By; Niyi Ogungbola, Abeokuta.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described People Democratic Party (PDP) as an empty body, saying that the party has lost its “soul.”
Obasanjo disclosed this to reporters shortly after a closed door meeting with the factional National leader of PDP, Senator Ali – Modu Sheriff at his residence on Presidential Hill top Estate, Abeokuta, Ogun State, weekend.
According to Obasanjo, those that occasioned the “comatose” state of the party are going about “unperturbed.”
The former Chairman, Board of Trustees of PDP and who was also a two term President of Nigeria on the ticket of the party, sympathized with Sheriff, saying he was “carrying a dying baby” on his “laps.”
The former President who told Sheriff that he has quit partisan politics, also informed him that “PDP should be in intensive care unit” for proper attention so that the factional national leader will “becomes its undertaker.”
According to Obasanjo, one pall of misfortunes that have also fallen on the nation’s politics and democracy is that neither PDP is a strong opposition nor is the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a strong party in government.
Obasanjo said: “as they all want to say now, well, you were once the father of PDP’, I was once the leader, for eight years, I was the leader of PDP but the PDP that I was the leader of is not the PDP of today.
“The PDP of today, if you can talk of a party again as PDP, its soul has been taken out of it and those who allowed that to happen are, unfortunately, either in the country or out of the country unperturbed about the fate of the party and indeed the fate of the country.
“Because for our democracy to thrive, we need strong political party in government and strong political party in opposition for democracy to be strong and dynamic.
“Today, PDP can not claim to be a strong party in opposition, I don’t know if APC can claim, at the national level, to be a strong party in government either. Now that is part of the misfortune of this country today.
“That being the case, it must be the concern of all Nigerians that the present democratic dispensation must not be allowed to be derailed and for it not to be derailed, we must have a strong political party in government and a strong political party in opposition.
“When they talk about institution, a political party is an institution and in a democracy, it is a very important institution that we must all nourish and we must all cherish.
“I have said to my brother that I wish him well in the dying baby they have put on his laps because PDP is in comatose and he was of course not in PDP, he has never been in PDP until now.
“When I was in PDP, I tried and encouraged him to come and join PDP, but he did not come, but the PDP they have given him now is a dying PDP, a dying baby, it needs to be in intensive care, otherwise, he will just be an undertaker.
“But like I said, it is the responsibility of all Nigerians of goodwill and all friends of Nigeria that wish this country well that we should ensure that the institutions that will underpin a virile, dynamic, thriving democracy are put in place.”
On his part, Sheriff, clad in a brown flowing agbada and driven in Mazda SUV Jeep marked Lagos AAA673BL in company of aides and loyalists, admitted that the ex – President had told the truth about the state of PDP.
“Baba has spoken everything, Baba said the PDP given to me is a dying PDP, he built the PDP that everybody cherish, Baba, whether today in politics or outside politics, he has a role in Nigerian nation and everyone of us that is looking up to him, if we have a problem, we must come to him for solution.
“Therefore, since we are looking for solution weather he is inside, he has said he’s not going to play any partisan politics, we agree but he is our father, father of the Nigeria nation and the grandfather of PDP, therefore, the soul that has gone, he has to bring it back to us and through his advice, we will get through.
“You know, Baba is very correct, so many things have gone wrong and it will be alright Insha Allah. Baba has said it already, Nigeria needs a strong party in government and outside government.
“And he also said that both are needed for democracy to survive, he keeps saying this as a practical experience as a two time President of Nigeria, every wisdom that we want to lead our party, he has it and that is why we come to consult him.”
