President Bola Tinubu and former president Goodluck Jonathan are now having meetings at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Jonathan arrived at noon, and the President greeted him before they went into a private meeting.
The meeting’s purpose is probably related to his work as the Economic Community of West African States’ Special Envoy, leading mediation talks while maintaining military rule over Mali in the wake of President Ibrahim Keita’s August 2020 coup.
No details of the meeting have been made public.
In order to restore civilian governance, the Malian military government announced in September 2023 that it would postpone the February 2024 presidential election.
Initially scheduled for February 4 and 18, the two voting rounds “will be slightly postponed for technical reasons,” according to government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga.
Maiga gave an explanation of the rationale behind adding concerns about the ratification of a new constitution and an examination of the election lists.
In addition, he brought up a disagreement with the French business Idemia, which the government claims is engaged in the census procedure.
“We’ll let you know when the new presidential election dates are,” Maiga said.
The junta headed by Asimi Goita intended to hold power in Mali for a maximum of five years, thus in January 2022 the Economic Community of West African States slapped sanctions on the country.
The junta vowed to hold the poll in February after yielding to pressure from the regional alliance.
As a result, in July 2022, the ECOWAS removed a number of financial and trade sanctions against Mali.