Former
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday sneaked into Ibogun ,Ogun State, the
ancestral village of one of his predecessors in office,and an
architect of his defeat in the 2015 election, ex – President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
The
rare meeting between the duo who were bitterly divided in the run-up to the
election saw Obasanjo tell his host how wise he (Jonathan) had become since
leaving office.
“When
leaders come, they have little or no experience. When they have to go is when
they have really amassed a lot of experience, where they have wisdom, their
experience is in high demand.
“Those
like you and me who have the grace of God to bow out gracefully, if there is
now what I call constitutional office, we have residual responsibilities for
Nigeria,”Obasanjo said.
With
Jonathan on the trip, which observers branded as fence mending yesterday
,were former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Kabir Turaki; a former Minister
of National Planning, Prof. Suleiman Abubakar; King A.J.Turner ;and a former
Chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency( FERMA), Engr. Jide Adeniji.
They
flew into the village in a chartered helicopter at about 11.30am.
The
visit lasted about four hours of which Obasanjo and Jonathan alone spoke behind
closed doors for 40 minutes.
No
member of Jonathan’s entourage or Obasanjo’s associates was allowed into
the inner room where the secret talks took place.
Sources
said that the visit was part of Jonathan’s new rapprochement with some
of the key figures that had a hand in his defeat in the April 2015
polls.
Obasanjo
received his visitor in company with former Governor of Osun State, Prince
Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was ousted as National Secretary of the then ruling
PDP by Jonathan and his loyalists.
Obasanjo
took Jonathan round the village for a door-to-door greeting of the elders
and the residents.
The
people sang and danced in appreciation of Jonathan’s visit.
Obasanjo,
welcoming Jonathan, said: “The first point I want to make is to thank you very
sincerely and most sincerely for taking it upon yourself to pay us a visit at
this point in time and at this location.
Secondly,
since you left office, you hardly have time to sit down and relax like you have
been able to do today and I hope, I sincerely hope and pray for more such
relaxed situation where we can reminisce on situations of the past that we have
been through in this country and we can also look at what the future portends.
“I
believe that not only Nigeria, West Africa and Africa and indeed the world will
continue to tap our experiences, our wisdom and I hope and pray that
when the call is made to you, you will be more than ready to put your
experience, the lessons you have learnt into the service of this country, for
African and indeed for humanity in general.
“
I have said to you before and I will say again that there are plenty of
opportunities out there, within the country, within West Africa, within Africa
and indeed in the larger world where people will want you to make
contributions.
“I
believe that you are resting now and when you have fully rested and you will be
hearing from me because I have this opportunity to be around the world and if I
mention your name in dispatch, I thank you sincerely that you have received us
as we are in this village to prove to you that we are in a typical village, I
was telling you that your village is better than mine.
“I
want to say that we have it. Nigeria is a good country and we must never be
tired of lifting the country up to the height that God has created it to be and
God did not make a mistake when he put all of us together and if He doesn’t
want us to be together no power in the world will have made us come together.
“My
regards to everybody at home, especially your wife. Please, tell her that my
wife sends her regards and I hope sooner or later we will be on your part of
the world to enjoy the atmosphere together. I want to thank you on behalf
of everyone here in this village.”
Explaining
his mission,Jonathan said he had planned to visit Obasanjo during the yuletide in
company with former military ruler, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida
(IBB), but the plan fell through owing to unforeseen circumstances.
He
said the idea came about when he visited Babangida in Minna when the two of
them agreed to come to Ibogun.
Jonathan
thanked Obasanjo for the warm reception accorded him and entourage.
Thereafter,
Obasanjo and Jonathan retired to one of the sittings rooms for
“strictly personal talks for 40 minutes.”
Talks
over, Obasanjo and one of his friends launched into the popular Yoruba game of
ayo.
Jonathan
watched as the game went.
A
source at the meeting said he was “full of admiration” for it.
It
was not immediately clear if the trip was part of the ongoing political
realignment for 2019 general elections.
But
a top source simply said: “It is a reunion of Papa and his son. Do not read any
meaning into it.
“The
ex-President decided to make it a private visit in order to be able to have
frank talks with Obasanjo.
“During
the visit, Obasanjo and Jonathan locked themselves up for 40 minutes. No member
of Jonathan’s entourage nor Obasanjo’s associates in Ibogun was allowed to be
part of the private session.
“All
I can tell you is that the two leaders were able to iron out a few things and
Jonathan has since returned to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.”
“At
the end of the visit, ex-Minister Turaki, who is the Chairman of ex-Ministers
Forum, gave the vote of thanks.”
Jonathan
started out as Obasanjo’s political godson having been plucked out
of office as Bayelsa State governor to become presidential running
mate in the 2007 election.
He
went on to become president, following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua
and won the 2011 election.
The
parting of ways came in 2015, following persistent disagreements between
them with Obasanjo launching vitriolic attacks on Jonathan culminating in
the tearing of his membership card of the PDP and
openly campaigning against Jonathan’s re-election.
They
had not seen eye to eye since then until yesterday.
Source: The Nation
Tags
Politics