Jonathan never called peace committee – Bishop Kukah

President Muhammadu Buhari ‎has met with members of the National Peace Committee for the 2015 General Elections led by a former Head of State, Retired General Abdusalami Abubakar, behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
This is even as Bishop Matthew Kukah has denied that former president Goodluck Jonathan contacted the committee to seek it’s intervention over ‎what a national daily (not Daily Sun) said reported about Buhari supposedly not sticking to the peace accord.
‎The national daily, quoting a source present at the meeting, had said ‎Thursday night’s meeting between Buhari and Jonathan was initiated because the former president sought for understanding on alleged corrupt practices and mismanagement of funds under his administration, ‎claiming that he was hearing about some of the graft allegations for the first time.‎
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the meeting with President Buhari, Kukah – on reports that Jonathan sought intervention of the committee – said: “‎Anybody is free to come to our committee, but President Jonathan never by telephone or another means talked to the committee. We went to see him, but that is after we had already seen members of the political parties, members of the civil society. We planned to see the Speaker because we couldn’t see him yesterday (Monday). This is a very planned series of interventions, essentially just to hear out everybody and I think the good news is that Nigerians are committed to a new nation, they are committed to ensuring that the gains and blessings God has given us come to fruition”.
Asked why the intervention has become necessary, the Cleric said: “‎This is not an intervention, it is a hearing out process. When we just had an election; it was like a wedding. But now is the reality of government – now the marriage and people need to be encouraged. We need to reaffirm that this is our country and the only thing we can collectively be opposed to is injustice, iniquity, corruption and in that regard we all had one single conversation.
“‎The President has also reaffirmed the need for this committee to continue, and the international community has very much welcomed the contributions of the committee. Essentially we are not policing, but when the need arises, we help to build confidence in the process,” he said.
Kukah said ‎the committe gave a bit of update about the relevance of the peace committee itself and how it can help to nurture what God has given to Nigerians, during its meeting with President Buhari.‎
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Commenting on the administration’s stance against corruption, Kukah said: “… In our conversation with President Jonathan and members of the parties, I don’t think any Nigerians is in favour of corruption or is against the President’s commitment to ensuring that we turn a new leaf. I think what we are concerned about is process; it is no longer a military regime and under our existing laws everybody is innocent until proven guilty.
“Again, our own commitment is not to intimidate or fight anybody. The former President’s commitment and what he did still remains spectacular, and I think that President Buhari himself appreciates that. So our effort really is to make sure that the right thing is done”.‎‎‎‎
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President Buhari and ‎Jonathan had signed peace pacts ahead of the March 28 presidential elections at the instance of the committee.
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Others in the meeting were the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’Ad Abubakar III; the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh; Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan; a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mrs. Priscilla Kuye; and Senator Ben Obi, among others.