Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, visited the Lugard, Ikoyi, Lagos residence of the Shonekans to commiserate with family members of former Head of Interim National Government (ING), the late Chief Ernest Shonekan.
Shonekan was Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chief from August 27 to November 17, 1993.
He was overthrown by the late General Sani Abacha.
At the Ikoyi residence, Jonathan eulogised Shonekan’s virtues, describing him as someone he respected so much, and whom he learnt a lot from.
The former president said that when he was in office presiding over Council of State, he was the youngest among the members, and that even after he left government, he automatically became a member of the council and that he still related well with Shonekan and regarded him as a father.
“He was a man with much wisdom and good background in corporate world, and a good background in economic issues. Even at that, he founded the Nigeria Economic Summit Group that is still useful till today.
“He was such a person who had vision for this country, he was also the brain behind Vision 2010 and other useful ones too numerous to mention.
“My regret is that he left government too short, if he had stayed as head of an interim government for about two to three years, probably he would have midwived a better political process and the issues of the 1999 Constitution and today, we are still discussing the Constitution.
“He left too early because of the military intervention then by the late General Sani Abacha. He was such a thorough-minded person. Had it been that he stayed long in government, Nigeria would have been moving in a different direction today. Well, we thank God for him, he lived a worthy life, he lived up to an old age and we are lucky that he attained an old age before leaving,” he said.
Jonathan further said that the late Shonekan contributed to the development of Nigeria as a private man and that the few months he spent in government would not be forgotten.
“When he took over as the Interim Head of State, the first thing he did then was to release all political prisoners that have now opened up the system for Nigerians to participate in economic and social activities. He had a vision that would last him, we pray God will give the family the fortitude to bear the loss,” he said.
Jonathan, however, said that Shonekan was a head of state and that whatever is due to every other head of state should be given to him by the federal government, and that the state government of where he resided and his state of origin would do something to immortalise him.
