For a reason best known to him, former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday tore his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) membership card, as a final announcement to dump the party under which platform he was President for eight years.
This decision to dump the party may not have come just a day because Obasanjo, for a while now has been very critical of President Goodluck Jonathan and his administration, describing him (Jonathan) as a man who love power and want to stay on by all means.
He also alleged that the postponement of the general elections was to enable Jonathan to use the Service Chiefs to plot a tenure extension.
Obasanjo’s criticism of Jonathan’s government from all indications have not gone down well with some stakeholders, members and leadership of PDP, who described his position as insult to the sensibility of the party members and Nigeria in general.
His actions may not be unconnected to the alleged plans by the party hierarchy to expel him, following the ways and manners he has been treating the party, the person of President Goodluck Jonathan and his administration.
Shortly after his returned from a foreign trip, Obasanjo had unleashed attacks on President Jonathan, accusing him of planning to stay in power by hook or by crook and also claimed that Jonathan was attempting President of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo style in Nigeria by stay in power forever, among other accusations.
Reactions
Fielding questions from journalists on Sunday, the Director of Media and Publicity of PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO), Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said that a man of Obasanjo stature, strength and power should not be Ignored.
He said: “What he has said is much deeper than you seems to have appreciated. When a former head of state, somebody that was Militarily Head of State, a democratically elected President twice, someone who has played a very large role in putting in power his successor the very first one and second one, somebody that is an institution in this country.
“A revered elder statesman an international figure and truly accepted as one of the most prominent men on this planet and gets up and tells you that your President wishes to stay in power by hook or by crook. And wishes to do a Laurent Gbagbo; wishes to undermined the democratic process and wishes to impose his will on the Nigerian people and deny the right of democracy and the right to vote and to completely upturn their will and to subvert the process. When a man like Obasanjo talks like that, you remain silent at your own Peril.”
Fani-Kayode noted that Obasanjo’s allegations were not only serious and grave, but were also reckless, adding that the former President had raised issues and made assertions that were capable of derailing the nation’s nascent democracy and creating chaos in the land.
He pointed out that Obasanjo’s grouse against Jonathan was his refusal to be controlled as a puppet President, which has led to why the former President was bent on discrediting Jonathan’s government.
“After Jonathan came to power, Obasanjo not only tried to control and teleguide him (Jonathan) but he also asked him to do a number of things that were simply wrong and unacceptable. It is for President Goodluck Jonathan himself to divulge those things and I am sure that he will do so at the appropriate time.
“As far as he (Obasanjo) was concerned, he must either control Jonathan or Jonathan had to go. That is why he decided to secretly support the APC and became their navigator in chief.
“He (Obasanjo) was determined to pull the whole house down rather than allow Jonathan to return to power. This is simply because he believes that if he cannot control someone that person must be destroyed.
“Control and domination is an obsession for Obasanjo. That is the bottom line. He is prepared to put even the devil in power provided he can control him. That is why he is so determined to stop Jonathan and put in place an Interim Government which he, or one of his surrogates, will head. That is his plan and he is determined to achieve it no matter what it takes.
“Obasanjo does not want genuine democracy. He only pretends to want it. What he wants is control and a stooge in power. It does not matter what type of government it is as long as he controls it and it is headed by his puppet. It can be a military government, a civilian one, a democratic one, an interim government or a government of National Unity. To Obasanjo it does not matter as long as he can control it. That is his objective. That is why he hates Jonathan so much and that is why he wishes to stop him at all costs,” he said.
As if the accusations against Jonathan and the anti-party activities of the former President were not enough, on Monday, Obasanjo destroyed the last straw that held him and the party together and directed his Ward Chairman in Abiokuta, Ogun state to tear his PDP membership card, an action that has been generating reactions across the country and beyond.
Reacting to Obasanjo,s action, Tony Anenih, the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, said Obasanjo’s action showed he is gone from the PDP, adding that the party would not miss him and that he is free to join any political party he wanted. This is even as Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose described his exit as a good omen to the party, saying, “Obasanjo’s exit is good riddance to bad rubbish. His departure is inglorious, we will never miss him.”
Also, a PDP BoT member and a chieftain of the party, Chief Ebenezer Babatope on Monday said that the exit of Obasanjo from the party has lifted a big yoke in the PDP.
Babatope, a former Minister of Transport in the administration of General Sani Abacha while reacting to report that Obasanjo tore his PDP membership card in Abeokuta on Monday said “Obasanjo leaving the PDP has come as a happy and welcome development. With Obasanjo’s exit, a huge yoke has been lifted off the neck of PDP.”
According to him, “I congratulate the PDP for being patient in dealing with former President Obasanjo’s offensives against the Party without embarking on wild and unproductive conclusions. Though Obasanjo is a hard fighter, his exit will have no effect of any kind on the PDP. The PDP will by God’s grace win the March elections.”
The Secretary of PDP BoT, Jibril Wali, who also reacted to Obasanjo’s exit in Abuja on Monday, faulted the manner the former president left the party.
He said: “if I were him, I will not behave the way he did, there are procedures of leaving the party. He was Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party and with his position, he would have followed the procedure.
“There is nothing to celebrate there, it is not worth it, that is his palaver, not our own. As he left, millions have come to the party; many people like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have left before now. We are facing our transformation agenda for the people of Nigeria. Obasanjo should have a re- think and do the right thing by following the procedure of the party which gave him the platform to become the country’s President for eight years.
“Obasanjo failed to comply with the party’s rules and procedure which governed the step of resigning from the party.”
PDP support group, the Nigeria posterity project (NPP) described the exit of Obasanjo from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as good riddance to bad rubbish.
A statement issued by the national co-ordinator of the group, Louis Ebodaghe, said
“for a man who ran the PDP as his personal estate during his tenure as President, a man who brooked no opposition and was intolerant of opposing views, his unquenchable desire to control the apparatus of the PDP even after he had left office is legendary.”
He added that “Chief Obasanjo has by his self-conceited nature displayed his lack of decorum by publicly tearing his PDP membership card; an act we consider childish, dishonourable and portrays him as someone who subscribes to the principle of pull him down syndrome if he doesn’t have his way.
“A man with an over-bloated ego who behaves very much like a cry baby, he has displayed his crude antecedents through his unrelenting scathing criticism of every administration, including that of President Goodluck Jonathan. Obasanjo is a man without scruples because the same people he considered unfit for any elective office in the recent past under his watch are the same people he is ironically working hard to install into power.
“Nigerians still remember vividly how he employed uncouth language in responding to perceived political opponents and those opposed to his style of leadership. We are of the view that apart from lacking in electoral value, as he has been known to have lost election in his own polling since 1999,
Obasanjo in our opinion has become a distraction to the present administration.
“We warn Chief Obasanjo not to choose a destructive part by undermining the nation’s democratic journey, knowing full well that the country is greater than anybody or group of persons. While we wish him good luck in his new political journey, we however, admonish the PDP and the President Jonathan administration not to allow Obasanjo’s departure distract their focus or dampen their morale and commitment to the enormous task ahead in the rescheduled presidential/National Assembly poll of March 28 and the governorship/state Houses of Assembly elections on April 11.”
However, the leadership of the party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh expressed sadness over the decision of Obasanjo to withdraw his membership from the party.
Directing its members across the country to remain focused and not to be distracted by the decision of Obasanjo, the party said it was carefully examining the circumstances and the reasons adduced for the unfortunate decision.
“While we concede to the inalienable rights of every citizen to hold opinion and to decide who to associate with, we are however deeply saddened that Chief Obasanjo, a revered leader of our party, our first Presidential flagbearer whom the PDP offered the platform to rule our nation for eight years, could decide to abandon this party at this critical point in time.
“This is especially as Chief Obasanjo, who was also the Chairman of the highest advisory organ of the PDP, the Board of Trustees (BoT) discountenanced all pleas by elders and leaders of our great party with regard to his reservations on certain issues within our fold.
“Many Nigerians are still bewildered as to disregard what manner of provocation could have led a former President to lose his composure and go to the extent of tearing the membership card of the party that he once led.
“Indeed, the PDP is hugely at loss as to how the decision and action of the former President who had enjoyed the benefits of being elected to the highest position of leadership will assist in deepening our democracy and stabilizing the polity.
“It is our considered opinion that no matter the provocation, a statesmanlike disposition from a person of Chief Obasanjo’s status could have encouraged our citizens and progress stability in the system.
“We believe however, that what this country needs now is patriotic actions that engender national unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence of our people irrespective of political, ethnic and religious persuasions. The overall interest of our nation and well being of our citizens must remain paramount and above all personal and group interests.
“We direct all our members across the country to remain focused on our campaigns and not to be distracted on this issue,” it said.
Fani-Kayode, who also reacted to Obasanjo’s decision to leave the party, said while he was free to leave, he did not have to spit in their faces by publicly tearing the party card.
Fani-Kayode, in a statement said, “watching our party membership card being torn up whilst President Obasanjo was standing there and smiling was painful and tragic.
“This is a party which he helped to build and on whose platform he was elected President for eight good years. The truth is that President Obasanjo is far better and far bigger than that. Such behavior is provocative and unacceptable.
“He is free to leave the party but does he have to spit in our faces by tearing up our party card in public and before the television cameras?
“This knee-jerk reaction is most unlike President Obasanjo and it is very insulting. It is clear that he has burnt all the bridges and that he has left us forever.
“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.”
Immediately the former President tore his party membership card, it was reported that Ogun state chapter of PDP pronounced him expelled from the party. It is however a subject of argument that it is only the National Working Committee (NWC) or the National Executive Committee (NEC) that could take such decision and not the state chapter.
Proponents of this theory had said that as a former president, elected twice on the party’s platform and who rose to become chairman of the party BoT, before he voluntarily relinquished the position, it is the highest level of PDP that could decide on the former President.
Speaking to newsmen on Monday in Abeokuta, the state capital, the state PDP Chairman, Bayo Dayo, said Obasanjo was no longer a member of the party since he had lost all privileges and respect of other party members.
“The totality of the executive, leaders and members of PDP family in Ogun hereby state categorically as from today Monday 16th February, 2015 that Obasanjo Aremu Olusegun stands expelled and excommunicated from the party thereby losing all rights previous, privileges and respect of our teeming party members,” he said.
Now that the state party and the national level have washed their hands off Obasanjo would the former President go into his shell? History had it that Obasanjo hardly forget or forgive, what salvo, what shocker are Nigerians expecting from him in the days ahead as election is just few weeks to go?