Jonathan, Obasanjo part ways?

 

Obasanjo

 

The emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan on the highest seat in the land has been largely credited to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but the frosty relationship between the duo in the last one year is giving their loyalists a cause for worry, writes Remi Adelowo

It took the surprise visit of the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, to the hilltop residence of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State, to arouse any suspicion that indeed, all may not be well between President Goodluck Jonathan and Obasanjo.
A further proof that Obasanjo may have distanced himself from the president was the widely reported outcome of the meeting between the former president and former military leader, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, in Abuja.
A joint statement issued by the two former leaders had suggested on the way forward to addressing the incessant security challenges in the country, while albeit insinuating that the president seems incapable of providing the right leadership at this critical period of the nation’s history. 
Originally planned as an incognito visit, it was a shocked Dickson, who on sighting newshounds after he stepped out of Obasanjo’s residence, searched for the right words to say on the reasons for his visit. Obviously laboring to sound convincing, the governor disclosed that he was simply on a courtesy visit to pay homage to the former president.
His aides had also reportedly told some journalists that the governor had come to solicit for the intervention of the former president on his (governor’s) alleged frosty relationship with lawmakers in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.
Impeccable sources privy to the discussion between the governor and the former president, however, revealed that Dickson, at the instance of the Presidency, was on a fence-mending mission to repair the relationship between his godfather, Jonathan and Obasanjo, which despite denials by the principal characters, has almost completely broken down in recent times.
The governor, it was learnt, had allegedly pleaded with Obasanjo to join hands with the president in tackling the various challenges that the present administration has been battling with in the last two years. Dickson was also said to have worked on the emotions of the former president, reminding him on the roles he (Obasanjo) played in the emergence of Jonathan, both as acting president in 2009 and later as president in 2011.
In rounding up, Dickson told Obasanjo that now is the time that his support is most needed to stave off the several attacks directed at the president, particularly from influential political players from the North.
Wily as ever, Obasanjo according to sources, simply thanked the governor for the visit and said nothing more. “He was non committal to the requests of the governor, but promised to get back to him”, said a source.

Composition of PAC
The prelude to the thawed relationship between the erstwhile close allies started shortly after Jonathan was sworn-in as acting president following the death of late Umaru Yar’ Adua in April 2009. To chart an agenda and bring as many stakeholders as possible on board, Jonathan had inaugurated a Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), headed by former Army Chief and ex-Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophillus Danjuma, to come up with a blueprint for the fledlging administration. 
The council had as its members distinguished Nigerians, which included former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Professor Ben Nwabueze, to mention but a few.
Obasanjo, The Nation learnt, felt slighted that he was not consulted on the issue, but never broached this with the then acting president.  “He (Obasanjo) was not comfortable with Danjuma’s headship of the Council; you know his relationship with Danjuma has remained frosty since the latter quit his cabinet in 2006.”
The outcome of the 2011 general elections in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was swept away in all the South West states controlled by the party, according to sources, is also another bone of contention. Obasanjo, revealed another source, believed the president did not do enough to ‘support’ the party at the polls. “Right now, the man (Obasanjo) does not have a support base and he is blaming the president for this.”

The godfather palaver
Another complaint of the former president is the alleged refusal of the current president to seek his opinion on key national issues, but rather prefer the counsel of a prominent Ijaw leader, who is widely acknowledged as the president’s new godfather and an influential South-South politician.     

Cabinet reshuffle
 The first cabinet reshuffle carried out by President Jonathan in early 2011 was also cited as another grievance of Obasanjo. One of the former president nominees in the cabinet, Chief Jubril Martins-Kuye, who served as the Minister of Commerce and Industry was dropped, a decision that did not go down well with Obasanjo.

Alleged second term ambition
While the former president still feels proud that he played a significant role in ensuring power shift from the North to the South-South, he is, however, not comfortable with the alleged surreptitious moves by loyalists of the president urging him to contest for another term in office in 2015. Obasanjo wants power back in the North in 2015 to guarantee the political stability of the country, The Nation reliably gathered.

Early signs
The first early sign that the former president’s relationship with President Jonathan has not been cordial came when the former resigned his chairmanship of PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) early this year, citing the need to have more time to attend to his international engagements as the reason for his action.
Not a few Nigerians were also surprised when, at the last Council of States meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the former president quite unusually was conspicuously absent even though sources said he was in the country. The other ex-leaders absent at the meeting were Gen. Babangida, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
According to a source, “the former president is not hiding his displeasure with Jonathan; that explains why he has washed his hands off the affairs of the party and also stayed away from the Villa or calling the president to offer any advice.”
The icy relationship between the two men remains unresolved, just as the camp of the former president is allegedly working behind-the-scene to promote Governors. Sule Lamido/Rotimi Amaechi for the PDP presidential and vice-presidential tickets in 2015. The former president’s camp has since denied this report.