The desperate battle to secure former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s
support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid may have
collapsed, The Nationlearnt yesterday.
Dr. Jonathan and Chief
Obasanjo met for about one hour on Monday night at the former
president’s Abeokuta home. The President requested for Obasanjo’s
support.
“It’s too late; I’m sorry,” Obasanjo reportedly told Jonathan.
A source close to the meeting told our reporter on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media.
At
the meeting were two Christian leaders – Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the
Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and Bishop David Oyedepo of the
Winners’ Chapel – who attended at Obasanjo’s request.
None of
those at the meeting spoke about it, but it was learnt that it was brief
because Obasanjo insisted that for him, it was too late to back
Jonathan.
The former president has been a virulent critic of the
Jonathan administration, which he accused of embracing corruption and
burgling the anti-insurgency battle.
Jonathan replied, slamming some “elder statesman who talk like motor park touts”. He, however, did not mention Obasanjo.
Also yesterday,
Obasanjo advised the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its
presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, to recruit “men and
women of character” – if the party wins the February 14 election.
Obasanjo
said such abound in all political parties and also in every part of the
country, adding that they make things better for a government, the
country and the citizenry.
According to the former chairman of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), the advice
applies to other political parties.
Obasanjo spoke also on the
report of the probe panel on the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), for the
period Gen. Buhari was the chairman, saying the “report was not of any
material importance”, as he was convinced that Gen. Buhari made no
personal gains while his tenure lasted.
The former president said
he deemed it necessary to bring up the PTF report publicly now,
believing that Nigerians, particularly politicians seeking elective
offices, would “face issues rather than trivialities”. “Issues based
campaigns are very important,” he said.
Obasanjo, who noted that
he is still a card-carrying member of the PDP and had chosen to remain
firm in the party at the ward level, said regardless of the political
parties participating in the general elections, Nigeria comes “first”
and should remain “paramount” to him.
The soldier-turned farmer
was addressing a group of APC chieftains who visited his Abeokuta home.
Among them were Gen. Buhari, his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,
Barnabas Gemade, Chief Audu Ogbe, Chief Bisi Akande and Senator Bukola
Saraki among others.
The APC national leaders and stalwarts,
including wives of the party’s presidential candidate and his running
mate arrived at Obasanjo’s mansion at 11:25 am. Gen. Buhari intimated
the ex -President of the APC’s road map for the country and sought for
his “support, trust and understanding” that the party’s in-coming
government at the centre would give the nation a “better” and “quality”
leadership.
Gen. Buhari said: “Your Excellency, under whom I
served the most lucrative appointment of the minister of Petroleum
Affairs for three and a quarter years before he sent me on course.
When
I set about the programme of going round the states, somebody had the
temerity to ask me that when I come (to Ogun State), shall I call on
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo?
“I don’t think I answered the man, I
just looked the other way. I think that I should not come here
(Abeokuta) in whatever capacity without calling to pay my respect.
“Sir,
it’s a fact that you know more than all we know about the problem that
we are in. But what we will do is try to convince you to believe us
that we are going to do better.
“We expect your understanding and
support, although you insist on remaining in the PDP. I have reached a
certain degree of frustration in my attempt for you to try to shift a
bit but you have refused.
“Briefly, we have been going around
three fundamental issues: security, economy, corruption. This vicious
circle is what the APC is determined to break. Because without security,
there is no way the country can settle down not to talk of living in
it.
“So many people, educated and uneducated, some said up to 60
per cent, will say Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun powder. And then
corruption; we believe that if we are able to stop corruption, a lot of
resources will be available to invest in infrastructure, get the
factories to reopen, get jobs, and get goods and services.
“So
security, economy, in terms of employment, production, manufacturing,
goods and services, and then agriculture will again give impetus to
employment. We have to be systematic and work to make sure that the vast
land we have is cultivated not only to produce food, but to produce raw
materials for agro-allied industries, which used to be very viable but
which we allowed to die because everybody has concentrated on getting
oil money.
“Now the oil money is dwindling rapidly; I think we
better come back to our senses. Sir, briefly, this is what we intend to
do and this is contained in our manifesto. We are not going to be
inflexible the way some people accused us of doing it.
“We are
going to be dynamic as we go along and that’s why I said we are here to
seek for your understanding, for your support, in spite of the political
card you hold.”
Replying, Obasanjo said he put off all
engagements outside the state capital yesterday in anticipation that
Gen. Buhari and his party would visit him, urging politicians to engage
in campaigns of “issues” and how to solve the nation’s “crying
problems” rather than inanities.
Obasanjo, was apparently
referring to the campaign of falsehood and misinformation against Gen.
Buhari regarding his tenure at the PTF as chairman, noted that he did
not find anything against him from the inquiry initiated into the
establishment’s books.
According to the former President, he
called off further inquisition into the PTF matter when Gen. Buhari
assured him that there was no personal benefit accrued to him while his
tenure at the PTF lasted.
Obasanjo said: “Our paths have crossed
on a number of occasions and when I was told you are going to be coming
to Ogun State, I wasn’t sure whether you will come here or not. But I
told my boys; I said well, whatever programme we have outside Ogun State
for today, let us shelve it just in case Muhammadu and his party and
his team decide to call here.
“You have kindly underlined what I
want everybody to remember; that I am a card-carrying member of another
political party. But I have always also said that party or no party,
what is paramount for me is Nigeria. And that will remain paramount as
far as I am concerned.
“There is no political party in the world
that is made up of saints and our own political parties in Nigeria will
be no exception. All the political parties have saints and devils among
them.
“But because what you are campaigning for is the votes of
saints and devils to be able to win an election, I wish you well.
Muhammadu, maybe I’ll remind you of one or two things.
“When you
were commissioner for Petroleum, you went out for a meeting of OPEC and
because of my carelessness, you give me anything. I am very careless
about what people give me as presents. One of his colleagues gave me a
hand-made shoes and I wore it once and I gave it to my ADC.
“So,
the man then came up after about one month, he said ‘look, where is the
pair of shoes I gave you?. Normally, I shouldn’t ask of it but I haven’t
seen you wearing it; you are wearing these wretched shoes instead.
“I
said I’ve given it to my ADC. He said the shoes cost £250. So, he
called my ADC and said, ‘ADC, oga gave you a pair of shoes? He said
‘yes’. ‘Go and bring it’. When he brought it, he said when next I travel
I will get you a captain’s pair of shoes.
“Muhammadu heard that
story. So, he went and they gave them present; I think it was a gold
coin and he came to me and said, assure me that you will not give this
thing away. So I had to assure him that I will not give it away. After I
had assured him, he said alright you can have it. It’s meant for you
really since I was representing you.
“I must confess today that I
didn’t give it away but in recent time, I cannot locate it. Another
thing that I want to sayý, when you were going to become manager of PTF.
We talked about it and when you finished and I took over, we looked
into it.
“I haven’t said this publicly, I would say it publicly
now. When we looked into it, there was really nothing amiss, except that
organisation went from road building to mosquito net buying and all
sort of things.
“And what the investigation discovered is a bit
of inconsistency in prices and all that. In one area, mosquito net might
have been given for N50; in another, N45. And then remarked that this
is fishy. We should look into it.
“And I called my brother and
colleague; I said this and he said, ‘look, we are managing billions of
naira and I tried to make sure I see everything. But I will not say that
what they have said about this is correct or not correct. But I can
assure you I tried to see everything.
“I said, ‘okay. Muhammadu,
between me, you and God, was there any personal benefit for you? And you
said ‘no’. I said that is the end of the matter. Although there was
that investigation, its report was not of any material importance.ý
“I
thought that I should say it today that I have this opportunity because
I hope people will face issues rather than trivialities. On occasion
like this, issues are very important. And you have mentioned three areas
which are demanding issues in Nigeria today.
“I will just beg
all of you who are contesting to add one to it; you mentioned economy,
you mentioned corruption, and you mentioned security. All of you I will
beg of you to add infrastructure. It’s very important. You may take it
as part of economy but I will take infrastructure as special and give it
special attention.
“For all political parties that are trying to
woo us to vote for them in the coming election; let’s go away from
red-herring, let’s go away from trivialities; let’s face issues and tell
the people of this country what we will do to deal with these crying
problems of our country.
“Having said that, I will also say that
while a party must be microcosm of a nation – and in a nation you will
have the good and the bad and a good party must have all these in them.
But what matters is that when that party has to go into government, it
must look for men and women of character. And we have them in all
parties, we have them throughout the nooks and crannies of this country.
“I
cannot end without reminding you, even though I saw some old faces(past
PDP members), but some of us will remain firm, at least at the ward
level where I am very active in my party.”
A massive and enthusiastic crowd welcomed the APC Presidential candidate and his running mate to Abeokuta.
Buhari
had on his campaign train the National leaders of the party, including
Chairman Chief John Odigie – Oyegun, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Audu
Ogbeh, Senator Barnabas Gemade, Senator Oloruninmbe Mamora, Senator
Bukola Saraki, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu among
others entered the town at 12 noon.
Apart from ex-President
Obasanjo, the delegation visited the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun
Gbadebo, before proceeding to the MKO Abiola stadium venue of the rally.
Gen. Buhari pledged to explore the nation’s non-oil sectors so as to create jobs and wealth for Nigerians, if voted into office.
The
former military Head of state said over reliance on the oil sector and
the failure to manage the revenue from it, particularly during period of
booms, the nation’s leaders threw Nigeria into the current economic
woes.
He said:”our leaders have over relied on oil money to the
detriment of other sectors. Now that the price of oil has crashed, we
are now facing serious economic challenges.
“Our extreme concern is the vicious cycle of insecurity, corruption and unemployment that is confronting Nigeria now.”
He also promised to explore more opportunities in the agriculture and the mining sectors.
Buhari
said the education standard had fallen and gave assurance that the APC
government would tackle it by creating an enabling environment for
teaching and learning to thrive.
He said: “we will engage in
commercial agriculture and mining as well as resuscitate the abandoned
agro-allied industries so as to generate employments and create wealth
for Nigerians.”
Chief Odigie – Oyegun hailed the people of Ogun for their support for the APC-led government.
He also handed the party’s flag to Amosun and presented him to the people for reelection
