Jonathan congratulates Biden, says Harris’ emergence as VP is ‘one giant leap for the black race’

FORMER Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, has expressed confidence in Joe Biden the president-elect of the United States of America to provide national and global leadership that will set the nation on a path of peace and prosperity.

Jonathan said the confidence he has in Biden is based on his years in office, during the reign of Barack Obama as President of America, as Vice-President of the United States.

Jonathan, who said Biden’s victory is not just historic, added that it would signal the era where competence and capacity would be placed above gender, race and religion in determining who has what in the country.

Jonathan said this in a press statement on Sunday titled, ‘Goodwill message to the United States president-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamal Harris’.

Biden of the Democratic Party won Tuesday’s presidential election to become the 46th elected President of the United States.

Biden, 77, defeated the Republican incumbent, Donald Trump, by securing 273 electoral college votes against Trump’s 214, after four grueling days of vote count that kept Americans on edge.

Jonathan said, “I congratulate President-elect, Joe Biden, and Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, on their victory at the November 3, 2020 US Presidential election.

“Their election is not just historic, it is also futuristic in the sense that it gives us a glimpse of what the future will be-a world where race, gender and religion do not matter as much as competence and capacity.

“The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, and based on his tenure as Vice President of the United States of America, between 2008 and 2016, I am fully persuaded that as President, Biden will provide national and global leadership that will set the post COVID19 world on a path of peace and prosperity.

“In a nation much in need of healing, I urge the incoming administration to look beyond party, and be magnanimous in victory, despite the contentious election, and to take all Americans, even those who were against their election, as brothers and sisters from the womb of one Mother, the United States of America.

“I call on the incoming government to partner with African nations to help our continent overcome the vicissitudes of the pandemic, by building on existing trade and expanding on new frontiers for cooperation.

“My special thoughts and prayers go to Mrs. Harris for making history as the first woman and first person of African American ancestry to be elected as Vice President of the United States.

“This is one big step for her, and one giant leap for the Black Race and the female gender.

“I pray that God will bless their joint tenure, and that in four years from now, we will have a better world because of their administration.”