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Why I left PDP – Obasanjo

Published

8 years ago

July 15, 2018

Eric

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday, vowed to lead the coalition that would unseat President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

The former President, however, advised the 39 political parties and associations, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding in a grand alliance ahead of general elections last Wednesday, to be cautious of external forces which he believed might want to destabilise the arrangement.

Obasanjo spoke during a closed-door meeting with a 21-man team, led by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, which visited him in Abeokuta on Saturday.

The meeting was held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, the Ogun State captial.

Among those at the meeting were the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the PDP, Senator Walid Jibrin; a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George; a former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; and members of the National Working Committee of the PDP.

A source at the meeting, who spoke with one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity, said the ex-President told the gathering that he was ready to lead the coalition that would sack Buhari in the 2019 presidential election.

Obasanjo was also said to have told them that he played a prominent role in the formation of the coalition that met in Abuja last week where the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding to field a single presidential candidate in 2019.

The source added, “The former President asked the attendees (at the MoU signing) to get ready for a fight in 2019 and that he is ready to lead the coalition.

“He told us that it would not be a tea party, and that we should be ready to field a single presidential candidate and that all others would line up behind such candidate.

“He also warned us against saboteurs and that we must be ready to make sacrifices.”

It was also gathered that the former President told his visitors why he left the PDP.

According to multiple sources at the meeting, Obasanjo said he left the former ruling party when a sitting governor was busy abusing him and the leaders of the party refused to caution him.

“He said he decided to leave because the governor (name withheld ) was abusing him and we refused to caution him. He said the governor was also mobilising people to remove him as the chairman of the BoT. He said he decided to leave when we didn’t do anything about these,” the source added.

However, the media aide to the ex-President, Kehinde Akinyemi, in a statement after the meeting, quoted Obasanjo to have advised his guests that all members of the political parties in the PDP-led alliance “must be cautious of fake news, rumours, blackmail and seeds of discord that may be sown among them from external quarters.”

The PDP, African Democratic Congress, the Reformed All Progressives Congress and 36 other political parties had, last week, signed a MoU to forge a grand alliance ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Obasanjo, who expressed confidence in the arrangement, advised that the individuality and independence of each political party must be respected by all parties concerned.

He had added that “it is also desirable that in the process of implementing the MoU to achieve the set objective, solidarity and focus on the objective must be maintained.

“The MOU for grand alliance is what it says – a grand alliance. It is not a merger nor an absorption of any political party by any political party.”

According to the statement, in the delegation were some members of the NWC of the PDP, who apologised to the former President for the way he was treated by the former ruling party.

While the former President told them he would no longer play partisan politics, he stated that his doors would remain opened to those who might need his advice on the way to move the country forward.

While speaking with journalists after the meeting, Secondus said though Obasanjo was no more a member of the PDP, his advice would help the party as the 2019 elections draw near.

He said, “Obasanjo is a national leader in this country. He is a father of the nation. So, we came to consult him. Our deliberation, although a little bit private, is connected to the 2019 polls.

“Yes, it is true Baba is no longer a member of the PDP, but he is a father of the nation. I believe that regardless of political parties, his direction is highly needed now to rescue Nigeria.”

George equally said the grand alliance was needed to rescue the country from the precipice, saying good managers were needed to manage the affairs of the country better.

The Punch

Featured

Akume Leads Nigeria’s Delegation to Jesse Jackson’s Funeral in US

Published

1 hour ago

March 5, 2026

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has approved a five-person delegation to represent Nigeria at the final burial rites of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil rights leader, activist and former presidential candidate who died at age 84 on February 17, 2026, in Chicago.

Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is the leader of the delegation, according to a press statement from the Presidency on Wednesday.

Other members are the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa; the Special Presidential Envoy for Global and Pan-African Affairs, Brian Browne; and the Senior Special Assistant, Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye.

The delegation will deliver President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.

In an earlier tribute, President Tinubu described Reverend Jackson as a great friend of Nigeria and Africa.

“He was a moral voice and a formidable resistance to apartheid in South Africa. He played a leading role in the campaign for the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and other African National Congress leaders. He won critical support for sanctions against the then apartheid government,” President Tinubu wrote.

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Tinubu Nominates Oyedele As Minister of State for Finance, Moves Anite-Uzoka to Budget Ministry

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, has announced that “President Bola Tinubu has nominated Taiwo Oyedele as the minister of state for finance, replacing Doris Anite-Uzoka.

“Mrs Anite-Uzoka will now move to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as the Minister of State, her third portfolio in the administration.

“President Tinubu has today conveyed the nomination of Mr Oyedele to the Senate for confirmation in a letter to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

“Until President Tinubu nominated him as a minister, Mr Oyedele from Ikaram, Akoko, Ondo State, was the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which overhauled Nigeria’s tax system.

“Mr Oyedele, 50, is an economist, accountant and public policy expert.

“He attended Yaba College of Technology, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND) in accountancy and finance. He attended Oxford Brookes University and earned a BSc in applied accounting.

“He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.

“Mr Oyedele spent 22 years of his working career at PwC, joining in 2001 and rising to become the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.

“Mr Oyedele is also a professor at Babcock University in Ogun State and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.”

Featured

Defection: Atiku’s Son, Adamu, Resigns As Adamawa Commissioner

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

Adamu Abubakar, the first son of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has resigned as Adamawa State’s commissioner for works and energy development, days after Governor Ahmadu Fintiri defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

Abubakar’s resignation letter, dated 2 March 2026, was addressed to the governor through the Secretary to the State Government. He gave no reason for his departure.

The timing is pointed. Fintiri announced his defection to the APC in a statewide broadcast last Friday, saying his cabinet and the PDP’s state structure had moved with him. Within 24 hours, 22 commissioners and special advisers publicly announced they were following suit. Abubakar, whose father remains one of the PDP’s most prominent national figures, was not among them.

In a statement issued Monday night, Abubakar’s media aide Abdulaziz Jauro said the former commissioner thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve and pledged continued loyalty to the administration’s developmental agenda. He also expressed gratitude to his father “for granting him the moral support and blessing to serve the people of Adamawa State” — a line that, read in context, suggests Atiku was consulted on the decision.

Abubakar said his resignation was not a withdrawal from public life. “This does not mark the end of his commitment to public service,” the statement read, “but rather the beginning of new avenues for developmental collaboration.”

The resignation leaves unresolved the question of whether it reflects a political break with the governor over his defection or a personal decision unconnected to the broader party realignment now reshaping Adamawa’s political landscape.