I can never return to your party, Obasanjo tells PDP leaders

By PETER MOSES

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday, declared that there is going back on his decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and partisan politics.

Obasanjo, who was twice elected president on PDP platform, renounced his membership of the party, when he fell out with ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in the buildup to the 2015 election.

After ordering the chairman of his ward to shred the card to pieces in public, Obasanjo announced that he had quit partisan politics.

Obasanjo while addressing the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu and other stakeholders who visited him in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Saturday, said he had no intention to return the partisan politics or the PDP.

Ayu led four former governors and members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to a meeting at the Pent House residence of the former president located within his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Oke Mosan, Abeokuta, at about 12:25pm.

In the team were the PDP Vice Presidential candidate in 2019 election, Peter Obi, former Governors, Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and Donald Duke (Cross River).

Obasanjo and the PDP leaders went into a closed door meeting which lasted for over two hours.

Addressing the larger gathering of the PDP stakeholders after the closed door meeting, Obasanjo admitted that having governed Nigeria twice on the PDP platform, the party would continue to be part of his history.

He said “I’m no longer in partisan politics and there is nothing that can bring back. Anybody who wants my advice, I will always be there in the best interest of Nigeria.

“Whatever I do in my own life…because I became president on the platform of PDP, PDP will continue to be part of my life. Since the day I tore my PDP card, that was the day I ceased to be a member of PDP. That day I vowed not to be a member of any political party.

“I will continue to be a statesman.”

Obasanjo told Ayu that he has the problems of PDP and Nigeria on his shoulders, and prayed God give him the wisdom to carry it.

Responding, Ayu told Obasanjo that “if you leave PDP, the blood of PDP will never leave you.”

He said the party would always require his fatherly advice towards governance in Nigeria.

Ayu while applauding Obasanjo for being passionate about the progress, unity and development of the country, noted that “what we have now falls short of the leadership Nigeria deserves.” (Daily Trust)