Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan has advised African leaders to embrace all efforts towards the unity where people will see themselves as one in the continent and beyond.
Jonathan, who canvassed tolerance, understanding and deep reflection on the shared history of Africans, urged leaders on the continent to support the Africa 2020 – One United Africa Project.
He said, “The initiative holds immense promise for the continent’s future and a new chapter in promoting unity among Africans.”
A statement from Africa 2020 – One United Africa Public Communications Director, Lanre Aribisala, in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State and made available to Nigerian Tribune, stated that the former President spoke in Abuja while receiving its delegation led by a congressman, Bimbo Daramola.
Aribisala stated, “The project is being articulated to begin as a pan-African people-to-people awareness against the backdrop of the incessant and spreading incidents of black-on-black violence in Africa and the associated grave consequences, particularly the last one in South Africa which attracted condemnable retaliatory action in Nigeria.”
He said the former President lamented the September black-on-black violence in South Africa and the more recent incident in Ghana, where Nigerian business operators were a target of hostilities from the host country.
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“Jonathan expressed delight that the younger generation is taking off from where pioneer African statesmen left off in the reunification of brothers and kinsmen across the continent, through the development of complementary initiatives in support of the hitherto well-known ‘government to government’ bilateral and diplomatic actions,” he said.
The communications director, who said Jonathan had endorsed the proposed One United Africa Project and its broad initiatives, disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Chairman, African Business Roundtable, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had earlier endorsed the initiative.
He said, “The Africa 2020 end to black-on-black violence initiatives includes the four-nation charity concert, featuring a broad coalition of African artistes from across African nations, production of a world-class documentary on Africa’s political evolution titled, ‘Africa: From the past through the present to the future.’
“It hopes also to raise VIP ambassadors and youth vanguard that will take the message of one united Africa deep to regular Africans on the streets and also canvass for adoption of an ‘end black-on-black violence day’ in Africa by the African Union to maintain the need to permanently keep eyes on unity and peace among Africans.
Caption: Leader of the group, Congressman Bimbo Daramola presenting the endorsement plague to the former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
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