Obasanjo withdraws from PDP

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has said he will no longer participate in the acitivies of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at all levels in protest over the cozying up Chief Buruji Kashamu, a man he accused of being a drug baron.

Obasanjo said he will cease to participate in any activity of party until the present  leadership distances itself from  Kashamu.

Obasanjo, in a one-page letter dated January 7, addressed  to embattled national chairman of the party, Ahlaji Bamanga Tukur,  described Kashamu as unfit to hold any position in the party.

The action of the former president, who recently wrote an 18 page letter blasting President Goodluck Jonathan and his leadership style is likely to further deepen the crisis plaguing the party that has been in power at the centre since return to democracy in 1999.

Obasanjo in the letter to Jonathan dated December, 2, 2013 had  alleged that Kashamu was wanted in the United States over drug related offences.

Kashamu had since convened press conferences to debunk the allegations of the former president.

He however admitted that he was once arrested in the UK for alleged drug offences, was freed Insisting that he is not on the wanted list of the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States.

The Ijebu Igbo born real estate mogul and politician also claimed that he spent whopping N3bn to recover the PDP party structure in Ogun state from former governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel and handed it to former president wondering why Obasanjo will now accused him of being a drug baron. Buruji also stated that he was

The full text of Obasanjo's three-paragraph letter to Tukur is reproduced hereunder:

Dear Chairman,
'While I believe that a good and truly national political party must be a microcosm of the nation in its membership, made up of all sorts of characters from near-saints to near-satan, I also believe that on no account should a known habitual criminal that is wanted abroad to face criminal charges levelled against him be extolled as a political leader in a respectable and wholesome nation-building political party. ' Buruji Kashamu has been so extolled in PDP in South-West geo-political zone which I personally find unsavoury. Politics played by any national political party must have morality, decency, discipline, principles and leadership examples as cardinal practices of the party. I have attached here recent documents that clearly indicate that your extolled PDP Zonal Leader in the South-West zone of Nigeria and an indigene of Ogun State is, to say the least, not a credit to the party as a member, let alone being a zonal leader. 'Since I stick in my practice of party politics to the hallowed and cherished principles enunciated above, I take this opportunity to let you know that while I continue to remain a card-carrying member of PDP, I cannot and I will not subscribe to a wanted habitual criminal being installed as my zonal leader in the party; a criminal for whom extradition has been requested by the US government. In the meantime, I will consider withdrawing my activity with PDP at local, state, zonal and national levels until the anomalous and shameful situation is corrected.'

Thank you.
Yours Sincerely, Olusegun Obasanjo