Don’t come back, we won’t die without you, PDP tells Obasanjo

Tunde Johnson, Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it will not force former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return as its member.

This is even as the party said it would respect the decision of the former President, but added that whether he returned or not, PDP would  not die.

Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the spokesperson for PDP, in a statement recalled that Obasanjo had earlier said that he would not return to the party.

Adeyeye said that as an individual, the party would respect his views.

Obasanjo had on Tuesday vowed never to return to the party,  saying he would rather remain a statesman, working for the interest of the nation.

He spoke with journalists after he held a meeting with the National Caretaker Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, behind closed doors at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.

He had said, “I have told the chairman that I was in the PDP before but not now. God forbid, se when dog vomits, it will go back to eat its vomit, no.

“I have said no partisan politics for me again, but Nigeria is my passion until death do us apart. And anything that concerns Nigeria, the good of Nigeria, you’ll see my involvement.

“So, the chairman has come to greet me and I greet am, and now that we have greeted ourselves, the chairman will be going, you gentlemen and ladies of the press, you can now go, leave the chairman alone.”

He said, “He has said it before  (that he won’t return to the party). We are not going to force him. No individual is bigger than the party.

“Obasanjo has the right to hold his opinion. But the PDP will not die, either he joins us or not.

“We respect his opinion.  There’s nothing to say more than that. He is an individual and we respect him.”