The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it will not force former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return as its member.
It
said it would respect the decision of the former President, but added
that whether he returned or not, it (the party) would not die.
Obasanjo
had on Tuesday vowed never to return to the party, saying he would
rather remain a statesman, working for the interest of the nation.
He
spoke with journalists after he held a meeting with the National
Caretaker Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, behind closed
doors at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.
He
had said, “I have told the chairman that I was in the PDP before but
not now. God forbid, se when dog vomits, it will go back to eat its
vomit, no.
“I
have said no partisan politics for me again, but Nigeria is my passion
until death do us apart. And anything that concerns Nigeria, the good of
Nigeria, you’ll see my involvement.
“So,
the chairman has come to greet me and I greet am, and now that we have
greeted ourselves, the chairman will be going, you gentlemen and ladies
of the press, you can now go, leave the chairman alone.”
Reacting,
the spokesperson for the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said Obasanjo had
earlier said that he would not return to the party, adding that as an
individual, the party would respect his views.
He
said, “He has said it before (that he won’t return to the party). We
are not going to force him. No individual is bigger than the party.
“Obasanjo has the right to hold his opinion. But the PDP will not die, either he joins us or not.
“We respect his opinion. There’s nothing to say more than that. He is an individual and we respect him.”
Meanwhile,
as the countdown to the December 9 elective convention of the party
draws nearer, the South-West geopolitical zone has been warned on the
danger of losing the national chairmanship of the party if it failed to
agree on a consensus candidate.
A
former Minister of Police Affairs Minister, Adamu Maina Waziri, gave
the warning in Abuja on Wednesday at the declaration of a former
governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, for the office of the
national chairman of the party.
Waziri
warned that the zone would be the loser in the event of the inability
of any of the aspirants from the zone to emerge victorious at the
December convention.
He
said, “If, for any reason, Gbenga Daniel fails in his bid to become the
national chairman, it is Daniel that would lose. But if none of the
about six aspirants from the South-West fails to win, the South-West
will be the loser.”
He
called on the aspirants from the zone to close ranks and present a
common front at the convention in the interest of the party.
Also
speaking at the declaration event, a former Aviation Minister and a
chieftain of the party, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, lauded the leadership
acumen of Daniel even as he charged the PDP to shun divisions within its
ranks.
Fani-Kayode,
who described all aspirants from the zone as his personal friends,
however, insisted that Daniel remained the first among the equals in the
pack.
In
his speech titled, “Let’s start afresh…Together we can do it,” Daniel
said he was in the race to make a difference having taken stock of the
troubles that rattled the PDP in the past couple of years.
He
said, “I have come to the conclusion that the challenges which face our
political party are not permanent. They could be rectified through a
careful deployment of resources, the will power and ability to work
through difficult situations, concessions and compromises if need be,
and ability to move all our people into one disciplined accord on all
matters.
“I
declare before you today to contest for the office of the national
chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party at the national convention.
“I
come to this resolve after a careful analysis of the challenges
confronting the PDP and on the strength of clear understanding of my
personal ability to provide the needed leadership in our collective
search for solutions.”
But
the senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu,
has said it will be “a monumental disaster” to elect Daniel as the PDP
national chairman.
Kashamu said in a statement on Wednesday that Daniel was the least qualified among those aspiring for the post.
The
statement read in part, “When I heard that he was vying for the post,
my initial reaction was that it was a joke. But, now that he has decided
to make a formal declaration, I would say it is a joke taken too far.
“Let
me say with all sense of responsibility that Daniel does not have what
it takes to lead our great party. He is the least qualified among all
those vying for the position.”
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