Former Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR, GCON has been chosen as the United Nations Global Crisis Envoy.
According to reports, Goodluck Jonathan’s appointment makes him the first African former leader to be honored by the United Nations.
Ubi Franklin, Special Assistant to the Governor of Cross River State, broke the news just a few seconds ago.
Franklin compared the former President’s new post to that of Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was named the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia’s Envoy to the Middle East after leaving office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Jonathan, a former Deputy Governor and Governor of Bayelsa State, was appointed Vice President of Nigeria in 2007 by President Umaru Yar’Adua.
After the death of the terminally ill Yar’Adua, the soft-spoken former university lecturer eased into the position of President in 2010.
He went on to win the 2011 election, but his bid for a second term against current President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was unsuccessful.
He does, however, have the enviable distinction of becoming Nigeria’s first incumbent President to concede loss in an election.
