The sack of the entire South West executive committee of the Peoples\u2019 Democratic Party (PDP),\u00a0 the removal of National Auditor, Bode Mustapha, and ex National Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, all ex President Olusegun Obasanjo henchmen, was not a move by President Goodluck Jonathan to strip the former\u00a0 President of influence and control, Presidential adviser Ahmed Gulak has said .<\/p>\n
Gulak who spoke in Abuja also described the claim by Niger Governor, Babangida Aliyu.\u00a0 that there was an agreement between Jonathan and northern Governors not to run after 2015, as spurred by inordinate ambition of Aliyu.<\/p>\n
The National Working Committee (NWC) recently sacked the south west leadership of the party, and removed Mustapha, blaming a court order. The same excuse was made for the removal of Oyinlola. To rub salt in the injury, the NWC recognized the anti Obasanjo faction.<\/p>\n
The PDP cited three court cases and said in removing Mr. Mustapha, it was complying with the court rulings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National working Committee of the Party met on 14th February 2013 and gave careful consideration to the issues and decided that, in line with respect to the rule of law which is a cardinal principle of the present administration, the PDP as a law abiding party, will immediately comply with the said judgment,\u201d Mr. Metuh said.<\/p>\n
Pointblanknews.com gathered that Jonathan\u2019s men, wary of the influence of Obasanjo and the ex-President\u2019s\u00a0 consistent attack, decided to act, and the court rulings gave them am ample opportunity.<\/p>\n
But Gulak who spoke on African Independent Television (AIT)\u2019s programs \u2018Focus Nigera\u2019, insisted Jonathan\u00a0 had no hand in the sack of the Obasanjo loyalists, and would not plot to humiliate the ex- president.<\/p>\n
He said \u201c the Jonathan that I know will not accept to have any difference or political conflict with anybody talkless of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. In the PDP, we are family members. In a family, we are to disagree. I\u2019m telling you there is no crisis as such between Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to him \u201c Those that have been edged out now cannot be said to be Obasanjo loyalists because everybody is loyal to Chief Obasanjo. Not only in the south-west but in the whole of the country.<\/p>\n
Obsanjo is a father and he is playing the father symbol in Nigeria. Don\u2019t localize him. Don\u2019t regionalize him. Somebody will be using obasanjo\u2019s name only for his personal interest. Maybe because he disagree he would want the whole world to believe that it is because he is loyal to Chief Obasanjo or he is Obasanjo boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cObasanjo is a father of this country and he is playing the role of a father in the PDP. So don\u2019t localize or regionalize him. He is a Nigerian leader and a leader in PDP. So whether you are from Jigawa or Taraba or Kogi or Anambra, we all respect Obasanjo as a father.So nobody should use Obasanjo\u2019s name because he is aggrieved in any party. But that is the price of leadership. People must understand because some people are so selfish and self centred\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c we are all Nigerians and if you want to pursue your own ambition, like I always said, you have the right. You have the right to pursue your ambition to be the President of Nigeria. But you don\u2019t have to concoct stories to justify your ambition.<\/p>\n
On the agreement, Gulak said \u201cI\u2019m telling you without any iota of doubt and all sense of responsibility that, there has never been any agreement or pact signed by the president that he is going to run for only one term. He has never told me about it and I have never heard about it. The governors said they have the agreement, let them bring it. I know as of fact that there is no such agreement\u201d, \u201cPresident Goodluck never signed such a pact\u201d but only gave Nigerians the general guarantee of one-man, one- vote and that no one has the political strength to intimidate the President to run away from his constitutional right of contesting the next elections, should he decide to do so.\u201d He added.<\/p>\n
On the 2013 budget controversy, Gulak said, National Assembly and the Executive, he said
\n\u201cAll we are saying is that at the end of the day, politically speaking, both the Executive and the Legislature will be on the same page. And the budget will be\u00a0 passed and its implementation will commence\u201d,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The sack of the entire South West executive committee of the Peoples\u2019 Democratic Party (PDP),\u00a0 the removal of National Auditor, Bode Mustapha, and ex National Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, all ex…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n