PDP Crisis: Jonathan Tells Elders To Shun Obasanjo

Even before it got off the drawing board, former
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s plan to lead the peace
moves in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has
collapsed.
The meeting of elders to resolve the party’s crises
was slated for today in Abuja.
It was “technically” called off last night at the
Presidency’s prompting, The Nation learnt.
President Goodluck Jonathan, it was said, advised the
elders to shun the meeting, following intelligence
reports that Obasanjo was behind the crises.
The former President could not be reached last night.
Among the elders expected at the meeting are former
chairmen and notable leaders.
A pre-meeting session of some governors at the
Rivers State Governor’s Lodge went on for hours last
night.
It was not clear what was discussed, but the news
about the Obasanjo mission may have been broken.
“All was well, until this evening when we learnt the
President was opposed to Obasanjo presiding at the
meeting,” a source said, adding: “He believes that
Obasanjo is the architect of the crises; he shouldn’t
be called to settle it and be seen as a peacemaker.”
The meeting slated for next Tuesday will hold.
President Jonathan will preside.
Brickbats continued to fly yesterday amid shaky
efforts to rescue the PDP.
A group loyal to President Jonathan also accused
Obasanjo of being the architect of the crises. He
should call his associates in the Kawu Baraje faction
of the party to order, the Media Network for
Transformation (MNT) said.
The group said Obasanjo could not continue to be the
hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob at the same
time.
In a statement in Abuja, signed by its Coordinator, Mr.
Goodluck Ebelo, the MNT urged Obasanjo to either
renounce his associates in the New PDP or be treated
like those rated as rebels by the party.
The group said “no arbiter, who is the guiding light of
the rebels can make peace”.
To the President’s camp, Obasanjo is the unseen hand
pulling the string of crises in the ruling party. There is
suspicion in the Presidency over his peace mission.
Some governors were meeting last night at the Rivers
Governor’s Lodge in Abuja ahead of today’s meeting.
National Chairman Bamanga Tukur yesterday
described members of the Kawu Baraje faction as
“prodigal sons” who would be accepted back into the
fold, if they retraced their steps.
But the Baraje faction told Tukur that his “time is up”.
The statement said: “We call on former President
Olusegun Obasanjo to call his associates to order.
Apart from being their sponsor, the rebel governors
draw their inspiration from him.
“Apart from numerous clandestine meetings, former
President Obasanjo started his public romance with
the rebel flank when he became unavoidably absent at
this year’s Democracy Day celebration in Abuja, but
vigorously participated in the day’s activities in Dutse,
Jigawa State. That was followed by the rebel
governors’ visit to his Abeokuta home.
“Then came last Saturday, and Chief Obasanjo’s
mischief literarily flew over the Eagle Square venue of
the Special Convention. Unavoidably absent, again, he
was to turn up the next day in church, at the
Presidential Villa, made a few platitudinous remarks on
the need for a peaceful resolution of the crisis and
thereafter called a meeting . His meeting failed and
will continue to fail.
“Obasanjo cannot continue to be hands of Esau and
the voice of Jacob at the same time. No arbiter, who
is the guiding light of the rebels, can make peace.
Peace, in this matter, will continue to elude President
Obasanjo because his activities are the very antithesis
of the conditions precedent to peace.”
The group said it suspected that Obasanjo cannot
resolve the crisis in the party with alleged partisan
interest.
The statement added: “Unfortunately, his eight years
in office provides no road map to resolving a political
dispute. All that can be gleaned from the debris of his
time in power are abuse of institutions of State in
shutting down dissent, hounding political opponents
into prison and forcing a party chairman to resign ….
Little wonder that such baleful legacy dogs his
attempt at making peace.
“President Obasanjo has to come out publicly to
renounce his ties with the seven governors who are
trying to impose their will on the remaining 29 states
and the Federal Capital Territory or acknowledge them
and be treated like them.”
President Jonathan is yet to speak on his political
future, but MNT said he is free to run again. It said:
“The governors are welcome to contest the PDP
primaries, individually or present a candidate. That’s
democracy. But for persons, who themselves, stood
for elections for their second terms to demand that
Mr. President cannot avail himself such amenity is not
only rude but feudal.”
Obasanjo’s media aide Vitalis Ortese declined to
comment on the statement credited to the group last
night.
“I cannot speak on what a faceless group is saying”,
he told our reporter on the telephone.