A purported move to reconcile former President, Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan might have hit the rocks as indications reveal that the former president shunned the peace move made by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and President Goodluck Jonathan.
Sunday Punch is reporting that Jonathan and the leadership of the PDP had planned to meet with the former President as part of the President’s visit to Ogun State on Friday. But, the former President, who had got wind of the peace move, travelled to Gambia on Thursday.
However, it was unclear if the two-time President had plans to attend the Gambia event before Jonathan’s visit.
It was reliably gathered that Obasanjo would have been part of the closed-door meeting Jonathan had with some Ogun State traditional rulers on Friday, but for his absence from the country.
An informed Presidential staff, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the former President deliberately decided to travel out of Abeokuta to avoid meeting with Jonathan on Friday owing to his disenchantment with the current President.
Stressing that the former Chairman of BoT was aware of the official assignment of the President in his state but chose to travel, the aide said, “You can see that he deliberately avoided the President, who he even almost single-handedly made President. That’s not good enough.”
Similarly, an aide of the Owu Chief, who begged not to be named as Obasanjo did not mandate him to speak on the issue, identified his (Obasanjo’s) main grouse with Jonathan as being the promotion of a chieftain of the party, Mr. Buruji Kashamu to become the leader of the PDP in the South-west.
His words, “I can tell you authoritatively that Baba’s (Obasanjo) problem with the President and the PDP is the promotion of Kashamu.”
The staffer recalled that Obasanjo had in 2014 written a letter to the then PDP Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, complaining about Kashamu’s membership of the party.
Obasanjo, in the letter dated 7 January, 2014, opted to temporarily, cease to be a member of the party by withdrawing from its activities because Kashamu had been extolled as a party leader.
“I will consider withdrawing my activity with PDP at local, state, zonal and national levels until the anomalous and shameful situation is corrected,” he had said.
The aide maintained that rather than address Obasanjo’s complaint, the PDP had appointed Kashamu the Chairman of its Mobilisation Committee in the South-West.
Kashamu has also won the PDP senatorial ticket for the Ogun-East Senatorial District.
The former president, who was instrumental to the ascendancy of Jonathan to the presidency, has dumped the PDP by directing the party Chairman in Ward 11, Abeokuta North, Mr. Usman Oladunjoye, to shred his membership card.
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