The president reportedly asked former President Olusegun Obasanjo to
\nresolve the crisis he created.
\nPresident Goodluck Jonathan lashed out at former President Olusegun
\nObasanjo, accusing him of being the mastermind of the intractable crisis
\nin the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, reliable presidency sources have
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cObasanjo created the problem, he should go and solve it,\u201d Mr. Jonathan
\nwas quoted as saying at a meeting he held with leading members of the
\nAbubakar Baraje\u2019s faction of the party on Sunday night.
\nThe reconciliation meeting was called a day after former Vice President
\nAtiku Abubakar, seven state governors, and some other party top guns
\nwalked out of the party\u2019s national convention in Abuja and then announced
\nthe formation of a parallel faction.<\/p>\n
\nMr. Obasanjo was not at the meeting but both men had worshipped together
\nat the Aso Rock chapel earlier that day.
\nSources at the meeting said after the \u201cdissident\u201d governors, led by Kano
\nState Governor, Musa Kwankwaso, tabled their grievances; a livid President
\nJonathan fumed about how opposition elements within his party were trying
\nto blackmail him to submission.<\/p>\n
\nHe then suddenly rose from his seat and stormed out of the meeting saying,
\nwhile going away, that he was no longer in the mood for any reconciliation
\ntalk and that Mr. Obasanjo, who created the mess in the party in the first
\nplace, should be allowed to clear it.
\n\u201cWe were shocked when the president walked out of the meeting in anger
\nsaying he had grown increasingly frustrated by Mr. Obasanjo\u2019s
\ndestabilizing antics,\u201d one of our sources said. \u201cHe pointedly accused the
\nformer president of being behind the crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAnother source said as the president hurried away, the chairman of the
\nparty\u2019s Board of Trustees, Tony Anenih, ran after him pleading with him to
\nreturn.
\nHe eventually returned.
\nThe president\u2019s adviser on political matters, Ahmed Gulak, as well as his
\nsenior special assistant on public affairs, Doyin Okupe, did not answer or
\nreturn calls to their mobile telephones when PREMIUM TIMES sought to get
\ntheir comments for this story.
\nMr. Obasanjo could also not be reached.
\nReports of the president\u2019s comment and behaviour at the closed-door
\nmeeting came shortly before a pro-Jonathan group, Media Network for
\nTransformation, circulated a statement in Abuja accusing Mr. Obasanjo of
\ndestabilizing the PDP and asking him to call his associates to order.
\n\u201cApart from being their sponsor, the rebel governors draw their
\ninspiration from him,\u201d Goodluck Ebelo, Coordinator of the group, said in
\nthe statement. \u201cApart from numerous clandestine meetings, President
\nObasanjo started his public romance with the rebel flank when he became
\nunavoidably absent at this year\u2019s Democracy Day celebration in Abuja, but
\nvigorously participated in the day\u2019s activities in Dutse, Jigawa State.
\nThat was followed by the rebel governors\u2019 visit to his Abeokuta home.\u201d
\nMr. Ebelo was not done. He continued, \u201cThen came last Saturday, and Chief
\nObasanjo\u2019s mischief literarily flew over the Eagle Square venue of the
\nSpecial Convention. Unavoidably absent, again, he was to turn up the next
\nday in Church, at the Presidential Villa. Made a few platitudinous remarks
\non the need for a peaceful resolution of the crisis and thereafter called
\na meeting. His meeting failed and will continue to fail.
\n\u201cChief Obasanjo cannot continue to be hands of Esau and the voice of Jacob
\nat the same time. No arbiter, who is the guiding light of the rebels can
\nmake peace. Peace, in this matter, will continue to elude President
\nObasanjo because his activities are the very antithesis of the conditions
\nprecedent to peace.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cUnfortunately, his eight years in office provides no road map to
\nresolving a political dispute. All that can be gleaned from the debris of
\nhis time in power, are abuse of institutions of State in shutting down
\ndissent, hounding political opponents into prison and forcing a party
\nchairman to resign at gun point. Little wonder that such baleful legacy
\ndogs his attempt at making peace.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cPresident Obasanjo has to come out publicly to renounce his ties with
\nseven governors who are trying to impose their will on the remaining
\ntwenty nine states and the Federal Capital Territory or acknowledge them
\nand be treated like them. The governors are welcome to contest the PDP
\nprimaries, individually or present a candidate. That\u2019s democracy. But for
\npersons, who themselves, stood for elections for their second terms to
\ndemand that Mr. President cannot avail himself such amenity is not only
\nrude but feudal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nOur sources said before the president\u2019s brief walkout at the peace
\nmeeting, the aggrieved governors had accused Mr. Jonathan of using the
\nEconomic and Financial Crimes Commission to hound governors and other
\nparty chiefs considered opposed to him.<\/p>\n
\nSpecifically, the governors, according to our sources, accused the
\npresident of having masterminded the recent investigation of Senator
\nBukola Saraki and conviction of a son of Governor Sule Lamido for under
\ndeclaring the amount of foreign exchange he was taking abroad.
\nThe governors also reportedly asked the president to keep his promise to
\nrun for only one term and jettison his 2015 presidential ambition.
\nIn response, Mr. Jonathan reportedly denied being behind the investigation
\nof anyone by the EFCC, saying most of the investigations commenced long
\nbefore he came to power.<\/p>\n
\nOn the request that he shuts down his presidential ambition, Mr. Jonathan
\nwas quoted as saying he would not surrender his right to vote and be voted
\nfor.<\/p>\n
Premium Times<\/p>\n
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The president reportedly asked former President Olusegun Obasanjo to resolve the crisis he created. President Goodluck Jonathan lashed out at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing him of being the mastermind…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n