He made his position known to journalists after he held a meeting with the National Caretaker Chairman of the party , Senator Ahmed Makarfi, behind closed doors on Tuesday .
The meeting , held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library , Abeokuta , lasted for one hour.
The former President emerged from the meeting prevailing on his guest ( Makarfi) not to talk to the press .
He rather preferred to do the talking which he did in both pidgin and standard English language .
Obasanjo described Makarfi as a friend and a colleague , stressing that while he ( Makarfi) was a state governor , he was the president of the country.
He said the current democracy in the country needed a strong party in government and a strong party in the opposition to curb impunity .
He 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 a part . 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. ”
When asked of his message for the PDP , Obasanjo said , “ I have said that publicly before and I will say it again ; for our democracy to thrive and continue to be strong , we need strong party in government and strong party in the opposition .
“ It has to be that way ; otherwise , party in government will get away with impunity and that is not good for democracy . ”
Obasanjo took Makarfi on tour of the museum and various sections in the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential library .
Also in the entourage of Makarfi were the Chairman , South -West Caretaker Committee of the party , Chief Eddy Olafeso ; a former Minister of Mines and Steel , Mr . Sarafa Tunji -Isola , and a former factional state factional chairman , Sikirulai Ogundele .
Although, all the issues discussed at the meeting were not disclosed, our correspondent gathered it might not be unconnected with current effort being made to reposition the party in the build -up towards the 2019 general elections .
Meanwhile , the state party Chairman , Bayo Dayo , has debunked the claim that some party members planned to attack Makarfi.
Dayo , who addressed journalists at the party secretariat , about 150 metres away from the OOPL , said they heard that Makarfi would be visiting the former president and they planned to welcome .
He said, “ We are not planning any attack as you can see; we are not carrying any arm nor engaging in any fracas . You can see I am an elderly man who will not engage in any fight whatsoever .
“ I have never been involved in any violence in all my days in politics and I will not welcome violence from anyone . If you see our placards , you will see that we are only welcoming him to the state.
“ When we heard that the chairman will be coming , we quickly came to the office to do some cleanup and get prepared for him to be happy. ”
iykerom.blogspot.com
Comments