Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo has said that he open to politicians from political parties as he does not currently hold any party membership.
Obasanjo, who was elected president of Nigeria under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and ruled the country for eight years under the platform, has repudiated his memebership of the party ahead of the 2015 general elections.
It is believed that he indeed contributed Significantlly in the defeat of the PDP at the polls following his trenchant attacks on the policies and person of former president Goodluck Jonathan whom it iwas widely known he bore some grudges.
Speaking on Monday when he played host to Idris Wada, governor of kogi state, at his hilltop mansion in Abeokuta, capital of Ogun state, Obasanjo said individuals make a party and not the other way round.
Wada is seeking re-election in Kogi later in the year.
Obasanjo left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on an acrimonious note in February, directing the
chairman of PDP in his ward to tear his membership card “into shreds”.
He had declared back then that he remained a “statesman internally and externally.
Obasanjo said, “We should understand first that, not the party makes the person, but the person makes the party. It is whom you are that you bring into the party. Though for now I remain a party-less Nigerian, I will continue to welcome any Nigerian with good leadership qualities. It does not matter which party you are in, either PDP, APC, Labour, APGA – any party at all – as long as you are a committed, sincere and a purposeful leader, I am ready for you. And that is what our brother is doing. I pray that this country will never be short of this type of people. Everybody is welcome. But they must be with good leadership traits, with genuine intention to improve the country.”
Wada described Obasanjo as a father of the nation, who remains dedicated and committed to the growth of the country. He said he was in Abeokuta to inform Obasanjo that an organisation conferred the best governor award to him.
“Everywhere we met Baba, we learnt a lot from him and we shall continue to learn from him. He is a father of the nation, a figure we admire – a committed Nigerian, who has devoted himself to the growth of the country,” he said.
“Since I was honoured as the best governor yesterday, in Lagos, I feel I should report to our father on the recognition we are getting.”
