Former President Goodluck Jonathan has blamed controversies surrounding the 1999 Constitution on the military’s refusal to allow former Head of Interim National Government (ING), Chief Earnest Shonekan, successfully midwife the nation’s democracy.

The former President, who paid a condolence visit to the family of the late Head of ING in Lagos, yesterday, described Shonekan as “a thorough man with vast experience in the corporate world”.

Shonekan died in Lagos on January 10, aged 85. He ruled the country from August 26 to November 17, 1993 when he was ousted in a coup led by the late General Sani Abacha.

Paying tribute to the man from whom he “learnt so much”, Jonathan regretted that Shonekan did not have enough time to address some of the country’s challenges.

“My regret is that he left government too shortly. I believe if he had stayed as Head of Interim Government for about two or three years, and properly midwifed the political process, even the controversies we are having with the 1999 Constitution, today, we wouldn’t have had it. He left too early because of the military intervention and, of course, the rest we know. 

“He was such a thorough-minded person and he would have made sure that all the “i’s” were properly dotted and all the “t’s” crossed. And probably, we would have been moving in a different direction today. He would have bequeathed a better Constitution for Nigeria’s democracy,” said Jonathan.

He noted that Shonekan “lived a worthy life. He contributed to the development of this country. When he took office as an interim Head of State, the first thing he did was the release of political prisoners. That opened up a strong system for Nigerians to begin to participate in political, economic and social activities. He had a vision but we lost him too early in government and now we have lost him finally.” 

Disclosing what the late leader meant to him, Jonathan said: “I learnt so much from him. When I was in office, I was presiding over the Council of State. Even at that time, in terms of age, I was the youngest among the Heads of State. And when I left office, I was also a member and still the youngest.

“So, listening to him, I learnt a lot because, he’s a man with wisdom, a man with good background in the corporate world and a good background in economic issues.

“As a private man, he founded the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) that is still there today. He was the brain behind Vision 2010, the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), and so on. These are investments and programmes of the Federal Government.” 

He expressed optimism that the Federal Government, Ogun and Lagos States would immortalise the late leader.