Obasanjo won't be sanctioned for anti-Jonathan comments - PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has said it will not sanction former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his negative comments on the party and President Goodluck Jonathan. Rather, it said it would continue to celebrate him over his achievements and the role he played in the party.

The National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, who disclosed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja during the week, said Obasanjo remains a member of the party.

Oladipo said, 'No, we can't sanction Baba Obasanjo. He is our leader and our father. We will continue to appeal to him to sheathe his sword and work with us. But I believe he might have been quoted wrongly in some of the statements credited to him in the newspapers.

'Baba loves us and we love him. But I want to emphasise that we can't and we won't sanction him.'

Meanwhile, our correspondent had gathered that the national leadership of the party and the Presidency were not comfortable with the criticism coming from its former national leader, even though they had done everything possible to pacify the former president but to no avail.

The former president had accused President Jonathan of squandering oil revenues, adding that the President was a bad manager of resources. He also said he would not sacrifice his life for any party's (PDP) interest.

On the contest for votes between the party and the All Progressives Congress in the South West in the upcoming elections, the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu, said PDP had worked enough to earn the confidence of the voters in the zone. He said anyone who thinks the party would come last in the upcoming election must be ready for a shocker.

Muazu said, 'The assumption is that the PDP will play second fiddle to the APC in the South West in this election, but those who have such an assumption are in for a shocker because the PDP has worked very hard over the past four years in wards and local government areas of the entire South West geopolitical zone.

'We are confident the opposition will find themselves in the shades far behind because people in the South West are very intelligent people; they don't just throw away their votes, they calculate and discern the characteristics of the Presidential candidates before they commit their votes.

'With Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, our former President and Board of Trustees Chairman, there (in Ogun), we believe he will not work against us despite what people assume in the contrary, we will win.' Punch