Since the run up to 2019 general elections began, the main opposition party in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been striving to put its house in order, and to mend fences with those it felt it had injured, with the ultimate aim of wrestling power from the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party had earlier set up the Senator Lyiel Imoke committee to reach out to some of its aggrieved members with a view to assuaging their feelings and bringing them back to the fold. It had gone further to woo members of other political parties in a grand coalition aimed at forming a united front against the the APC .
Eailer, the former ruling party had tendered unreserved apology to Nigerians for what it believed were the many sins it committed during its 16-year reign. Now, the PDP has equally come out to apologize to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for what it claimed were the insults the former leader had received from the party.
Some people have hailed the PDP for being bold enough to admit that it had erred and apologized accordingly. Many people find it very difficult to say “I am sorry”, even when they know that they did something very wrong. That the PDP has mustered courage to apologize to Nigerians and to former President Olusegun Obasanjo is something that should be commended.
This notwithstanding, does the PDP actually need to apologize to former President Olusegun Obasanjo?
I, personally, do not think so. Instead, it is Obasanjo that should have apologized to PDP and to the Nigerian nation at large for all the bad things he did.
It was the Danish Existentialist Philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, who said that “in war, there is no innocent victim”. In that sense Obasanjo is culpable as the PDP in whatever sin the party was alleged to have committed. In other words, if Obasanjo or OBJ, as they call him, had received any insult from the PDP, or from any other group, he actually deserved it.
It was Obasanjo that created most of the problems the PDP had. He did everything with impunity. He never tolerated any opposition, or any dissenting voice. He was all knowing, and all powerful. He was an imperial leader. Once you failed to agree with him, he would organize a coup for your impeachment or removal.
It was Obasanjo that sponsored the removal of two Senate Presidents, three national chairmen of PDP, and the impeachment of a sitting Governor. He also declared a state of emergency in a state, which necessitated the suspension of all democratic institutions in that state for one year, without the approval of the National Assembly.
Obasanjo used the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intimidate and harass perceived political opponents. He seized the statutory federal allocations of a state for more than one year, simply because the leadership of the state had failed to agree with him.
Obasanjo who can hardly keep any long standing relationship, wrote two long letters to his former protégé and sitting President, Goodluck Jonathan, disparaged, insulted and called him all sorts of names. Thinking Muhammadu Buhari to be a saint and a new Messiah, Obasanjo began to work for the emergence of Buhari as President, so as to replace Goodluck Jonathan. He went further to tear his PDP membership card, the party on whose platform he ruled the country for eight years.
If therefore there was any PDP member, who out of disappointment or annoyance had called Obasanjo any bad name or had insulted him, there shouldn’t have been much ado about it. It was part of war, which Obasanjo had initiated.
But the PDP which is very desperate about coming to power next year wouldn’t mind about anything. They can even choose to dine with the devil if only that would make them achieve their desire.
The same thing applies to Obasanjo who now swears that Buhari must be chased out of Aso Rock next year. He is beginning to see the PDP as a viable partner through which that desire could be actualized.
That was why in spite of the fact that Obasanjo had earlier torn his PDP membership card, and had declared the party “dead”, he recently attended the PDP rally in Abeokuta, and later invited PDP leaders in his Ota Farm to plot of how to send Buhari back to Daura.
That’s OBJ, old Soldier no dey die.
