By JIDE AJANI, EDITOR NORTHERN OPERATIONS
The story is about how President Goodluck Jonathan is trying to manage the embarrassment that the Ogun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is creating as a result of the double lists of candidates for the April general elections.  It is also about the resolve of Governor Gbenga Daniel who is pitted against former President

Olusegun Obasanjo, the Ebora Owu (Spirit of Owu). Who blinks first?

It was a scare. And one which President Goodluck Jonathan did not take for granted.

Therefore, when, on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, the trio of former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, BoT’s, chairman, the indefatigable Chief Anthony Anenih; Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadome; and the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, met at the Asoludero Court residence of Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State in Sagamu, it became obvious that it was no longer a laughing matter.

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Governor Gbenga Daniel and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo

The day before, there had been rumours that Daniel was set to decamp from the party. Giving vent to that was a statement by the governor,  “If they want us here, we will stay; but if they don’t want us, we will…But, I can assure you we will break our fast tomorrow.”

The team that visited Daniel was dispatched by Jonathan.

Late Tuesday night, a strategy session had been hurriedly put together by the President and his inner group.  At that meeting was Anenih, an experienced politician fondly called ‘Mr.- Fix-It’. The meeting also had Jonathan as well as Oghiadome in attendance.  The meeting ended in the very early hours of Wednesday.  The trio of Anenih, Oghiadome and Baraje departed Abuja for Sagamu later that morning.

Anenih had to be present. He is known to admire the Ogun State governor and regards him highly.  In fact, when, in 2005, Anenih was honoured by one of the universities in the state, Daniel hosted him at that same Asoludero Court residence.  So, for Anenih, it was another home-coming.

Needless to say, the brouhaha in the state chapter of the party is over the list of candidates for the April elections.  On the one hand is Obasanjo’s candidate, General Tunji Olurin (rtd), for governorship and Obasanjo’s daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, for Ogun Central Senatorial District seat. These two emerged from a process which was conducted in Obasanjo’s private library.

Daniel’s list, which enjoyed the benefit of the national headquarters of the party which also sent observers, and which was held at the stadium, the designated venue, has Gboyega Isiaka for governorship and Lola Abiola-Edewor, daughter of Basorun M.K.O. Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, for the same senatorial seat as Iyabo.

Interestingly, Dimeji Bankole, Speaker of the House of Representatives, is on the list of Daniel, which also has Chief Joju Fadairo as state chairman.

Therefore, at that meeting in Sagamu, Anenih delivered Jonathan’s message to Daniel to the effect that “you do not need to leave the party.”

Sunday Vanguard was reliably informed that the governor responded by telling the presidential team that he was “too committed to President Jonathan to just leave the party like that.”

Daniel also said he respected his elders but that he would not “compromise on the choice of Gboyega Isiaka for the governorship.”

The governor was said to have restated how Obasanjo imposed candidates before he left office as president and that, even in some instances, some state governors were in a position to upturn Obasanjo’s choices but they respected him and allowed him to have his way.  He also reminded the meeting of how Obasanjo imposed the late President Umoru Yar’Adua  and had his way, not because he couldn’t be stopped but because Yar’Adua was a very good man.

Sunday Vanguard was also made to understand how party loyalists stormed the Asoludero Court and stopped Daniel from attending the South-West presidential campaign launch of Jonathani Ibadan.

It  was gathered that the candidates on Daniel’s list were the ones who mobilised massively to prevent him from moving out of the premises.

Their reason was said to have been that attending the Ibadan rally as a sign of respect for Jonathan would be a stab in the back for the candidates on the governor’s list.

It was learnt that by Thursday evening, Daniel was already in Abuja.

The trip, it was gathered, was because “the governor wanted to demonstrate to President Jonathan that he is committed to him and, therefore, wanted to attend the South-East rally with Mr. President.”

It was gathered that another meeting was scheduled for Aso Rock Presidential Villa this week.
But Sunday Vanguard was told by a competent source that the President took the threat of defection seriously.

Jonathan had reportedly told some confidants that he was in a dilemma; that Obasanjo had been nice to him; that Daniel had demonstrated unalloyed commitment to his presidential ambition and that he was in a quandary; but that God Almighty was in charge.

The Ogun governor’s threat had to be taken seriously.  There was the angle of Pastor Tunde Bakare, the running-mate to General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.  Then, there was the visit by Senator Rasheed Ladoja of the Accord Party who had also spoken to Daniel.

Yet, in all of these, a very close friend of Daniel said: “it is correct that several parties are making overtures to us but we are taking our time.

“This is because Otunba Gbenga Daniel has committed himself to President Goodluck Jonathan and will, therefore, continue to work for his victory; we are being restrained by the governor.

“The matter has even gone beyond the state governor’s ticket for the Senate; it is about those who have remained loyal and steadfast to the party in the face of all odds.“As we speak now, I can tell you that political parties like CPC, ACPN and Megaparty etc, etc, are making overtures.

“It is the governor who has continued to restrain us; left to many of us, we would have left the party because of this nonsense that is going on.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had recognised Obasanjo’s list based on a court order.

But, barely 24 hours after INEC displayed the names of the party candidates, PDP told a Federal High Court in Abuja that it would only recognise the list submitted to it by the Fadairo-led Executive Committee in Ogun State.

The party contended that the presiding Justice Abdul Kafarati erroneously granted the motion ex-parte filed before him by Obasanjo’s faction, insisting that it would only issue tickets to candidates that emerged from the primaries conducted by its Executive Committee in the state.