Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged his loyalty to President Goodluck Jonathan few days after Pointblanknews.com exposed the behind-the-scene acts of two Billionaires, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola in stoking the “war” between the two political leaders.
Dangote and Otedola, who made substantial slice of their wealth under Obasanjo, are not comfortable the Jonathan administration is trying to break their monopoly in some sectors, thereby creating new rival billionaires.
According to our sources, they developed the strategy to run back to Obasanjo who is like their godfather to kick Jonathan on sundry national issues, hence the series of his media attack against President Jonathan.
But Obasanjo, at the weekend, pledged loyalty to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan accusing the media of focusing more on negative issues than on the positive.
He insisted that as Nigerian and former President, he remains the subject of the incumbent, “The President and I,” he said, “have no quarrel; he is my President; I am his subject. Simple!”
Obasanjo was guest at a dinner and dance party organized by industrialist, Olusegun Osunkeye, and his wife Abosede, to mark the 80th Birthday anniversaries of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Dr Christopher Kolade at the Metropolitan Club, Lagos.
His insistence on cordial relationship comes against the backdrop of his consistent criticisms of the way the nation’s security and other challenges are being managed in the last few years. Hours before arriving Lagos for the event, Obasanjo had paid a courtesy visit to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, in Benin City, after which he reportedly stressed that those in charge were not doing enough to curb the scourges of security and corruption.
But, in Lagos, Obasanjo parried questions regarding his reported frosty relationship and subsequent fence-mending moves with Jonathan, and insisted that the London meeting with African presidents, including Jonathan, for the inauguration of the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation (OOF) was on his own invitation and did not have any political undertones.
Accusing the media of dwelling so much on perceived negative occurrences, Obasanjo said: “Whatever is good is no news; what is adverse is news; so, even when there are no adverse news, you create them. The President and I have no quarrels.”
He also insisted that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) remains stable and free from any form of challenge, saying the word, “challenge,” did not, in any way, describe the party’s experience. “If you are not putting challenge before the PDP, then, don’t talk of challenge,” he patronizingly advised.