Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has shunned a peace move by the Peoples Democratic Party and President Goodluck Jonathan, according to reports which emerged on Friday.
According to information gathered, as part of Jonathan’s visit to Ogun State on Friday, the President and the leadership of the PDP had planned to meet with Obasanjo.
However, Obasanjo who had got wind of the reconciliation meeting traveled to Gambia on Thursday.
Obasanjo, according to reports, would have been part of the closed-door meeting Jonathan had with some traditional rulers in Ogun state on Friday, but for his absence from the country.
According to an aide of the former president who pleaded anonymity because Obasanjo did not mandate him to speak on the issue, his (Obasanjo’s) main grouse with Jonathan and the PDP was the promotion of a chieftain of the party, Mr. Buruji Kashamu.
“I can tell you authoritatively that Baba’s (Obasanjo) problem with the President and the PDP is the promotion of Kashamu,” he said.
The aide also made mention of the letter Obasanjo wrote in 2014 to the then PDP Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, complaining about Kashamu’s membership of the party.
It would be recalled that in the letter dated 7 January, 2014, Obasanjo said he would, temporarily, cease to be a member of the party by withdrawing from its activities because Kahamu had been extolled as a party leader.
“I will consider withdrawing my activity with PDP at local, state, zonal and national levels until the anomalous and shameful situation is corrected,” he had said.
The aide added that rather than PDP addressing Obasanjo’s complaint, the party went ahead to appoint Kashamu as the Chairman of its Mobilisation Committee in the South-West. Kashamu has also won the PDP senatorial ticket for the Ogun-East Senatorial District.
Obasanjo had on Monday dumped the PDP and directed the party Chairman in Ward 11, Abeokuta North, Mr. Usman Oladunjoye, to tear his membership card.
Governor of Jigawa state, Sule Lamido and the PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, had on Wednesday met in Abuja to deliberate on how to convince Obasanjo to return to the party.
Also, according to a Presidential aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Obasanjo because of his annoyance with President Jonathan, deliberately decided to travel out of Abeokuta to avoid meeting him on Friday.
He added that Obasanjo was aware of the official assignment of Jonathan in Ogun but chose to travel.
“You can see that he deliberately avoided the President, who he even almost single-handedly made President. That’s not good enough,” he added.
Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh said the party had not ruled out reconciliation with the former President.
Metuh said, “The former President remains a revered member of our party; he is a statesman who led our party to two victories consecutively.
“Because of our respect for him having being the chairman of our BoT and a former President, we won’t allow him leave us like that.
“We agree with Lamido that we should not allow him leave like that. We will do everything within our power to bring him back.
“We still believe that he would work for our Presidential candidate and all other candidates of the party during the forthcoming elections.”
Asked how the party intends to reconcile with Obasanjo, Metuh said that “we would do everything within our democratic rights to being Baba back to the PDP.”
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