There were indications on Tuesday that former President Olusegun Obasanjo‘s call on ex-leaders to intervene in the country‘s political situation has unsettled the Presidency.
Sources told our correspondents that some top presidential aides were jolted after reading comments credited to the former President who admitted that things were not going in the right direction in the country.
Obasanjo was reported to have said, “We as former public office holders have a responsibility to come together and help our country, especially when things are not going the way we want. We have to sit down as stakeholders to review the situation.”
Specifically, Yar‘Adua‘s aides were said to have been bothered that Obasanjo made his comment during a visit to him in Abeokuta, Ogun State home by his former Vice-President-turned-political adversary, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Abubakar had dragged Yar‘Adua before the presidential election tribunal but lost at the Supreme Court which declared that the President was validly elected in the 2007 poll.
Analysts also speculate that the closing of ranks by Obasanjo and Abubakar may be an indication of Obasanjo‘s tacit withdrawal of support for the President.
A source at the Abeokuta meeting told one of our correspondents that Obasanjo allegedly regretted backing Yar’Adua as president in 2007.
Obasanjo, the source, noted, said that if he made a mistake in sponsoring Yar‘Adua in 2007 for the presidency, he would not make it a second time by supporting him for a second term.
Obasanjo was said to have been disturbed by the turn of event after the inauguration of Yar‘Adua. One of such things was the chain of events that led to the dismissal of the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu from the Police last year.
Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, through a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said Abubakar had the right to return to his former party.
The statement revealed that the CNPP had conveyed an emergency meeting to examine the import of the meeting between Obasanjo and Abubakar.
The group said it noted at the meeting that though the former vice-president‘s legal battles had deepened democracy, his struggles were more for personal political survival.
The group said, ”We note that it was an offshoot of personal survival and reaction to Obasanjo who, instead of handing over to him, wanted a third term.
“Therefore, his movement to the PDP has little or no impact, but will rather facilitate the formation of granite coalition by the opposition which is in progress.”
Also, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affiars, Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the reconciliation would douse the heat in the polity.
He said, “I have read about Atiku‘s visit to Obasanjo in Abeokuta and I think it is a welcome development and worthy example for all other people, who may have political disagreements.
“We should learn to play politics without rancour in this country.”
Former Ogun State Governor and a chieftain of the AC, Chief Olusegun Osoba, said he was surprised about the visit.
“I don‘t know anything about it, but it came to me as a surprise. I cannot say anything now until l know what transpired at the meeting. Really, it was a surprise visit,” Osoba said.
Osoba’s deputy while in office, Alhaji Adegbenga Kaka, said the meeting between Obasanjo, and Abubakar, was a signal to the warring parties in Afenifere to settle their differences.
He spoke in Abeokuta at the inauguration of the Ogun State chapter of Afenifere Renewal Group.
He stated, “I need to say openly that it was Atiku and Obasanjo that tore Afenifere and the Alliance for Democracy apart with one holding the right hand and the other holding the left hand. If I may be a little more blunt. Some of our elders embraced Obasanjo while our brother in Lagos (Tinubu) embraced Abubakar.
“Now, where are we going to put our faces and our eyes? They have now left us in the cold to go and fend for ourselves.”
source:the punch news paper
search the web
Custom Search
