Buhari, Jonathan, Jega Set to Meet in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari and the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, will meet under one roof for the first time tomorrow.

The point of convergence of the trio will be the annual Conference and Awards Ceremony of LEADERSHIP, scheduled to hold on Thursday October 6, 2016, at the Abuja Transcorp Hilton Hotel by 10am. The three important men, whose actions have shaped the Nigerian political scene, according to a statement from the newspaper, have already confirmed their participation in the annual awards event.This year’s event is significant as it will bring together a serving and two former presidents, governors, legislators, members of the diplomatic corps and elder statesmen to discuss the theme: ‘Democracy, Political Transition and the Challenge of Leadership in Africa.’

The keynote address will be delivered by the Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel. The Group Managing Director, Dr Cletus Akwaya, in a statement yesterday, disclosed that former head of state and elder statesman, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, will be chairman of the occasion and is scheduled to present the Persons of The Year awards to the winners.

The trio of President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Goodluck Jonathan and immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, are LEADERSHIP’s Persons of the Year 2015. The Etsu Nupe and Chairman, Niger State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, will be the royal father of the day at the event, with Senate President, Bukola Saraki as guest of honour while the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello is co-host.

In a letter of confirmation signed by his chief of protocol, Sani Musa Daura, the minister said he would personally grace the event.“Their selection followed a critical review of their various contributions to the growth and development of democracy in Nigeria and the peaceful and seamless manner in which the three eminent Nigerians handled the 2015 democratic transition without derailing the country’s democracy to the admiration and commendation of the global democratic community,” the statement pointed out. It further stated that the LEADERSHIP Awards would be honouring President Buhari “for making history by being the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president after three attempts.” In the case of former President Goodluck Jonathan, he would be recognised by the newspaper “for achieving the improbable and for conceding defeat in an election in which he was a contestant – a first for Nigeria.”The former INEC boss is to be honoured “for his courage, doggedness and fairness even in the face of threats to his life in the conduct of the 2015 elections,” to global acclaim. Explaining the criteria employed by the newspaper’s Board of Editors in arriving at the choice of the trio LEADERSHIP said: “It always seems improbable until it is done. We may now take for granted the watershed of the 2015 presidential election but who could have thought it would come to pass? It was far from being so before it was done.