Instead, aides and confidants, who are far, very far, from being adroit at statecraft, continue to mislead President Goodluck Jonathan, as part of a turf battle that is raging inside Aso Rock Presidential Villa. Interestingly, the perceived shoddiness of the Presidency, a Presidency foisted on Nigerians by Obasanjo and which he ought to be working to adequately address, is being allowed to flounder because of self-conceited considerations by political leaders who ought to work at nation-building. Said to be desperately working for a stalemate immediately after February’s presidential election, some political leaders in Nigeria, as this report will show, are going for broke.
YOU ARE ALL MARKED
Sometime last year, Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, at a private meeting with two former aides and a former minister (while they were still hibernating in the All Progressive Congress, APC) implored them to ensure that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did not return as President in 2015. At a time when the cluelessness of Nigeria’s presidency was manifestly waxing more embarrassing by the day, especially with a First Lady that had become gung ho, Obasanjo’s move appeared altruistic. Nigeria needed to be saved from the Jonathans – or so it seemed.
It was at that meeting that Obasanjo revealed that should Jonathan return next year as President and Commander-in-Chief, those at that meeting would have to go on exile because, according to a source who was in attendance, the former Nigerian leader said, ‘Jonathan would go after all of you here, including me; so you all would have to go on exile. But I, Obasanjo, would be here. Therefore, he must be stopped’ by whatever means!
During a closed door meeting with the leadership of the APC sometime late last year, Obasanjo admonished it to do whatever it would take to ensure that Jonathan did not return.
Again, Obasanjo, just this month, repeated the same threat of stopping the President in a BBC Hausa Service radio interview. According to him, Jonathan must be stopped.
I WILL JAIL YOU
Last month, one of the key pillars in the merger that gave birth to the APC re-defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The reason for his movement back to PDP could not be ascertained by Sunday Vanguard at press time. However, Obasanjo is, according to sources, not taking matters lying low. He did not like the idea of his protégé returning to the PDP.
Just a fortnight ago, after the re-defection of the said confidant from the North-east and who is considered very close to Obasanjo, the latter, reportedly, sent two former state governors of South west extraction to the said confidant to convince him on why he should return to the APC.
According to a very dependable source, for two hours, the former governors tried in vain to convince the said confidant.
Undaunted, a telephone call was placed to Obasanjo in Maputo.
It was understood that for almost an hour, the former President also, in vain, tried to convince his erstwhile protégé that he should return to the APC.
Strangely, Obasanjo ended the not-so-pleasant conversation on the note that should the said confidant refuse to return to APC, he, Obasanjo, would jail him.
But the question is where will the former President get the power to jail somebody?
Meanwhile, Obasanjo, whose statements and actions should not be taken lightly, is believed to have his agenda close to his chest.
