Obasanjo Knelt To Beg Ghaddafi Over Third Term – Fayose
BY MUSA SIMON REEF, ABUJA – Nigerians were afforded an opportunity of peeping into the dark past fraught with failed attempts by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to gain an additional term at the expiration of his two-term tenure in 2007.
Speaking in the current edition of The Interview, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, unearthed the behind-the-scene maneuverings by the former military leader to frustrate the presidential ambition of his deputy, Atiku Abubakar to succeed him.
According to a press release signed by the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of The Interview, Mr Azu Ishiekwene, Fayose recalled how “Obasanjo used him to wreck the presidential ambition of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the chance of former Kaduna State governor, Ahmed Makarfi, becoming the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in 2007.
“He said in his naivety, Obasanjo also used him to attack former Abia State Governor, Orji Kalu, among other political foes.
“Fayose told The Interview that the scale fell off his eyes when on a trip with former President Obasanjo to Tripoli, Libya, where Obasanjo had gone to ask Moummar Ghaddafi to support his Third Term bid, the former Libyan president treated Obasanjo like a serf.
“It was such a pathetic scenario, so shameful. Obasanjo was speaking rapidly like a parrot. I was shocked beyond words. I never knew Obasanjo would be that humble.
“He was on one knee till the end of the conversation. Ghaddafi kept quiet and was just watching Obasanjo. When Obasanjo stopped rambling, Ghaddafi said, ‘Have you finished? Just know that I will not attend that meeting. I have other engagements.”
The Ekiti governor also disclosed how his two visits to Atiku at the height of Obasanjo’s third term struggle were reported to the former president. “Obasanjo told me that when you capture a general and you don’t kill him, he’ll come back and kill you; that since Atiku tried to stop him and failed, he must pay for it. And he (Atiku) is still paying for it.”
The press release further said, “In a statement that could reverberate beyond Nigeria’s shores, Fayose said he knew, as an insider at the time, that Obasanjo betrayed former Liberian President, Charles Taylor to induce U.S. support for this Third Term bid, after promising Taylor safe haven in Nigeria.
“He revealed how the current Chairman of the PDP was sidelined in favour of a sick and stubbornly reluctant Umaru Yar’Adua and his role in it as chairman of the Presidential Selection Committee.
“Fayose warned Kalu against “selling” the Igbo down the river “for cheap politics” and blamed President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for making IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu popular.
“He also spoke on his attempts to reach Buhari directly; former governor Kayode Fayemi’s relationship with APC leader Bola Tinubu; and futile attempt to discourage former governor Peter Odili from accepting Obasanjo’s dummy that he was heir apparent.”
