President Goodluck Jonathan has directed his
aides to stop the media war against former President Olusegun Obasanjo with a
warning that any aide that errs will lose his job.
The PUNCH learnt in Abuja that the
presidential directive came on the heels of intervention by some unnamed
chieftains of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. The party lords were
said to have asked the President to caution his aides.
A Presidency source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said some members of the party felt that the exchange of words
between the President, his aides and the former President was not good for the
image of the party.
The source said, “The party informed the
President that the members of the opposition could capitalise on the
disagreement to cause a major friction between the two leaders of the party.
“The President has directed his aides not
to speak either directly or indirectly on anything that is injurious to the
former President on any issue. This is because some leaders of the PDP have
advised him not to take on the former President in a fight.
“Apart from the political implication of such, we
also believe that it could heat up the polity and cause tension in both the
party and the polity.
“Moreover, the party has seen that the opposition
is already trying to make gains from the fight and that will not be a good
thing either for the two leaders or our party.
“The President respects Obasanjo. He will not do
anything that will widen the gap between them. I am sure that the disagreement
will be settled.
“Besides, there are no plans by the President to
witch-hunt Obasanjo with any probe.”
A member of the National Working Committee of the
party, who spoke with selected journalists in Abuja on Sunday, said the party
was worried about the increasing animosity between the two senior members of
the party.
Obasanjo was the Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the PDP until April this year when he resigned his appointment.
Obasanjo stirred a hornet’s nest recently when he
gave an indication that Jonathan might be a weak leader because of the way he
had been handling the security challenges facing the country.
The former President said he directed the
security agencies to fish out the militants who killed some security men in
Odi, Rivers State, during his tenure as President.
Jonathan however used the occasion of his Media
Chat to respond to Obasanjo’s comment, saying the invasion of Odi during
Obasanjo’s presidency did not solve the problem.
Rather, he said, innocent lives were lost as the
security operatives did not succeed in killing the militants that were
suspected to have killed the security men.
Punch
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