Former President
Goodluck Jonathan yesterday visited Ibogun, Ogun State, the ancestral village
benefactor, Baba Olusegun Obasanjo.
The rare meeting
between the duo who were bitterly divided in the run-up to the 2015 election
saw Obasanjo tell his host how wise he (Jonathan) had become since leaving
office.
“When leaders come,
they have little or no experience. When they have to go is when they have
really amassed a lot of experience, where they have wisdom, their experience is
in high demand.
“Those like you and
me who have the grace of God to bow out gracefully, if there is now what I call
constitutional office, we have residual responsibilities for Nigeria,"
Obasanjo said.
With Jonathan on the
trip, which observers branded as fence mending yesterday, were former Minister
of Special Duties, Tanimu Kabir Turaki; a former Minister of National Planning,
Prof. Suleiman Abubakar; King A.J. Turner; and a former Chairman of the Federal
Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Engr. Jide Adeniji.
They flew into the
village in a chartered helicopter at about 11.30am.
The visit lasted
about four hours of which Obasanjo and Jonathan alone spoke behind closed doors
for 40 minutes.
No member of
Jonathan’s entourage or Obasanjo’s associates was allowed into the inner room
where the secret talks took place.
Obasanjo received
his visitor in company with ex-Governor Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was ousted
as National Secretary of the then ruling PDP by Jonathan and his loyalists.
Obasanjo took
Jonathan round the village for a door-to-door greeting of the elders and the
residents.
Obasanjo, welcoming
Jonthan, said: “The first point I want to make is to thank you very sincerely
and most sincerely for taking it upon yourself to pay us a visit at this point
in time and at this location. Secondly, since you left office, you hardly have
time to sit down and relax like you have been able to do today and I hope, I
sincerely hope and pray for more such relaxed situation where we can reminisce
on situations of the past that we have been through in this country and we can
also look at what the future portends."
An inside source
described the meeting as "a reunion of Baba and his son."
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