PDP tells Obasanjo that it will not die as a political force if he refuses to return to the party

NIGERIA'S main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has told former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo that it will not force him to return as a member and will not die as a political force without him.

Chief Obasanjo was twice elected president of Nigeria on the platform of the PDP in 1999 and 2003 but in 2015 he tore up his party card after an altercation. Since then, Chief Obasanjo has vowed never to return to the party,  saying he would rather remain a statesman, working for the interest of the nation.

During a recent meeting with the chairman of the PDP's national caretaker committee Senator Ahmed Makarfi in Abeokuta, Chief Obasanjo said he would remain non-partisan from now on. He passed his message on to Senator Makarfi, who it appeared had come to woo him back into the PDP.

Chief Obasanjo said: “I have told the chairman that I was in the PDP before but not now. God forbid that when a dog vomits, it will go back to eat its vomit, no.

“I have said no partisan politics for me again but Nigeria is my passion until death do us apart and anything that concerns Nigeria, the good of Nigeria, you’ll see my involvement. So, the chairman has come to greet me and I greet him and now that we have greeted ourselves, the chairman will be going, you gentlemen and ladies of the press, you can now go, leave the chairman alone.”

PDP publicity secretary  Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said: “He has said it before that he won’t return to the party, so we are not going to force him as no individual is bigger than the party. Obasanjo has the right to hold his opinion but the PDP will not die, either he joins us or not.

“We respect his opinion and there is nothing to say more than that. He is an individual and we respect him.”

Meanwhile, as the countdown to the December 9 elective convention of the PDP draws nearer,  the southwest geopolitical zone has been warned of the danger of losing the national chairmanship of the party if it failed to agree on a consensus candidate. A former minister of police affairs Adamu Waziri, gave the warning in Abuja on Wednesday at the declaration of a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, for the office of the national chairman of the party.

Mr Waziri warned that the zone would be the loser in the event of the inability of any of the aspirants from the zone to emerge victorious at the December convention. He called on the aspirants from the zone to close ranks and present a common front at the convention in the interest of the party.