HOW I CAN WORK WITH JONATHAN AGAIN — OBASANJO
HOW I CAN WORK WITH JONATHAN AGAIN
— OBASANJO
Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo whispering to Goodluck Jonathan, a former president too while
latter was still in power
A former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Tuesday said
he would work with former President Goodluck Jonathan for the growth of
Nigeria.
Mr.
Obasanjo however added that he would never work with Mr. Jonathan as Nigeria’s
president again.
The former
President made his position known in a statement on Tuesday.
The
letter, which excoriated President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in office,
has since gone viral as many Nigerians continue to subject its contents to
diverse interpretations.
Mr.
Obasanjo, who supported Mr. Buhari of the All Progressives Congress during the
2015 presidential election said his love for Nigeria and Mr. Jonathan’s lacklustre
performance made him dump the PDP to support the APC.
“All these
led me to take the unusual step of going against my own political Party, PDP ,
in the last general election to support the opposite side,” he wrote.
“I saw
that action as the best option for Nigeria . As it has been revealed in the
last three years or so , that decision and the subsequent collective decision
of Nigerians to vote for a change was the right decision for the nation.
“For me ,
there was nothing personal , it was all in the best interest of Nigeria and,
indeed , in the best interest of Africa and humanity at large. Even the horse
rider then , with whom I maintain very cordial , happy and social relationship
today has come to realise his mistakes and regretted it publicly and I admire
his courage and forthrightness in this regard.
Speaking
about Mr. Jonathan, Mr. Obasanjo maintained that the former President has a
role to play in taking Nigeria to another height, but not in his capacity as
president.
“He (Mr. Jonathan) has a role to play on the side line for the good of Nigeria
, Africa and humanity and I will see him as a partner in playing such a role
nationally and internationally , but not as a horse rider in Nigeria again,”
Mr. Obasanjo wrote.
He argued
further that the situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get Mr.
Jonathan out of office is playing itself out again.
“First , I
thought I knew the point where President Buhari is weak and I spoke and wrote
about it even before Nigerians voted for him and I also did vote for him
because at that time it was a matter of “any option but Jonathan ” ( aobj).
“But my
letter to President Jonathan titled : “Before It Is Too Late” was meant for him
to act before it was too late. He ignored it and it was too late for him and
those who goaded him into ignoring the voice of caution.
“I know
that praise- singers and hired attackers may be raised up against me for verbal
or even physical attack but if I can withstand undeserved imprisonment and was
ready to shed my blood by standing for Nigeria, I will consider no sacrifice
too great to make for the good of Nigeria at any time . No human leader is
expected to be personally strong or self -sufficient in all aspects of
governance.”
In 2013,
Mr. Obasanjo dramatically supervised the shredding of his PDP membership card
and declared he was quitting partisan politics.
In his
recent letter, he called on Nigerians to ignore both the ruling APC and the now
opposition PDP, stressing the need for the emergence of an ‘alternative’
movement.
On
Tuesday, the presidency said it could not immediately respond to Mr. Obasanjo’s
letter.
Similarly,
the APC said it was still studying the content of the letter and would probably
respond at the right time.
