after and faced with
pressure from Nigerians to implement the conference report, it was
widely reported that President Muhammadu Buhari said that the
conference reports should be consigned to the dustbin of
history.”

The former President also faulted Buhari’s claim that he would
not implement the confab report because Jonathan decided to focus
on the National Conference when he should have focused on the
Academic Staff Union of Universities which was on strike.

Jonathan said contrary to Buhari’s claim, he did not ignore ASUU
and in fact he was able to negotiate with the lecturers and got
them to end their strike.

On why he didn’t personally implement the report of the
conference despite having over seven months to do so, Jonathan said
the crisis in the National Assembly, especially the House of
Representatives prevented him from doing so.

He said the then Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, defected from the
Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress and there
was no way he would have been able to get his cooperation.

Jonathan added, “Those who say that my administration should
have implemented the confab recommendations forget that I received
the report a few months before the last general elections and at a
time when the National Assembly was on break.

“Also, this was when the National Assembly was engulfed by so
much tension and distrust. The Speaker of the House, Aminu
Tambuwal, had led some members to defect to the APC, the then main
opposition party. The Senate also suffered a number of
defections.

“At the time the National Assembly was therefore not conducive
to the healthy deliberations and consideration of such an important
document.

“It was obvious that some members of the National Assembly and
their collaborators were ready to shoot down anything that in their
thinking would improve the image of my government.”

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