Obasanjo’s exit from PDP: PDP, Lamido, Bode George, others react

From ISMAILA OMIPIDAN, Kaduna, TAIWO AMODU, Abuja and NDUBUISI ORJI, Lagos

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) and Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State as well as Chief Olabode  George last night, reacted to the exit of former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,  from the ruling party.

Director of Media and Publicity of the campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, in a statement, expressed regret over the departure of former chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, describing the public tearing of the party card as despicable.

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State described the exit of the former President from the PDP, as painful.

Speaking yesterday, from Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, when Daily Sun called him to get his reaction

Lamido, who likened his association with Obasanjo to that of a father and son relationship, noted that no matter how bad a father is, the son could not simply renounce him, just as he believed that a father should not also renounce the child simply because the child is bad.

“Obasanjo is our father, he is also a father to Jonathan. He brought him, he campaigned for him, he asked us to support him and we did. Therefore, I felt pained by the exit, because it is like a father renouncing his own child,”Lamido said.

Former Deputy National Chairman of the party and member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Olabode George, said the development was very unfortunate.

He told Daily Sun in a telephone  interview that it was unheard of anywhere in the world that a man who has benefited so much from a political party, could  destroy the party’s card publicly.

The PDP leader said when Chief Obasanjo came out of prison in 1998, with most of his businesses in ruins it was the party that gave him a new beginning, therefore, it was most unfair for him to publicly destroy the party’s card.

This leaves a sour taste in the mouth of those who were part of his rebuilding. It is a very bad decision.”

Former Minister of Transport and PDP chieftain in Osun State, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said the party would not miss the former president.

Babatope told Daily Sun in a  telephone interview that the resignation of the former president from the party on whose platform he contested and won the presidential election twice calls for celebration.

“On a personal note I feel saddened by this but the truth is that many in our party have heaved a huge sigh of relief. Many of us love President Obasanjo and we shall continue to do so regardless of whether he is in our party or not but tearing up that party card was too much to bear. “It spoke volumes and it was indicative of the deep hatred and contempt that he has for us and our cause. It reminded me of the biblical passage in which King Saul rejected David and then planned to stop him from ascending to the throne by attempting to kill and destroy him. Thankfully the Lord was with David and not only did he deliver him from Saul but he also crowned him King.”

News analysis:  Obasanjo desecrates statesmanship

Former president and one of the founding pillars of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has lately been displaying acts that are contradictory to his status as a statesman of international repute and ex-leader of this country.

His utterances are very antithetical to the dignity, respect and candour of the office he once occupied.

Obasanjo’s hypercritical attitude towards President Goodluck Jonathan in recent times contradicts the clout and influence that a person of his standing should wield. It speaks volumes of personal animosity and hatred of the person of Nigeria’s current leader. His grouse about President Jonathan remains a mystery as nobody can forthrightly tell the world what his, “victim” must have done to him.

The PDP is not synonymous with President Jonathan. It is the collectivization of multifarious individuals, who are driven by a common goal. So, the party cannot be interchangeable with the president or indeed, any other person. The whole must be bigger than the part. It will be quite instructive if Chief Obasanjo could internalise this irreducible fact. The PDP is about people-not about President Jonathan or any entity. This is what makes the party unique and drives it to the consternation of the fledgling opposition.

Definitely, it would be a great service to the country and humanity if Chief Obasanjo could make statesmanship a canon of his attitudinal disposition. Cantankerousness from a man of his reputational pedigree, diminishes him and draws sympathy for the transformative icon at the receiving end. Statesmanship is everything in the life of any individual and nation. From the way Chief Obasanjo is going, he may end up squandering all the goodwill he had garnered even before the advent of President Jonathan.

It must be pointed out that there are channels for addressing sore issues, especially when they involve a former and sitting president. Making a public jest of either himself or the President leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Chief Obasanjo and other former leaders of the country have decent and dignified ways of communicating with the present occupant of the office they had once occupied. Sharing oppositional party cards in the full glare of the public or perpetually making unguarded statements that reek of vitriolic is absolutely infra dig and embarrassing to a person of Chief Obasanjo’s status in our society and the international community.

Right now, the impression being created, unwittingly by Chief Obasanjo is that President Jonathan may have embarrassingly turned down some of his copious requests, hence, the interminable bickering and bad belle! Just perhaps!