Jonathan Okays PDP BoT Visit To Obasanjo Over Letters

The
chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, is
leading other top leaders of the board in a
renewed effort to end the well-publicised rift
between President Goodluck Jonathan and his
estranged political godfather, ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo.
Anenih and his
team, it was learnt, have the president's
blessing and have resolved to intervene at the
BoT meeting scheduled for next week in Abuja.
Their intervention, sources in the BoT said, is to
ensure that the ruling party goes into 2015 a
united house.
President Jonathan and Obasanjo had engaged
in a game of denial last year over speculation
that their once rosy relationship had turned sour
and what proved to be incontrovertible evidence
that their relationship had broken down
irretrievably, was the exchange of open letters
on some burning national issues at the tail-end
of 2013.
Since the exchange of letters became public and
the tension it generated in the polity
heightened, moves have been made to
reconcile both leaders to enable the PDP settle
down to the rigours of strategizing for 2015
electioneering campaigns.
A top PDP BoT member, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, said a lot was being
done underground to reconcile the two leaders
of the party.
"It is true that the Board of Trustees of our party
has resolved to intervene in the feud between
President Jonathan and former president
Obasanjo. The matter must be urgently resolved
in order to put the party back on the track as we
approach the general elections.
"Nobody is happy with the situation and a lot is
being done behind the scenes to address it and
reconcile the two leaders. The party needs the
two of them operating on the same page in
order to stop the opposition from destroying the
country," he said.
"Whether it is on the agenda [of the BoT] or not,
we are deliberating on the issue with a view to
bringing the two leaders together.
"It is when they are together that our party can
move forward. Our chairman, Chief Tony
Anenih, is interested and we the trustees are
also interested. We don't mind going to meet
Obasanjo in Ota or Abeokuta. We have the
support of President Jonathan who is the leader
of the party", he added.
The source explained President Jonathan's
dilemma in replying the former president's letter
saying, "He would have shelved the idea but
doing so would mean admitting all the grave
allegations leveled against him, and replying the
letter would escalate it. But it was a situation
when silence was no longer golden".

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