No rift between Obasanjo and Jonathan, says Abati

Nigeria’s presidency has debunked stories of rift between President Goodluck
Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo. To boot, it excoriated the
leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Mr Asari-Dokubo over his statement that the two leaders are fighting over 2015 election.

Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati described Asari-Dokubo’s statement as false.

“He claims that there is a rift between President Jonathan and former President Obasanjo, I keep saying it; there is no rift between President Jonathan and former President Obasanjo. The president has the utmost respect for the former president whom he regards as his father. He even calls him Baba. And I don’t think anybody can say
he has any evidence anywhere where the president has been disrespectful to the elderly man.”

Stories are abroad that the conflict between Jonathan and Obasanjo stemmed over Jonathan’s plan to stand for election in 2015. Obasanjo is said to have tapped Gov. Sule Lamido of Adamawa state and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state for the 2015 presidential election.

The belief is that the rift between Obasanjo and Jonathan so much caused some discomfiture within the party that it made the National Chairman Alh. Bamanga Tukur went to visit the former president at his Otta farm, on a fence mending mission.

But Obasanjo in dousing the stories of conflict ironically further revealed the underlying tension, by saying that his critical voice cannot be silenced by anyone.