A former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has forgiven the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for “bad conduct and mistreatment” meted out to him.
This is a sequel to an apology tender to the former president by the PDP on Saturday. The party had in March apologised to Nigerians for its misgovernance pleading for a second chance.
The opposition party’s national chairman, Uche Secondus, led a 21-member delegation of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on a courtesy call on Mr Obasanjo, when the apology was tendered.
This is according to Obasanjo’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, who made this known in a statement.
Mr Akinyemi said other issues raised by Mr Secondus were the situation in the country, the progress of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the grand alliance of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP).
He said the PDP national chairman also appealed with Mr Obasanjo to continue to proffer solutions to the nation’s socio-economic and political problems.
Mr Akinyemi said that Mr Obasanjo granted forgiveness to the party in line with a biblical injunction.
He said the former president urged them to pay attention to issues that were needed to restore PDP as a party of a good image, discipline, commitment, leadership and moral principles.
On CUPP being championed by PDP, he said Mr Obasanjo advised that the coalition should remain an alliance as being projected and not a merger.
“The MoU for a grand alliance is what it says, a grand alliance. It is neither a merger nor absorption of any political party by any political party.
“It is clear for the parties which agreed to be members of the alliance to work together to achieve one important common objective at the national level for the election of 2019.
“Where it is appropriate and necessary, members may also form alliance and co-operation at the state level.
“The individuality and independence of each political party must be observed and respected by all parties concerned.
“It is also desirable that in the process of implementing the MoU to achieve the set objective, solidarity and focus on the objective must be maintained.
“Each member political party must be cautious of fake news, rumours, blackmail, and seeds of discord that may be sown among them from external quarters,” Mr Akinyemi quoted Mr Obasanjo as saying.
He said the former president at the meeting reiterated that he had quit partisan politics, but would continue to make himself available to guide any party that so desired.
Mr Akinyemi, however, maintained that he would prioritise his service to the African Democratic Congress.
Mr Secondus, who spoke with journalists shortly after the meeting, said the chieftains of the party were in Abeokuta to consult with Mr Obasanjo ahead of the 2019 general elections.
