2015: North mounts pressure on Obasanjo to speak up

The focus shifted to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday, as debate continues on whether or not President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 had an agreement with Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to run for just one term.
Political associates of the former President from the North have challenged him to speak up on the rumoured second term ambition of Jonathan “before it is too late.”
They are referring to a speech Obasanjo reportedly made in March 2011 at the grand finale of the PDP Presidential rally at the Eagles Square, Abuja.
The former President was quoted to have said: “We are impressed with the report that Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has already taken a unique and unprecedented step of declaring that he would only want to be a one-term President.
“If so, whether he knows it or not, that is a sacrifice and it is statesmanly. Rather than vilify him and pull him down, we as a party should applaud and commend him and Nigerians should reward and venerate him.
“He has taken the first good step, let us encourage him to take more good steps to achieve what we need to achieve for this country by voting for him in landslide victory as the first elected President of Nigeria on basis of our common Nigerian identity and for the purpose of actualising the Nigerian dream.”
A close associate of Obasanjo told Daily Independent on Tuesday in Abuja that the best way out of the current quagmire was for him (Obasanjo) “to behave like a father to the party, to the nation and speak out before it is too late,” warning that silence on his part “might signal the end of PDP’s rule in 2015.”
Obasanjo was Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) until April 2012 when he resigned.
Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State at the weekend disclosed that Jonathan signed an agreement with PDP Governors ahead of the party’s Presidential primary election in December 2010 that he (Jonathan) would serve for a term of four years only if he was  elected President.
The Governor said the agreement became necessary in view of the agitation from the North that the region must complete the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s term.
The Presidency, former Senate Minority Whip, Kanti Bello, as well as one of the leading lights in the pre-2011 agitation for a northern President, Tanko Yakassai, have all dismissed Aliyu’s claim.
However, a source disclosed that no fewer than 20 Governors of the party, indeed, signed the agreement with the President in December 2010.
According to a report, those who signed the said agreement at a NEC meeting of the PDP in December 2010 were Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Aliyu of Niger State, Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, Mohammed Goje of Gombe State and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.
Others included Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, Jonah Jang of Plateau State, Akwe Doma of Nasarawa State (now out of office), Sani Danladi (Deputy Governor) of Taraba State, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi, late Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, Shuaibu Usman of Kebbi State, Ibrahim Idris of Kogi State (now out of office), Aliyu Shinkafi of Zamfara, Gbenga Daniel of Ogun, Ada Okwuonu (deputy, Imo State) and Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State.
Also listed as present at the said meeting were some NWC members, including the then PDP National Chairman, Okwesileze Nwodo; Deputy National Chairman, Mohammed Haliru Bello, who later became Acting Chairman and then Minister of Defence; and the then National Secretary, Kawu Baraje. Former Chairman of the PDP BoT, Anthony Anenih, was also at the meeting, according to the report.
But a former Governor who is now a serving Senator described the report as “the most embarrassing thing to happen to PDP.”
“If the report is true, I have not said it is true, then it is the most embarrassing thing to the PDP because names have been mentioned in the report; are we saying those whose names were mentioned have all suddenly lost their honour to either deny or confirm the report?
“For some of us, whether they deny or not, that is immaterial, what is important to us and which quite a good number of us from the North have been telling ‘Baba’ (Obasanjo) is to tell the world what he meant by that speech or what prompted him to make that speech.
“To the best of my knowledge, the former President played key roles in mediating between the President and those who stood against him, especially from the North; so if there was no commitment of sort, I think the man would not have made that statement at the rally, everybody was there.
“We will continue to impress it on Obasanjo to explain to the world because if he keeps quiet over this, the PDP is at the risk of losing power in 2015; I doubt he would want to, but we will also not relent at all.”
The source, a founding member of the PDP, recalled that he, alongside others from the North, had “politely confronted” Obasanjo early last year when rumours about Jonathan’s second term ambition first filtered out.
“Early last year, a few of us politely confronted the former President and reminded him of the promise of a single term; I think it was about two weeks after our encounter that he had a private audience with President Jonathan on the issue but according to him (Obasanjo), the President neither denied nor confirmed; he never said anything but brought up other issues for discussion instead.”
The source disclosed that it was a week after Obasanjo’s private audience with the Jonathan on his rumoured second term ambition that he resigned as chairman of the BoT of PDP.