Jonathan Becomes First African Leader to Bag Martin Luther King’s Award

The immediate past President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was  on Thursday, January 14, honored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

He was awarded with the Presidential Award in recognition of his leadership in advancing human rights, social justice and the fight for universal freedom.

The SCLC, founded by the late American Civil Right leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, in January 1957 is currently led by Dr. Charles Steele Jr.

The event is part of the activities leading up to the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday, January 18th, 2016.

Before his remarks at the event, Dr. Jonathan met privately with the president of the SCLC.

The president of the SCLC, Dr. Charles Steele Jr proposed to work with the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation to advance the cause of peace around the world and to bridge the gap between people of color in the Diaspora and Africa.

Former President Jonathan responded that his vision is to help stabilize and promote democracy and peace in Africa. He went on to say that without peace you can not have economic progress.

JonathanLutherHe revealed that this was the reason he pushed for Nigeria’s intervention to ensure peace in various African nations such as Côte d’Ivoire while he was in office.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and President Steele then agreed to collaborate along the lines suggested by the former Nigerian President.