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 us 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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