The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, yesterday, held a closed-door meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abeokuta over his presidential bid.
While Tinubu’s opponent, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, has been a frequent guest of Obasanjo, the frosty relationship between the former Lagos State governor and Obasanjo thawed in the run up to the 2015 general elections.
Shortly after Obasanjo had openly tore his membership card of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tinubu joined other APC leaders to present the party’s candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, to him, requesting that the former president becomes the party’s navigator.
The duo had not been seen together since then, though he was at the 78th birthday of the former president held at Abeokuta in March 2015. They have since kept their distance as Obasanjo withdrew his support for President Buhari and the APC.
Not long after, the honeymoon between Obasanjo and the APC-led administration ended as the former president became a fierce critic of President Buhari, with some open letters to the president released at intervals on the state of the country.
Eight years after Tinubu’s last visit to Obasanjo’s penthouse residence inside the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, the APC candidate paid another visit, this time on behalf of himelf. He arrived at the residence around 1:10p.m. when the chopper landed and immediately went into a closed-door meeting with the former president, which lasted more than an hour.
The APC flag-bearer, however, could not address newsmen after the meeting because of the teeming crowd. He, thereafter, proceeded to the MKO Abiola International Stadium to address party chieftains.
After pronouncing blessings on APC members at the stadium, Tinubu told them that it was not yet time for campaign. The presidential candidate said he was in Ogun to greet them and the people of the state.
Tinubu also acknowledged the “good works” of the governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, and the support people of the state had continued to give to him.
Tinubu visited Obasanjo in company of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; APC former chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
He was received by Governor Abiodun, former governors Segun Osoba and Gbenga Daniel, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo and other top government functionaries.
An inside source told The Guardian that Tinubu, Abiodun, Gbajabiamila, Osoba, Akande, Ribadu and others first held a meeting with the Balogun Owu behind closed doors.
After about an hour, the former president pulled Tinubu and they both went into a private room for another meeting. It was gathered that the duo had a private discussion not known to any of those who went in with the APC national leader.
It was learnt that Tinubu later had lunch at Obasanjo’s place before he departed after about two hours. When he was accosted by pressmen downstairs, the presidential candidate refused to grant an interview as he ‘hopped’ into the waiting bus that conveyed him to the MKO Abiola Stadium.
Scores of APC stalwarts had stormed the former president’s residence, singing, drumming and dancing.
REACTING to the visit, former National Vice Chiarman (South) of the PDP, Chief Bode George, yesterday, expressed confidence that Obasanjo would not mince words in telling the truth to Tinubu on the 2023 election. He, however, stated that it was Tinubu’s right to seek advice and words of wisdom from Obasanjo.
