DETAILS emerged on Monday how
ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s loyalists facilitated his fence-mending visit
to the Aso Rock Villa on Sunday.
At the core of the arrangement that
led to the visit and closed-door talk between Obasanjo and President Goodluck
Jonathan were business mogul, Aliko Dangote; oil marketer, Femi Otedola;
court-sacked National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olagunsoye Oyinlola;
and a former Chief Executive Officer of the United Bank of Africa, Mr. Tony
Elumelu, among others.
Dangote, Oyinlola, Otedola and
Elumelu are all said to be the loyalists of the ex-President.
These Obasanjo’s men who are also
said to have the ears of Jonathan were said to have impressed it upon the
former President that the lingering feud between him and the current occupier
of Aso Rock was inimical to the interest of the ruling PDP, especially with the
justling for the 2015 poll already picking up.
Dangote and others were however, said
to have received the blessing of Jonathan before they approached Obasanjo for a
possible settlement.
In spite of denials by the
Presidency, both Jonathan and Obasanjo had been at loggerheads for some time
with each side taking a sharp jab at the other.
Barely 24 hours before Obasanjo’s
sudden visit to the villa in Abuja, the Presidency had railed at the
ex-President, whom Jonathan’s aides said was “confused” in his assessment of
the Boko Haram issue.
“If Obasanjo said what he said, we
will just tolerate him because the other time, he said force should be used and
he turned back to say dialogue must be used. Now, he is saying another thing.
He is becoming confusing. I think the old man is becoming confused. The fact is
that the insecurity issue started even during Obasanjo’s regime. It did not
start with Jonathan’s regime,” Special Adviser to the President on Political
Matters, Ahmed Gulak, had said in an interview with The PUNCH on Saturday.
Alarmed at the statement from the
Presidency and knowing what would be Obasanjo’s response, Dangote, Otedola,
Elumelu and co were said to have rushed down to Abeokuta to meet the
ex-President at his Presidential mansion and begged him to give peace a chance.
Indeed, Obasanjo, according to a
source, had planned a “befitting” acerbic line to drop on his way out of the
country on Sunday but for the quick intervention by the “men of peace”.
The peacemakers were also said to
have been propelled by Jonathan’s known aversion to pick quarrels with Obasanjo
who was said to have facilitated the President’s rise to power, though a fresh
revelation by another Obasanjo loyalist and former Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, in his yet-to-be-released book is
said to have indicated that the ex-President really wanted to ditch Jonathan
because of his “weak character”.
It is said to have been the
prevailing view among those managing the President that his major concern
should be the provision of effective leadership for the party under his
leadership as President and not to be seen to be fighting.
But there are said to be some in
Obasanjo’s camp who did not want the rift between their principal and Jonathan
to come to an end.
Recounting the circumstances that led
to Obasanjo’s Sunday’s fence-mending visit to Aso Rock, a source in the know
said, “You see, the Obasanjo camp is divided between its loyalists who wanted a
fight and those who wanted settlement.
“You can see that while people like
Oby Ezekwesili wanted a fight, people like Femi Fani-Kayode were not in support
of such a fight, although they would defend Obasanjo in all situations no
matter what.
“However, some of Obasanjo’s allies
like Oyinlola, Dangote, Otedola and Elumelu initiated the move to bring the two
men together. With what has happened, it is clear that those who didn’t want a
fight are the ones winning. But don’t lose sight of the fact that the other
camp would not go to sleep.
“The challenge, however, is that the
President’s men and those on the side of peace from the Obasanjo camp have to
work hard to nurture it.
“The President is the leader of the
party. It is his responsibility to lead the party. He cannot be fighting his
people; he has to lead them.”
Meanwhile, Jonathan has reportedly
ordered his aides to cease fire on the dispute between him and Obasanjo in
tandem with the truce agreed upon by the duo on Sunday.
Obasanjo was accompanied to the Villa
by two of his daughters; a son, identified as Juwon; and Otedola.
A top chieftain of the PDP, who
pleaded anonymity, said, “You will observe that Jonathan has not engaged in any
direct verbal war with Obasanjo. He has been looking for ways to restore the
peaceful relationship between them.”
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