PDP crisis: Jonathan tells eldersto shun Obasanjo

Even before it got off the drawing
board, former President Olusegun
Obasanjo’s plan to lead the peace
moves in Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) has collapsed.
The meeting of elders to resolve the party’s
crises was slated for today in Abuja.
It was “technically” called off last night at the
Presidency’s prompting, it was learnt.
President Goodluck Jonathan, it was said, advised
the elders to shun the meeting, following
intelligence reports that Obasanjo was behind
the crises.
The former President could not be reached last
night.
Among the elders expected at the meeting are
former chairmen and notable leaders.
A pre-meeting session of some governors at the
Rivers State Governor’s Lodge went on for hours
last night.
It was not clear what was discussed, but the
news about the Obasanjo mission may have been
broken.
“All was well, until this evening when we learnt
the President was opposed to Obasanjo presiding
at the meeting,” a source said, adding: “He
believes that Obasanjo is the architect of the
crises; he shouldn’t be called to settle it and be
seen as a peacemaker.”
The meeting slated for next Tuesday will hold.
President Jonathan will preside.
Brickbats continued to fly yesterday amid shaky
efforts to rescue the PDP.
A group loyal to President Jonathan also accused
Obasanjo of being the architect of the crises. He
should call his associates in the Kawu Baraje
faction of the party to order, the Media Network
for Transformation (MNT) said.
The group said Obasanjo could not continue to
be the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob at
the same time.
In a statement in Abuja, signed by its
Coordinator, Mr. Goodluck Ebelo, the MNT urged
Obasanjo to either renounce his associates in the
New PDP or be treated like those rated as rebels
by the party.
The group said “no arbiter, who is the guiding
light of the rebels can make peace”.
To the President’s camp, Obasanjo is the unseen
hand pulling the string of crises in the ruling
party. There is suspicion in the Presidency over
his peace mission.
Some governors were meeting last night at the
Rivers Governor’s Lodge in Abuja ahead of
today’s meeting.
National Chairman Bamanga Tukur yesterday
described members of the Kawu Baraje faction as
“prodigal sons” who would be accepted back into
the fold, if they retraced their steps.
But the Baraje faction told Tukur that his “time is
up”.
The statement said: “We call on former President
Olusegun Obasanjo to call his associates to order.
Apart from being their sponsor, the rebel
governors draw their inspiration from him.
“Apart from numerous clandestine meetings,
former President Obasanjo started his public
romance with the rebel flank when he became
unavoidably absent at this year’s Democracy Day
celebration in Abuja, but vigorously participated
in the day’s activities in Dutse, Jigawa State.
That was followed by the rebel governors’ visit to
his Abeokuta home.
“Then came last Saturday, and Chief Obasanjo’s
mischief literarily flew over the Eagle Square
venue of the Special Convention. Unavoidably
absent, again, he was to turn up the next day in
church, at the Presidential Villa, made a few
platitudinous remarks on the need for a peaceful
resolution of the crisis and thereafter called a
meeting . His meeting failed and will continue to
fail.
“Obasanjo cannot continue to be hands of Esau
and the voice of Jacob at the same time. No
arbiter, who is the guiding light of the rebels, can
make peace. Peace, in this matter, will continue
to elude President Obasanjo because his activities
are the very antithesis of the conditions
precedent to peace.”
The group said it suspected that Obasanjo
cannot resolve the crisis in the party with alleged
partisan interest.
The statement added: “Unfortunately, his eight
years in office provides no road map to resolving
a political dispute. All that can be gleaned from
the debris of his time in power are abuse of
institutions of State in shutting down dissent,
hounding political opponents into prison and
forcing a party chairman to resign …. Little
wonder that such baleful legacy dogs his
attempt at making peace.
“President Obasanjo has to come out publicly to
renounce his ties with the seven governors who
are trying to impose their will on the remaining
29 states and the Federal Capital Territory or
acknowledge them and be treated like them.”
President Jonathan is yet to speak on his political
future, but MNT said he is free to run again. It
said: “The governors are welcome to contest the
PDP primaries, individually or present a
candidate. That’s democracy. But for persons,
who themselves, stood for elections for their
second terms to demand that Mr. President
cannot avail himself such amenity is not only
rude but feudal.”
Obasanjo’s media aide Vitalis Ortese declined to
comment on the statement credited to the
group last night.
“I cannot speak on what a faceless group is
saying”, he told our reporter on the telephone.