Health experts believe that people eat for two reasons: for pleasure and to assuage hunger. In African setting, eating together is a symbol of truce where warring parties are involved. That is why supporters and admirers of President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo must have rejoiced when the two statesmen had lunch together at the presidential villa penultimate Friday, after bouts of verbal exchange.
Jonathan would most probably not be anywhere near his present position without Obasanjo’s influence. His fortuitous emergence as the Bayelsa State governor, vice president and president were all made possible by Obasanjo’s political influence. He was minding his business as the deputy governor of Bayelsa State before the former governor of the state, Diepriye Alamieyeseigha, jumped bail in the UK after he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police for money laundering. The then President Obasanjo, who was in the heat of his anti-corruption campaign, piled pressure on the Bayelsa State House of Assembly to impeach Alamieyeseigha, paving way for Jonathan to step in as governor.
It was also Obasanjo who nominated Jonathan as the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s running mate. As fate would have it, Yar’Adua died midway into his first term, and Jonathan fortuitously became the president. And while Jonathan dilly-dallied on declaring his interest in vying for the presidency after serving out Yar’Adua’s tenure, Obasanjo came out and publicly urged him to throw his hat in the ring, in spite of the zoning arrangement in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the ensuing battle for the presidential ticket of the party, Jonathan defeated the consensus candidate of the North, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, before going on to win the election.
In a clear instance of the instability of human relationships, Obasanjo and Jonathan fell apart after the former publicly criticised Jonathan’s handling of the destructive activities of the Boko Haram sect in the northern part of the country. At the 40th anniversary of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s call to ministry at the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, Delta State in November last year, Obasanjo had carpeted Jonathan for not deploying soldiers to invade the towns that harboured members of the sect and crush them like he (Obasanjo) did in Odi and Zaki Biam in Bayelsa and Benue states respectively after some militant youths in the communities allegedly killed policemen and soldiers deployed there to keep the peace.
A few days later, Jonathan seized the opportunity of an interview he had on national television to dismiss Obasanjo’s invasion of Odi as nothing, but a monumental failure because the soldiers who invaded Odi only succeeded in killing and maiming innocent souls, while the real culprits escaped. From then on, both parties seized every available opportunity to throw words at each other before the surprise lunch they had together at the Presidential Villa.
As would be expected, many supporters of Obasanjo and Jonathan hailed the development as an end to the feud between them. But the more discerning of Jonathan’s supporters, who are familiar with the antecedents of Obasanjo in such matters, have reasons to panic. A reputation for which the former president would never be found wanting is his ability to turn a lunch date with his political foe into regrettable moment. So recurrent is this aspect of his political life that observers now say he who Obasanjo wants to punish he first gives dinner.
And instances of this abound. In January 2005, a lunch date supposedly designed to reconcile Obasanjo and the then PDP Chairman, Audu Ogbeh, became the latter’s albatross. Obasanjo had fallen out with Ogbeh over a letter Ogbeh wrote, accusing the presidency of worsening the political crisis in Anambra State. After several meetings were convened by party chieftains to reconcile the two, Obasanjo rode in the same vehicle with Ogbeh to the latter’s house where they feasted on pounded yam and egusi soup. Thereafter, Ogbeh went on national television and announced that whatever misunderstanding he had with Obasanjo had been settled. Less than a week later, Obasanjo struck. He went to Ogbeh’s house and told him to resign as party Chairman.
Before then, there had been the celebrated quarrel between Obasanjo and the late former Senate president, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo. A politician of immense political clout, Okadigbo had carried on his leadership of the Senate with little or no deference to Obasanjo, a situation that provoked a kind of personality clash between the two statesmen. After a series of quiet but bruising confrontations, a truce was brokered between them, following which Obasanjo was on hand to commission a new residence that was built for Okadigbo. At the commissioning ceremony, they had dinner together and Obasanjo even danced with Okadigbo’s wife. A few days later, Obasanjo brought his training as an engineer to bear by engineering Okadigbo’s impeachment and the then Senate president was removed.
Other politicians who have suffered the similar fate in Obasanjo’s hand include the immediate past governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, and former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. After a serious disagreement between Obasanjo and Daniel over the latter’s successor, some Yoruba elders decided to intervene as Jonathan prepared to take his campaign train to the South West in the build-up to the 2011 presidential election. Consequently, the Yoruba elders, including Chief Afe Babalola; Chief Kessington Adebutu; Chief Kenny Martins; the Olubara of Ibara, Oba Jacob Omolade; and former governorship aspirant of the party, Dr. Femi Majekodunmi, stormed Obasanjo’s residence with Daniel and supposedly worked out a truce. Daniel was said to have prostrated for Obasanjo who, in response, declared that his sins were forgiven. And to demonstrate the fact that he had truly forgiven Daniel, Obasanjo reached for his pocket and brought out a kolanut which they shared and ate. Today, Daniel is like a fly caught in the spider’s web as he fights the battle of his life with forces that owe their existence to the former head of state.
The emergence of the presidential campaign posters of the Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, and his Rivers State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi, days after Jonathan and Obasanjo had lunch in Aso Rock, is seen by many as a concomitant of the incident. Any need for more proofs?
