Obasanjo, Jonathan, Gowon shun June 12 celebrations in Abuja

Former Nigerian Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan were absent at the Eagle Square, venue for the 2019 Democracy Day celebrations which climaxed a week-long of activities.

General Yakubu Gowon was also absent from the celebration as General Abdulsalam Abubakar stood as the only former Head of State/President to grace the Democracy Day event.

Although Obasanjo, Jonathan and Gowon were included in the programme schedule distributed to all participants at the event, they were not sighted anywhere when the ceremony eventually kicked off with President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo in attendance.

Recall that Obasanjo had also kept away from Buhari’s second term inauguration which held at the same venue. The former president has been a strong critic of the Buhari administration over alleged poor leadership qualities.

Also, former president Jonathan, whom Buhari took over the reins of power from in 2015, has not been frequent in most of the social engagements involving the presidency. Both Jonathan and Buhari were reported to enjoy a cordial relationship prior to the 2015 transition.

Details later…