The occasion was the triumphant return to their old PDP base of some political grandees, from Ogun State led by former governor, Gbenga Daniel (but wait a minute, didn’t incumbent governorAmosun say Gbenga isn’t from Ogun state?).
As HARDBALL noted, PDP National Chairman AdamuMu’azu, “led the beggars”: “I want to join Governor Daniel to appeal to our Baba, President Olusegun Obasanjo, to forgive us. We are your children and we have been making mistakes; we have made mistakes and so we apologise.
Obasanjo
Obasanjo
Please, Baba, we apologise; come and lead us. Even the President (Goodluck Jonathan) is waiting for you to come and lead us; you are our leader, we appreciate you, we thank you for your leadership and courage”. Mu’azu became more emotional: “Baba should please forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. We are your children; we have made mistakes.
Please forgive us and come and lead us to victory in the 2015 elections. Baba should not throw away the baby with the bath water”.
Senate President, David Mark, also weighed in:”In any disagreement of this nature, the older person is always right. All of us in the PDP are appealing to you to come back to the party”.
A few days later, Obasanjo responded with typical bluster: “There are, for me, issues of principle, morality, honour, integrity, commitment and character which are paramount…I cannot accept that the zonal leader of my political party and, worse still, in my zone, will be an indicted drug baron wanted in America.
How do I explain that to friends outside Nigeria?…I have national and international standard to maintain and reputation to keep and sustain. For these reasons, I opted to remain active only at the ward level of the party till the leadership of the party does the needful”.
Let’s take Obasanjo’s appeal to “principle, honour, integrity”, with a healthy dose of salt, given how he also pressed people with questionable characters into service while in power. But there is no gainsaying the depth of chasm that has developed between Obasanjo and his protégés in power and in party leadership.
And as battle is about to be joined for 2015, those who sidelined and ignored Obasanjo in the past couple of years have suddenly rediscovered his usefulness for their ambition.
Never mind that Obasanjo serially lost even in the polling booth in front of his house, the truth is that in the contemporary configurations of power in Nigeria, they will ignore Obasanjo only at their peril. Obasanjo knows the workings of the levers of power and his shadow frighteningly hangs over the political system. My father used to tell me the old Fulbe proverb of the cripple that cannot milk a cow but can use the stump going for a hand to pour away the milk.
Thursday, 16 October 2014
Obasanjo’s amazing apotheosis
The occasion was the triumphant return to their old PDP base of some political grandees, from Ogun State led by former governor, Gbenga Daniel (but wait a minute, didn’t incumbent governorAmosun say Gbenga isn’t from Ogun state?).
As HARDBALL noted, PDP National Chairman AdamuMu’azu, “led the beggars”: “I want to join Governor Daniel to appeal to our Baba, President Olusegun Obasanjo, to forgive us. We are your children and we have been making mistakes; we have made mistakes and so we apologise.
Obasanjo
Obasanjo
Please, Baba, we apologise; come and lead us. Even the President (Goodluck Jonathan) is waiting for you to come and lead us; you are our leader, we appreciate you, we thank you for your leadership and courage”. Mu’azu became more emotional: “Baba should please forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. We are your children; we have made mistakes.
Please forgive us and come and lead us to victory in the 2015 elections. Baba should not throw away the baby with the bath water”.
Senate President, David Mark, also weighed in:”In any disagreement of this nature, the older person is always right. All of us in the PDP are appealing to you to come back to the party”.
A few days later, Obasanjo responded with typical bluster: “There are, for me, issues of principle, morality, honour, integrity, commitment and character which are paramount…I cannot accept that the zonal leader of my political party and, worse still, in my zone, will be an indicted drug baron wanted in America.
How do I explain that to friends outside Nigeria?…I have national and international standard to maintain and reputation to keep and sustain. For these reasons, I opted to remain active only at the ward level of the party till the leadership of the party does the needful”.
Let’s take Obasanjo’s appeal to “principle, honour, integrity”, with a healthy dose of salt, given how he also pressed people with questionable characters into service while in power. But there is no gainsaying the depth of chasm that has developed between Obasanjo and his protégés in power and in party leadership.
And as battle is about to be joined for 2015, those who sidelined and ignored Obasanjo in the past couple of years have suddenly rediscovered his usefulness for their ambition.
Never mind that Obasanjo serially lost even in the polling booth in front of his house, the truth is that in the contemporary configurations of power in Nigeria, they will ignore Obasanjo only at their peril. Obasanjo knows the workings of the levers of power and his shadow frighteningly hangs over the political system. My father used to tell me the old Fulbe proverb of the cripple that cannot milk a cow but can use the stump going for a hand to pour away the milk.
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