Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West has denied the purported disagreement between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
This clarification was made by the party’s South- West Publicity Secretary, Waheed Lawal, in an interview in Ibadan on Saturday.
Lawal said, “The alleged feud between Tukur and Obasanjo is a figment of people’s imagination. We visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo before the town hall meeting held with the National Chairman of the party at Premier Hotel, Ibadan.
“Our visit to Obasanjo had Tukur’s endorsement and he (Obasanjo) welcomed us and gave us dinner. It was after this that we planned the zonal meeting. The notification that we gave for the meeting was published three days before the programme.”
While attributing Obasanjo’s absence at the meeting to his tight schedule, Lawal said, “We can give those, who did not attend benefit of the doubt. Perhaps, the notice was too short; perhaps, they had other engagements”.
He added, “Obasanjo hardly attends meetings of such nature. Because of his tight schedule and engagements, we used to hold such meetings in his house. But this time, we wanted to bring everybody together so that some people would not say that they could not come.”
On reconciling aggrieved party members in the zone, Lawal said, “Reconciliation is a continuous process. People that had, hitherto, not been talking are now coming together to talk.”
As part of the reconciliation efforts, Lawal said the committee would begin its senatorial meeting after the town hall meetings in the zone.