hundreds of youths lined up at the Sultan Abubakar road leading to the palace of Sultan of Sokoto to give the former President, Goodluck Jonathan a rousing welcome to the caliphate city on Thursday.

The mammoth crowd, who were chanting the name of the former President also held placards with inscription “Bring Back our Jonathan written on them”.

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan was in Sokoto to commiserate with the government and people of Sokoto State over the death of the 18th Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, saying the deceased believed in the unity of the country.

Speaking during a condolence visit to Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar 111 in his palace in Sokoto on Thursda, Jonathan stated that the late Dasuki was a man of peace who believed in peaceful resolution of conflict.

“While I was still in office, I visited late Dasuki in London and we spoke for three hours about the unity of this country.

“Sultan Dasuki strongly believed in the unity of this country and peaceful resolution of crisis. His demise is a period for us to think about how we should live together as Nigerians, as there can never be peace without development.

“He passed on at a time his wise counsel is highly needed and for him to have survived 93 years is a major achievement,”Jonathan said.

He maintained that the deceased lived a life of service to humanity and that his 93 years on earth was a major achievement.

repose of the soul of the deceased.

Responding, the Sultan assured the former president that the the Sultanate Council would continue with the good legacies left by late Dasuki.

“We are not crying because we know that God gives and take anytime He wishes. We assure you that we will continue to work in the same direction he pushed us into.

“We will continue to reach out to everybody so that this country will be bettet for all,”he said.

He thanked Jonathan for the visit and wished him well in his future endeavour.

Jonathan was accompanied to the visit by the former governors of Kaduna, Sokoto and Jigawa states, Ahmed Makarfi, Attahiru Bafarawa and Sule Lamido.

Others were former Minister of Special Duties Kabiru Tanimu, former Minister of State for Health, Haliru Alhassan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Aminu Wali, among others