Jonathan, Obasanjo peace meeting flops

ABUJA — THERE were indications last night that
the elaborate meeting on Monday geared towards
ending the frosty relationship between President
Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun
Obasanjo ended in fiasco.
Vanguard learnt from competent sources at the
meeting that President Jonathan and other top
leaders of the ruling People’s Democratic Party,
PDP, who requested for the meeting with Obasanjo,
felt disappointed with its outcome and may not
push the idea of mending fences with the former
leader again.
One of the sources, who was present at the
meeting, told Vanguard that Obasanjo merely
accepted to allow Jonathan and other PDP
chieftains to visit him as a mark of respect to the
office of the President and not to make peace with
him.
According to the source, Obasanjo deliberately
requested two prominent clergymen to be present
as witnesses at the meeting to prove the point that
it is Jonathan who actually caused disaffection
between them by reneging on previous decisions
they jointly reached.
It was learned that but for the respect Obasanjo
has for the office which he once held, he would
not have accepted to host Jonathan because of his
recent provocative utterances against prominent
Nigerian statesmen, including him (Obasanjo).
Why the meeting flopped
The source said Obasanjo was irked by last
Sunday’s statement in which Jonathan referred to
some elder statesmen behaving as ‘motor park
touts’, a classification, Obasanjo reportedly took in
bad faith.
The source said that at the meeting, Obasanjo
opened up to those present and the two clergy
men he had invited to ask Jonathan whether he
had been honest with him and those he had
assured he would run for a single term, if they
supported him to win the last election.
The source said: “It is true that Obasanjo invited
the two clergymen to witness the meeting which
he grudgingly accepted to host because of the
respect he has for the office of the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. He did not want to turn
the president and his entourage down since they
requested to see him in his house as part of their
rally in the state.
“But the truth of the matter is that Baba has not
shifted grounds on any issue since he feels that
Jonathan has not been fair to him by not adhering
to any of the previous agreements reached with
him.
Motor park touts classification
“What really irked Baba is the reference by
Jonathan to some Nigerian elder statesmen as
behaving as ‘motor park touts’ a day before
begging him to grant him audience in Abeokuta.
The man really feels insulted by such unfortunate
outburst from the president of a country.
“There was no need to enter into any peace deal
with Jonathan because similar deals done in the
past only resulted in more attacks by him and his
aides on Baba only for them to come begging for
forgiveness once it is close to election.”
Obasanjo and Jonathan with members of the
party’s Board of Trustees, BoT, met for about three
hours in Abeokuta on Monday with a view to
settling the differences between the two leaders
and to seek his support for the president’s re-
election, next month.
Obasanjo, who appears upset by the way Jonathan
has so far run the country, has often taken to
public fora to criticise him, including an open letter
entitled “Before it is too late” and a critical book
entitled “My Watch” which a court had barred from
being circulated.