Obasanjo Shocked by Tuesday’s sudden resignation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as chair of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), leaders of the party in the Southwest rushed down to his Abeokuta home yesterday.
They were led by National Vice - Chairman (Southwest) Mr. Segun Oni. Others included a former Oyo State Deputy Governor, Taofeek Arapaja, former Works Minister Adeseye Ogunlewe and some party leaders in Ekiti and Oyo states.
Obasanjo’s sudden resignation was announced on Tuesday. The news broke as some PDP chiefs met in Lagos on what a source described as the plan to “recapture” Southwest from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The ACN said yesterday that the former President would not be missed.
At the end of a closed-door meeting with Obasanjo, Oni said nobody “pressured” the former President to resign his position.
He said Obasanjo relinquished his BoT chair in line with the time-tested saying that it is better to quit when the ovation is loudest.
Oni said he was in Abeokuta to inform Obasanjo about the new set of party officials from the Southwest. In his view, Obasanjo’s resignation will not weaken his influence or diminish his visibility politically.
Oni said: “I can tell you that nobody wanted Baba to leave. It is a surprise to us. There was no pressure mounted on Baba. He resigned when the ovation was loudest.
“What Baba has done is a lesson in Nigeria, Africa and the world. Don’t wait until death do you part when you find yourself in any circumstance; give others chance to perform; that is what Baba has done. It is a big lesson to Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.
“The only consolation we have is that Baba is around to contribute and mentor his successor and that is what will make our party stronger.”
Oni dismissed the congresses conducted in Ogun State by the PDP as “a sham”. There was no congress in the state, he declared.
But the ACN said Obasanjo’s resignation should not shock Nigerians.
The party described the resignation as “a cynically dramatic move that will shock only those whose interest has been served by his tragic years in government.”
In a statement by Osun State ACN’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, the party said: “Obasanjo’s resignation as chairman of the PDP BoT may be shocking to those he served successfully.
But to that entire heritage he ruined in his uninspiring and, to a large extent, catastrophic lordship over Nigeria, Obasanjo’s exit is one dramatically cynic act in the theatre of the absurd.
“General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) is no longer practically relevant to anybody any more than what calamity his military and civilian presidency had been to Nigeria. This man did more harm than good to Nigeria in a very awfully cynical way.
“His first coming in 1976 led Nigeria into the tragedy of the Shagari era. Then, when he was again manipulated into government in 1999, Nigeria suffered atrophy in practically every department of governance, and today Nigeria is reaping the thorns Obasanjo sowed in this country.
“A man’s worth is judged by the effects of his activities. Only those who have immorally, unethically and corruptly profited from Obasanjo’s rulership of Nigeria will hold him in high esteem.
“As for the Yoruba nation, Obasanjo was an unmitigated calamity. He left us half a century backward than he met Yoruba land. Apart from Yoruba people, other Nigerians are worst off today than they were before Obasanjo came to power both after 1979 and 2007.
“The man told us he was going to fight corruption, but he left Nigeria more corrupt than he met it. He pretended he was nurturing democracy for Nigeria’s future but today what he gave us as democracy is worse than keptocracy; which is a mentally diseased form of government in which those in government have an uncontrolled desire to steal things.
“If anybody wants to seriously evaluate Obasanjo’s relevance in the country today, especially among his own Yoruba people, they should compare the celebration of his birthday with that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The difference speaks volume about how important and regarded the two personalities are to their own people.
“Obasanjo prides himself not to be a Yoruba leader. He couldn’t be because he is unworthy to be one. And it shows from how he destroyed Yoruba land and left Nigeria groping and devastated as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and the poorest of the oil producing countries in the world.
“There is no reason to feel sad about Obasanjo’s exit from the politics of our country. Baba has a lot to account for. Obasanjo was one of the poorest Nigerians before he joined politics in 1998. But when he left government in 2007, he was already one of the richest ex-presidents in Africa”
“Nigerians demand that Obasanjo must account for his wealth. It is the legacy of corruption which he left that Nigeria is still grappling with today. It is against this backdrop that whatever “good” Obasanjo and his friends may think he has done for Nigeria will be evaluated,” the statement added.
Former Ogun State Governorship candidate of the PDP, Chief Adetunji Olurin praised the ex-President.
In a statement by his media consultant, Mr Dele Agekameh, Olurin said:
“The exit of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as Chairman of BoT, has come at a time when the party has fully entrenched itself In the political firmament of the nation.
“Since 2007 when he became the BOT Chairman, the former President has taken the party to such an enviable position. One of these giant strides is the victory of the party at the 2011 Presidential election won by the incumbent President, Dr, Goodluck Jonathan. Only recently, the party also witnessed a successful National Convention where new officers of the National Working Committee, NWC, including the new Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur were elected.”
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