2015: Jonathan set to probe Obasanjo

Six years after Olusegun Obasanjo left office, the federal government is set to probe his tenure. The move by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to make Obasanjo account for his conduct in office from 1999 to 2007 may be connected with the former leader’s constant criticisms of the current regime’s performance in the last two years.

Only on Wednesday during the Democracy Day celebration, Obasanjo was absent at the ceremony in Abuja. Instead, he was in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, where he declared that Governor Sule Lamido could do what Jonathan had failed to do as a leader since he was elected.

LEADERSHIP WEEKEND learnt that, as part of efforts to ensure that Jonathan secure  the PDP presidential ticket in 2015, he is set to show Nigerians that the hands of his sworn critics are, after all, not clean.

Top among those the Jonathan plans to expose, especially their alleged misdeeds in office, are Obasanjo and his cronies.

Although a presidency official denied the alleged move by Jonathan to probe Obasanjo, LEADERSHIP WEEKEND reliably gathered that there was no going back in the presidency’s resolve to review the books of the Obasanjo presidency.

 It was also learnt that Obasanjo’s endorsement of  Governor Lamido for the next presidential race was considered as an open confrontation with the government and “one attack too many”. 

Some of Obasanjo’s loyalists, who commented on the issue last night, dismissed it, saying that Aso Rock knows that the former president has nothing to hide.

Also, top members of the PDP caucus in the south-west ruled out the possibility of the presidency embarking on such “fruitless adventure”.

Obasanjo and the incumbent President Jonathan have been having a running battle for the control of the soul of the PDP in recent times, with the Abeokuta-born soldier-turned-politician casting aspersions on the leadership style of Jonathan.

A member of the dissolved Olusegun Oni-led zonal executive committee of the PDP in the south-west said since Jonathan had not declared his intention to seek re-election it was not likely that he would be wasting his time chasing perceived enemies.

He stated that if the move was true it would be counter-productive because neither the president nor the PDP would benefit from it.

“Even though nothing like that has come to our notice, the president has not told us so. I know the president won’t do such a thing; it will be counter-productive to the interest of the party in the south -west and even to the re-election ambition of the president in 2015,” he said.

source: leadership