President
Goodluck Jonathan (left), ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
President
Goodluck Jonathan has telephoned former President Olusegun Obasanjo to deny
responsibility for promoting a controversial member of his Peoples Democratic
Party, Buruji Kashamu, as an influential party leader in the south-west
geo-political zone, a development that has infuriated Mr. Obasanjo, sources
close to the former president said Saturday.
Mr.
Obasanjo was travelling to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, at the time of
the conversation with Mr. Jonathan, those familiar with the matter said.
Usually
reliable presidency sources said Mr. Jonathan hurriedly called Mr. Obasanjo on
Thursday shortly after he received the former president’s latest letter
informing him and the PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, that he was
suspending participation in party activities for as long as the ruling party
continued to treat Mr. Kashamu, believed to be a fugitive, with reverence.
Our
sources said during the telephone exchanges, Mr. Jonathan appealed to Mr.
Obasanjo to reconsider his decision to suspend himself from the party, saying
he would personally prevail on Mr. Tukur to stop fraternizing with Mr. Kashamu
and imposing him on the South-West PDP as a rallying point.
The
president, according to our sources, told Mr. Obasanjo that he had never met
Mr. Kashamu and had never instructed anyone to accord the controversial Ogun
politician a special or preferential treatment in the party.
“Baba,
believe me, I don’t know Kashamu,” our sources quoted Mr. Jonathan as saying.
“I think it is the chairman (Tukur) that knows him. Personally, I have nothing
with him. But I will ask chairman.
“Kindly
consider your decision again. The PDP belongs to us all and we need to correct
whatever is wrong together.”
The
president then promised to “hear from” Mr Tukur, and to “do something” about
the matter, those informed about the discussion said.
In
his response, Mr. Obasanjo is said to have explained to the president his
frustration at explaining to world leaders how an alleged criminal, wanted by
the United States authorities, ended up as a leader of Nigeria’s ruling party.
He
reportedly told the president that his assurance of action might amount to
nothing as he believed not much could be done as of now.
The
Special Adviser to the President on Media, Reuben Abati could not be reached to
comment for this story. Several telephone calls to him failed to connect.
But
three separate presidential aides, who do not want to be named for fear they
might be sanctioned, however confirmed details of the conversation between Mr.
Jonathan and Mr. Obasanjo.
Contacted,
Mr. Obasanjo’s spokesperson, Tunde Oladunjoye, said he had no permission from
his boss to confirm details of his conversation with anyone.
An
aide of the former president however confirmed the exchanges.
Mr.
Obasanjo had in a January 7 letter to Mr. Tukur announced that he was
withdrawing from the activities of the PDP for as long as Mr. Kashamu, whom he
accuses of being a “wanted habitual criminal”, remains a leader of the party in
the south west, the former president’s geopolitical zone.
In
a letter to Mr. Tukur on Tuesday, Mr. Obasanjo said he would remain a
“card-carrying member” of the governing party, but will no longer participate
in the party’s functions at all levels.
“Politics
played by any national political party must have morality, decency, discipline,
principles and leadership examples as cardinal practices of the party,” the
former president’s letter, published on Saturday, read. “I have attached here
recent documents that clearly indicates that you extolled PDP zonal leader in
the South West of Nigeria and an indigene of Ogun State, who is, to say the
least, not a credit to the party as a member let alone being a zonal leader.”
Mr.
Obasanjo, a native of Ogun State, as Mr. Kashamu, said while he believed that a
truly national political party should, as a microcosm of a nation, bear all
forms of characters as members, he however found no justification in extolling
a “known criminal” wanted abroad on drug-related charges.
“Since
I stick in my practice of party politics to the hallowed and cherished
principles enunciated above, I take this opportunity to let you know that while
I continue to remain a card-carrying member of PDP, I cannot and I will not
subscribe to a wanted habitual criminal being installed as my zonal leader in
the party; a criminal for whom extradition has been requested by the US
government,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
Mr.
Kashamu dismissed Mr. Obasanjo’s letter as a “cocktail of lies” and a “campaign
of calumny” inspired by the former president’s loss of political relevance in
the Southwest.
“Let
me state from the outset that contrary to Obasanjo’s claim, I am not the leader
of the party in the South West,” he said in a statement on Saturday. “I am just
one of the party’s foot soldiers in the zone and it is in that capacity that I
am made the chairman of the Organisation and Mobilisation Committee for
the party in the zone.”
Mr.
Kashamu said it was “preposterous” to be referred to as the leader of the party
in a zone that parades Bode George, Shuaibu Oyedokun, Lekan Balogun, Iyiola
Omisore, Teslim Folarin, Yekeen Adeojo, Clement Awoyelu, Ayodele Fayose, Bode
Olajumoke.
He
denied being wanted in the US.
Officials
close to President Jonathan and Mr. Obasanjo said the president contacted the
former leader by phone after being informed of Mr. Obasanjo’s letter to the PDP
chairman. He denied responsibility for Mr. Kashamu’s appointment, a decision he
blamed on Mr. Tukur, who has been at the centre of the PDP’s months of
intractable internal crisis.
Coming
about a month after Mr. Obasanjo penned a scathing letter accusing Mr. Jonathan
of being inept and corrupt –allegations the president rejected in his reply-,
the telephone communication over Mr. Kashamu appears partly a fence-mending
move by the two leaders as their party’s troubles escalate in the face of
credible threat from the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
Culled from Premium Times
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