2015: Jonathan, 4 Northern Governors Meet Obasanjo
The meeting, which held behind closed doors at Obasanjo's hilltop mansion, lasted about 90 minutes. Seen as a means towards the resolution of the festering crisis that has rocked the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it is coming 48 hours after the Akwa Ibom State governor and chairman of the PDP Governors' Forum, Godswill Akpabio, held a brief session with the former leader in Abuja. It is suspected that the session Akpabio had with Obasanjo prepared the way for the Abeokuta parley between the two leaders whose relationship had been that of suppressed crisis of confidence and animosity.
After President Jonathan's arrival at the ex-president's residence, four northern governors also held a separate meeting with him (Obasanjo) at the same venue.
The governors who were at the Abeokuta meeting with Obasanjo were Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto).
The relationship between President Jonathan and some governors elected on the platform of the PDP, including at least two of the governors who were in Abeokuta, has equally been frosty lately owing to issues bordering on the running of the party as well as the propriety or otherwise of Jonathan's 2015 second-term ambition.
Some of the governors, especially those from the north, have maintained that it was the turn of their region to produce the nation's president in 2015 in accordance with the zoning formula of the ruling party.
But as the brief but curious meetings held in Abeokuta, the fate of the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is uncertain as some powerful forces within the party are pushing for his replacement amidst the insistence of the anti-Jonathan governors that Tukur's exit was the only panacea for peace in the party.
Ahead of the president's arrival, security was tightened in Abeokuta, especially around Obasanjo's residence, just as journalists were barred from entering the former president's residence.
Jonathan had arrived at Obasanjo's residence at 11:52am in company of security aides and headed straight into a meeting with his host.
The president later left Obasanjo's residence at 1:25pm and went to the private house of his special adviser on media and publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, who buried his late mother, Madam Taiwo Abati, in Abeokuta on Friday.
Details of the meeting were sketchy, but LEADERSHIP Sunday learnt that it was not unconnected with the president's 2015 re-election bid.
Fielding questions from reporters after signing the condolence register at Abati's residence in Asero, Abeokuta, President Jonathan, aside confirming his meeting with Obasanjo, said he remained the ex-president's son. Jonathan noted that if people heard that he came to Abeokuta and failed to visit Obasanjo, they would think that both of them had differences.
He said: 'Of course, you know that Reuben's house and former president Obasanjo's house are just about 10 minutes' drive to each other. It would not be proper if I'm coming to Ogun State to see Reuben who is just at Obasanjo's backyard and I would not stop over to greet him (Obasanjo). I'm Obasanjo's son.
'Even if he (Obasanjo) hears that, they would think that the president and Baba Obasanjo probably have some differences; so, I said that before coming to greet the family, let us stop over and greet him, and we did just that. We stopped over there. Even our helicopters are there in the Government House; we drove down here.'
Almost immediately after Jonathan's departure from Obasanjo's residence, the four Northern governors arrived at the former president's residence and held another round of closed-door meeting for about one hour.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Governor Nyako said he and his colleagues had come to consult with Obasanjo on important matters.
'Obasanjo is the most accomplished Nigerian ever, and will remain so for a very long time, and we have come to consult him on very important matters,' he stated.
An insider at the meeting, however, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the meeting revolved around the lingering crisis in the PDP ahead of the 2015 poll.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: 'I can tell you that the president came to visit Baba (Obasanjo) as part of efforts to settle the differences in the PDP and to reposition the party for the next elections.
'The meeting of the governors was just coincidental; the president wanted to come last night (Friday) but, as we learnt, he couldn't make it. That was why he came today (yesterday).
'All of them have seen that they still have a common ground to work together. We expect a decision that would make all members of the PDP come together.'
Tukur's fate shaky
As stakeholders in the PDP await the outcome of the meetings, there are strong indications that the president has come under intense pressure from close allies to dump Tukur as national chairman of the party.
LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the move, initiated and anchored by a serving minister who is a member of the president's kitchen cabinet, has already created a gulf amongst members of the president's most trusted team of five politicians.
Tukur has been an issue in the frosty relationship between Jonathan and some of the PDP governors who have insisted on his (Tukur's) exit as national chairman of the PDP.
According to our source in the know of the workings of the president's team of five which comprises three male and two female power brokers, the three disposed to the removal of Tukur are already shopping for his replacement even as they insisted that he must voluntarily resign or be forced to leave at the August 31 special convention of the PDP.
But the vocal two comprising a respected traditional chief from the south-south and a northern female power broker in the presidency have strongly argued against Tukur's exit as party chairman on the grounds that such was dangerous to the second-term ambition of President Jonathan.
As the development unfolds, President Jonathan has denied that he was under pressure to dump Tukur, saying he was at peace with the PDP national chairman.
This is just as Tukur has vowed to serve out his full term as national chairman of the PDP.
'The man's (Tukur) days as national chairman are already numbered because the same team that had protected him all along has insisted that he must go if only for peace to reign in the party,' the source told LEADERSHIP Sunday.
I' m not under pressure to dump Tukur - Jonathan
Political adviser to the president, Ali Ahmed Gulak, who spoke on behalf of his principal said calls for Tukur's removal as national chairman of the PDP were not enough to put the president under pressure.
'The question is: do you remove a national chairman just like that because some people do not like his face? These calls are not new; they have been there and will continue to be there, but such calls are not potent enough for the president to bow to them. In any case, the president does not just wake up one day and say he wants a national chairman removed; the administration of President Jonathan does not work that way.
'You just have to disregard the reports and calls making the rounds because such calls are mischievous and wicked because the president is at peace with the national chairman and all other levels of leadership of the PDP,' Gulak said.
I'll serve my full term – Tukur
Also reacting, Tukur said he was optimistic that he would serve out his full tenure as national chairman of the PDP.
Prince Oliver Okpala, Tukur's media assistant who spoke on behalf his boss, said: 'It is a laughable thing; just ignore those peddling such rumours that the president is under pressure to remove the national chairman; it is not true at all, may be in the imagination of those spreading the report.
'The man emerged through a duly constituted national convention of the party; under what guise will he resign? To be candid, His Excellency Dr Bamanga Tukur will spend his full term because he has done nothing to warrant the calls for his replacement and nothing will stop him from spending his full term as national chairman of the PDP.'
IBB will play statesman's role - Aides
In the meantime, aides and associates of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, have said that the former leader would play an elder statesman's role in the political processes that will lead to the presidential election of 2015.
In separate interviews with LEADERSHIP Sunday, the aides and associates including his key campaigners for the 2011 presidential election, Alhaji Nma Kolo and Salima Yusuf, said although Babangida is not happy with happenings in the PDP, of which he is a founding father, he still believed the party has credible Nigerians who can lead the country well.
A few weeks ago, Babangida urged the party to tread softly so that it would not lose the election in 2015.
A source close to the former military president who prefers anonymity said: 'You know that IBB is one of the brains behind the formation of the PDP, but recent developments have discouraged him from the party to the extent that I don't think he sees himself as a member of the PDP, though he has been telling us that there is no way he could go for elective office again.'