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The five PDP Governors at Obasanjo’s house in Abeokuta
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According to Vanguard newspaper report, Obasanjo flatly refused to support Jonathan’s re-election bid when the visiting five PDP governors pleaded with him to support the incumbent President.
It was disclosed that Obasanjo maintained his stand against Jonathan’s style of administration, saying the incumbent President didn’t deserve his support.
“He told them the truth as it is that Jonathan’s leadership had really hurt the image of Nigeria at home and abroad and that they themselves should help him to change course so as to help Nigeria and Nigerians out the doldrums.
“Obasanjo made it clear to the visitors that he was not just speaking out for the sake of bringing Jonathan or his government down but to draw his attention to the urgent need to rise up and fight the monsters of insecurity and monumental corruption that are fast eating away the fabric of the nationhood and making Nigeria a mockery before the international community,” a source close to the Abeokuta meeting said on Friday.
On whether Obasanjo tabled any demand as a condition for backing Jonathan in next year’s presidential poll, the source hinted that the former head of state did not give any condition and was not keen on any since he was not ready to back down on his position.
“Look, let me tell you the truth; Baba stands on his position concerning Jonathan and his administration and he is not ready to change whatever he had said or written no matter who comes to him or not.
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“I can tell you that if the mission of the five governors was successful, one of them, who likes to talk at every event, would have been the first to speak. What happened was more of a mission not accomplished to say the truth,” the source said.
The former President was said to have given his visitors some words of consolation, saying, ‘the situation in Nigeria today is bad but is not beyond redemption’. “That means that something can still be done to change it, if there is courage and determination to do so.”
It was gathered that Obasanjo accepted to receive the five governors because of his respect for them as individuals and politicians who rode to national limelight through his instrumentality and not because of Jonathan or PDP.
