2023: Obasanjo, Lamido, others move to form new party

By OLAOLU OLADIPO

Indications have emerged to suggest that a former President of the country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is working with some stakeholders in the country to float a new political party ahead of the forthcoming General Elections scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2023.

Apart from Obasanjo, other stakeholders who are said to be working quietly for the emergence of the new party include former governors of Kano and Jigawa states, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, and Alhaji Sule Lamido.

Those also mentioned include many stakeholders who feel badly treated in the last round of congresses and National Convention of the PDP are said to be working for the actualisation of the new platform to emerge from remnants of the opposition party.

Promoters of the new party are also waiting in wings to harvest from the crisis that may emanate from the forthcoming National Convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled for the end of the month.

Though no date has been fixed for the formal launch of the new party, sources very close to the promoters of the new party told SATURDAY TELEGRAPH that “So many efforts in terms of consultations and preliminary paperwork in terms of working documents are being put together.”

A former Special Adviser to the President on Political Matter, Professor Rufai Alkali, is said to be providing the intellectual direction for those promoting the idea and he is said to have put forward a series of position papers for the promoters of the initiative.

Various sources have told our correspondent that no formal meeting has been called or attended by the promoters but that talks are ongoing and have been mostly exploratory “but all I can say is that a lot of grounds have so far been covered to make us reasonably conclude that the plan would eventually come to fruition.”

One of the sources said Obasanjo has been traversing the length and breadth of the country to garner support from notable leaders in the political, religious and business class with a view to shore up support for his aspiration.

According to the source, the wily former leader has ensured that his immediate political circle who lost out in the last convention of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are being put on standby in preparation for the move.

Obasanjo is also said to be waiting to harvest disgruntled elements that are likely to emerge in the aftermath of the forthcoming convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled for the end of February.

“Baba (Obasanjo) has already told his boys to get set to be part of the new party. Don’t forget that he (Obasanjo) is not happy with the way founding fathers of the PDP are being treated by some younger elements who have hijacked it for their selfish agenda,” the source said.

One of the sources stated that another reason why he is working for a new political party is to ensure that people with the requisite wherewithal are elected with a view to clearing the numerous challenges facing the country.

“Baba is concerned with the state of the nation post Buhari presidency and is working to ensure that a competent ticket of eminently qualified Nigerians is presented to Nigerians in 2023,” the source close to the former leader said, adding that a committee within the group has come up with a ticket.

The source stated that the pair of President of African Development Bank (ADB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina and former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso, is being touted for the ticket and that the mood of the country regarding the issue of zoning would determine whoever will be the principal partner in the ticket.

“The choice of Adesina is to provide a counter to the emergence of either Bola Tinubu or Vice President Yemi Osinbajo if eventually either of them picks the APC’s ticket while Kwakwanso’s popularity in the North will prove difficult should the APC field a Northerner,” the source said.

On Obasanjo’s comment at a reception of a delegation of PDP to his house recently, the source hinged the posture of the former ruler on the outcome of the last convention of the party where some elements, particularly elected governors in the party, hijacked the party from founding fathers.

He said: “How do you hope that Baba will still be with them when they disgraced him at the last convention when they schemed his boys from being elected into the National Executive Committee of the party by the governors who know next to nothing regarding how the party was formed?”

One of those reportedly schemed out of reckoning include a former National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who lost to Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja in the race for the office of the National Deputy Chairman (South) of the party, a development, which the retired General considers as an affront and disrespectful.

“The opportunity came for Baba to in turn shun them when they visited him when he maintained that he would rather be a statesman than to dabble into partisan politics. Baba told them off and they knew it,” the source added.

When contacted by our correspondent, spokesman to former Governor Lamido, Mansur Ahmed, feigned ignorance of such development, saying his principal remains committed to the PDP as a founding father and stakeholder.

“Alhaji Sule Lamido remains committed to the ideals of the PDP and I don’t see him dumping the party. I know that some form of relationship exists between him and former President Olusegun Obasanjo which is like that of a father and son,” Ahmed said. (Saturday Telegraph)