PDP: Obasanjo’s Past And The New Embrace By: Donald Ojogo on September 5, 2013 - 1:52am in Share The crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been having different colourations lately. But far more intriguing is the intervention of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo in the crisis. Seen as the political god-father of most of the aggrieved governors and stakeholders in the party, DONALD OJOGO juxtaposes Obasanjo’s such embraces in the past with his current role as a mediator. When former president Olusegun Obasanjo resigned as chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) early last year, there were unconfirmed reports that the action of the Owu-born military general was not unconnected with disaffection between him and President Goodluck Jonathan. For one, there have been unclear insinuations too that it took the former president the assurance of a single term by President Jonathan for him to sell the Bayelsa-born former governor to the northern establishment whose desire was to complete the remaining term of the tenure of the late president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who passed on in 2010. Therefore, reports about President Jonathan’s preparedness to have another term in office was said to have driven a wedge in the relationship between Obasanjo and Jonathan. Although both parties have persistently denied the existence of such, the seeming cautious indifference by Obasanjo to activities of the PDP was not to the contrary. However, the nation was greeted with a curious look as President Jonathan visited Obasanjo in his Abeokuta residence. The visit had coincided with a similar one by four northern governors-Sule Lamido(Jigawa), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko(Sokoto) and Murtala Nyako(Adamawa). All these are unpretentious anti-Jonathan governors who have insisted on the alleged pact he had with the governors from the region. Analysts are of the belief that the meeting between the two leaders may have been facilitated by two of Obasanjo’s ‘boys’- Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Liyel Imoke(Cross River), ostensibly to bridge the disturbing gap between the two leaders. Nonetheless, Dr Kingsley Akporede, a political scientist, in response to LEADERSHIP questioners opines that the former president’s penchant for surprise strikes against unconscious political enemies was still steering President Jonathan in the face. “We know that as a matter of fact, Obasanjo is a military tactician who strikes at surprise moments against unsuspecting political foes. You should also recall that when he resigned as chairman of the BoT, no effort was made by the president to dissuade him from doing so may be because some persons around the president did not want to see the former president around their benefactor. ‘For those of us who have followed the nature of politics of the former president, it was not impossible that he asked the northern governors to also arrive Abeokuta after he got confirmation that the president was on his way. Again, to those of us who know the antecedents of the man and the way the four northern governors came to limelight, there is a strong nexus that the governors cannot do anything without Obasanjo. “In that light, we are quick to draw conclusions, though not absolute, that the nationwide consultations embarked upon by the governors formed part of the thrust of the Abeokuta meeting the governors and their benefactor. “Now to your last question whether or not Obasanjo may have approved of the splinter action by the governors; I think it is a relative thing. One, he may have approved of it without necessarily having at the back of his mind that PDP should split. Also, he might have encouraged such in order to return to centre-stage as the oasis of mediatory roles. But whichever is correct, the hornet’s nest has been stirred. The only danger I see is that Jonathan’s second term desire is at risk in the face of all these developments in the ruling party”, the scholar said. Even though Akporede’s submissions may not totally true, a recall of a few of Obasanjo’s Machiavellian moves are elixir for cautionary steps as the Ota farmer has made a career from luring his adversaries into a false sense of security before striking lethally when their guards are lowered. Instances of this are legion. An on-line medium subtly chronicled thus: “In January 2005 for instance, what was supposed to be a reconciliation lunch between Obasanjo and the then PDP Chairman, Audu Ogbeh, turned out a week later to be the latter’s last supper. After Obasanjo fell out with Ogbeh over the latter’s letter on a suspected interference by the presidency in the then political imbroglio at Anambra state, several reconciliation meetings were purportedly held between the two. “To convince everyone that they had truly reconciled, Obasanjo drove in the same vehicle with Ogbeh to the latter’s residence where they reportedly feasted to a lunch. Ogbeh, caught by that dummy, went on NTA Network News and announced that any misunderstanding between him and Obasanjo had been settled. “Less than a week after this however, the Owu General struck. He invited himself to Audu Ogbeh’s home, not to eat pounded yam again, but to demand for his resignation as party chairman. “There was also Obasanjo’s celebrated quarrel with the late Chuba Okadigbo in 2001. After a seeming truce had been brokered, Obasanjo was on hand to commission Okadigbo’s new residence as the Senate President. They had dinner together and Obasanjo even danced with his host’s wife. Few days after that celebrated dance he engineered Okadigbo’s impeachment. “In a similar move, Obasanjo during an official visit to Anambra state in 2006, showed a lot of ‘public love’ for Peter Obi. Barely a day or so after the visit, the PDP-dominated state House of Assembly began impeachment proceedings against the Governor reportedly with the active connivance of the Obasanjo presidency. “Atiku was to suffer a similar fate after he had successfully battled Obasanjo’s attempts to remove him as Vice President and prevent him from contesting for the presidency in the 2007 elections. After the duo left office, and with Atiku possibly trying to rebuild his political base through a planned return to PDP, a number of clandestine contacts were said to have been brokered between the two. Lured by a false sense of security, Atiku accepted to meet Obasanjo for what he thought was a secret meeting – without informing his party members. “But the wily Obasanjo tipped the press about the meeting in what was thought to be a move to create disaffection between Atiku and his loyalists. It is debatable whether Atiku has fully recovered from the fallouts of that deft move by Obasanjo”, the medium submitted. Perhaps, Ijaw leader and President Jonathan’s god-father,Chief Edwin Clark, has a refreshing trail of this as he accused the ex-president of sowing seeds of discord in the PDP; he said the two-time leader should retire to his Ota farm and keep quiet. Eighty-six-year-old Chief Clark believes that Nigeria, the PDP have had enough of Chief Obasanjo’s troubles, adding that President Goodluck Jonathan can do without “open and deliberate interference” from him. The Second Republic Senator and Federal Commissioner for Information in the Gowon military administration accused the former President of instigating Governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State to have a go at the Presidency in the 2015 elections, thereby precipitating the crisis that has now engulfed the ruling party. In an interview with a national newspaper, Clark said Lamido, Amaechi and their counterparts from Sokoto (Aliyu Wamakko),Adamawa (Murtala Nyako), Kano (Rabiu Kwankwaso) and Niger (Babangida Aliyu) were not behaving like disciplined party members and should be made to toe the party line or get kicked out. “He gives the impression that he wants to be involved in the reconciliation process of the party, particularly amongst the governors. But that is not true. If there is any problem today that Chief Obasanjo wants to participate in solving, it is the problem he created. “He was the one who said that he wanted Lamido the Governor of Jigawa State and Rotimi Amaechi the Governor of Rivers State to contest the 2015 election as presidential candidates. Even on this year’s Democracy Day on 29th May, when former heads of state and former presidents, including 87-year-old President Shehu Shagari, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Chief Ernest Shonikan, were with President Goodluck Jonathan, former President Obasanjo was still busy in Dutse, Jigawa State, eulogising Lamido, to the extent of crediting to the Jigawa State Government the beautiful road from Kano to Jigawa, which is a Federal Government road consturcted by President Goodluck Jonathan. “Nigeria is greater than everybody. In a situation where you have a Federal Government, the Constitution empowers the President to govern the country. You should allow the President to govern the country as he himself did, without open and deliberate interference from former heads of state. “You can give advice quietly, but not to make derogatory statements about the government. For instance, sometime ago, he said in Switzerland that this administration does not have the courage to eradicate corruption in the country. You want to nominate everybody into the government of Mr. President? The man has respected you, given you due privilege to do what you want to do.” Chief Clark cited the PDP crisis in Obasanjo’s geo-political zone of South West, saying:”The problem of the party in the South West today is caused by him. Ogun State today has no functional PDP. The Ogun State governorship would not have gone to ACN if he had not forced his own candidate on the people, and if he had not disagreed with the former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel. “Ogun State today has two important ministers: the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Agriculture. These are very key ministries. So, why should the PDP not be strong in Ogun State? “The Party is scattered in the South West because of him. We lost all the states in the South West in the last election because people feel that when you work for a party, you must gain something. The dividends of democracy must spread round. “So, all I am saying is that for him creating these problems and belatedly jumping into the band wagon of reconciliation without being invited by the party because new zonal congress has to be held in the (South) West, and because he will like to have his favoured candidate to win the gubernatorial election in Anambra State, and also because he has now seen that the party has not fallen apart after his resignation from the chairmanship of the party’s Board of Trustees, is improper. “It must be remembered that President Olusegun Obasanjo, before leaving office, amended the PDP Constitution whereby only a former president could become the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party. He thought that with this amendment, he would automatically become the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, which would enable him to influence the Federal Government from (his) Ota farm as published in El-Rufai’s book, The Accidental Public Servant. “By this amendment, he pushed Chief Tony Anenih out unceremoniously. Unfortunately, he did not realise what he bargained for. Corruption, as epitomised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s modus operandi, is one of the problems plaguing this country today. “As far as I am concerned, the former President of this country should conduct himself as a father. He should desist from making statements that will bring tension in the country. He should be in a position where people take advice from him; not for him to be going from place to place giving the impression that all is not well with this country, particularly when he visits some governors whom he perceives as having some misunderstanding with the Presidency. “There is time available to offer service to your country. There is time to retire with dignity and remain at home.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 20:20:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015