Former president Goodluck Jonathan, who was reported to have gone into temporary exile in Côte D’Ivoire, has fired back over the report.
“I am not in exile. I am here resting,” former President Goodluck Jonathan told Thisday newspaper in a phone call.
“So what… I am not in exile. I am here resting. Yes I am in Cote d’Ivoire, I have been here for a week resting and this is my second trip to the country since I stepped down as president,” Goodluck Jonathan added.
According to a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Suleiman Olanrewaju Abubakar, the ex-President also spoke with him and others from Abidjan, following the report.
The ex-minister quoted Jonathan as saying: “I am not on exile, I can never be on exile, I am going to come back to Nigeria.
“I cannot run away from any problem, I am going to face whatever problem that exists in Nigeria.”
Last month the ex-president visited America where he was awarded for promoting peace and democracy in Africa. He also met with Andrew Forrest, an Australian billionaire and the founder of the Walk Free Foundation (WFF), to discuss modern slavery in Africa and around the world.