As criticisms and commendations continue to trail his
dramatic exit from the Peoples Democratic Party, former
President Olusegun Obasanjo has explained how he arrived
at the decision to dump the party to which he belonged for
16 years.
The former president had Monday announced his
resignation as a member of the party on whose platform he
ruled the country between 1999 and 2007.
Mr. Obasanjo renounced his membership of the PDP when
some leaders of the party led by Surajudeen Oladunjoye, the
chairman of the ward around his former residence in Ita
Eko, visited him at his Presidential Hilltop mansion in
Abeokuta home.
The former president directed Mr. Oladunjoye to tear his
membership card at a press conference organised during
the visit.
About two hours later, the PDP leadership in Ogun State
announced the expulsion of the former president from the
party.
However, Mr. Obasanjo has explained that the PDP
members visited him to express their genuine concern about
his refusal to be active in the party.
“They were concerned that I had only one leg in the party,
and worried that since I’m their leader in the ward, they
need to hear from me,” the former President said.
According to him, when the party members arrived his
residence, they were singing a song in Yoruba language –
“Nigeria yi ti gbobgo wa ni, Ko ma gbodo ba je. Eje ka
sowopo kajo gbega (Meaning – Nigeria belongs to all of us,
we must not allow it to be destroyed and we must join
hands to make it great).
Mr. Obasanjo said when they settled down he sought to
know why they came and that it was at that point that Mr.
Oladunjoye told him that since he (Obasanjo) as their leader
became angry with the PDP and remained inactive in the
party, they had not only lost sense of direction but also
worried about their political future.
He also said the party members informed him that the
leadership in the state was planning to expel him and that
they wondered what would happen to them if he was
expelled because they would become rudderless.
“You are our leader and it is you we are following. You have
remained a card-carrying member of the the party. But
since you became angry with the party we have lost sense
of direction and now we are hearing that they want to expel
you. If they expel you, where do we go? What do we do?”
Mr. Obasanjo quoted the ward chairman as saying.
The former president explained that it was at that point that
he gave them his PDP membership card and told them that
they could do whatever they want with it.
He said, “In my response, I said when you people came you
were singing a song and I agreed that Nigeria is our own. If
the issue is the party, I will not choose the party at the
detriment of Nigeria and I will fight for Nigeria even at the
detriment of the party. I will rather surrender my
membership of the party so you people can move on
politically,” Mr. Obasanjo explained to PREMIUM TIMES.
“If you people’s worry is that I’m a card-carrying member
of the party and I’m not showing you people direction and
you are worried that I’m neither here nor there, this is the
card; you can keep it, you can burn it or you can tear it, do
whatever you want to do with it.”
The former president said he then handed over his
membership card to Mr. Oladunjoye, who immediately
decided on his own to shred it.
Mr. Obasanjo said he had no regrets for his action despite
the criticisms that have greeted it. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
No comments:
Post a Comment
Select "Anonymous" As Your Profile Or Login To Your "Google Account" Post A Comment!