Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to beware of some of his aides who are making more enemies for him under the pretext of doing their jobs, even as he advised him to run an inclusive government in order to douse tension in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The ex-president was said to have offered the advice during one of the marathon meetings held on Wednesday, shortly after he returned from Ibadan for the continuation of the peace meeting he was having with the PDP governors in the presidential villa. Some of the governors and party chieftains, including some members of Jonathan’s kitchen cabinet, were in attendance.
Obasanjo was also said to have reconciled with Jonathan over the endless political feud concerning the 2015 poll after the latter reportedly tendered an unreserved apology to Obasanjo, who in turn vowed to discourage any aggrieved governor from defecting to the opposition.
The feud between the two have torn the PDP apart as some governors said to be loyal to the ex-president are the same “rebels” that are calling for the removal of Alhaji Bamnaga Tukur as the national chairman. They were also said to be asking for the vice president slot for one of them as a condition that could make them remain in the party.
According to a credible presidency source, both Jonathan and Obasanjo have met not fewer than four times over their differences and the one between the aggrieved PDP governors and Tukur. The source added that it was the process of restoring normalcy to the party that forced the president and Obasanjo to bury their differences in order to save both the party and the presidency from defeat come 2015 as the opposition regrouped under the aegis of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The source said, “Both President Jonathan and Obasanjo have been meeting in the last two weeks over the misunderstanding within the party. You will recall that some governors are fighting the chairman, Tukur, calling for his removal. Some are also fighting President Jonathan and, until a few days ago, both Jonathan and Baba Obasanjo too were not on the same page. All these are not helping us as a party. But I am happy to inform you that President Jonathan has apologised to Baba and he (Baba) has promised to ensure none of the aggrieved governors leave the party.”
According to him, “Baba (Obasanjo) did not mince words in telling President Jonathan the bitter truth. He told him clearly to beware of some of his aides who are making life difficult for him through their unguarded utterances that are making more enemies for him”.
Another source explained that the emergence of APC “is a blessing in disguise as it forced the two leaders to bury their differences and embrace peace since the opposition are exploiting the feud to generate relevance on the pages of newspapers. You would be hearing, 20 PDP governors are talking to us, 15 PDP governors are joining our party, but since the APC has been registered, how many governors have you heard threatening to join them?”
The source said Obasanjo has volunteered to talk to all the aggrieved governors to sheathe their swords and give peace a chance in the party since “we have no other party to go; there is no alternative to PDP”.
But efforts to get reaction from the presidency were abortive yesterday, as the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Dr Reuben Abati and special adviser to the president on political matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak did not pick several calls made to their phones and also failed to respond to text messages.
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