Obasanjo knelt down for Ghadaffi, used me against Atiku, Makarfi – Fayose

The Ekiti State Governor,
Ayodele Fayose, has made
some of the most far-
reaching revelations yet
about the years in office of
former President
Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr. Fayose said in the
current edition of ‘The
Interview’ that Obasanjo
used him to wreck the
presidential ambition of
former Vice President
Atiku Abubakar and the
chance of former Kaduna
State governor, Ahmed
Makarfi, becoming the
Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, presidential
candidate in 2007.
He said in his naivety,
Obasanjo also used him to
attack former Abia State
Governor, Orji Kalu,
among other political foes.
In a statement, the MD/
Editor-In-Chief, Azu
Ishiekwene, described the
edition as “a window on a
dark and troubling past
and a must read for any
important political figure
who has crossed Fayose’s
path in the last 18 years.”
Mr. Fayose told The
Interview that the scale
fell off his eyes when on a
trip with former President
Obasanjo to Tripoli, Libya,
where Obasanjo had gone
to ask Moummar Ghaddafi
to support his Third Term
bid, the former Libyan
president treated
Obasanjo like a serf.
Recalling the encounter,
he said, “It was such a
pathetic scenario, so
shameful. Obasanjo was
speaking rapidly like a
parrot. I was shocked
beyond words. I never
knew Obasanjo would be
that humble.
“He was on one knee till
the end of the
conversation. Ghadaffi
kept quiet and was just
watching Obasanjo. When
Obasanjo stopped
rambling, Ghadaffi said,
‘Have you finished? Just
know that I will not attend
that meeting. I have other
engagements.”
He also revealed how on two major
occasions when he went to visit then
Vice President Atiku Abubakar at the
height of Mr. Obasanjo’s Third Term
bid, security details promptly
reported him to the former president,
even before he left the venue, leaving
him feeling spooky and vulnerable.
On the Obasanjo-Atiku saga, Mr.
Fayose said, “Obasanjo told me that
when you capture a general and you
don’t kill him, he’ll come back and
kill you; that since Atiku tried to stop
him and failed, he must pay for it.
And he (Atiku) is still paying for it.”
In a statement that could reverberate
beyond Nigeria’s shores, Mr. Fayose
said he knew, as an insider at the
time, that Mr. Obasanjo betrayed
former Liberian President, Charles
Taylor to induce U.S. support for this
Third Term bid, after promising Mr.
Taylor safe haven in Nigeria.
He revealed how the current
chairman of the PDP, Ahmed Makarfi,
was sidelined in favour of a sick and
stubbornly reluctant Umaru Yar’Adua
and his role in it as chairman of the
Presidential Selection Committee.
Mr. Fayose warned Orji Kalu against
“selling” the Igbo down the river “for
cheap politics” and blamed President
Muhammadu Buhari’s government
for making IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu
popular.
He also spoke on his attempts to reach
President Muhammadu Buhari
directly; former governor Kayode
Fayemi’s relationship with APC leader
Bola Tinubu; and futile attempt to
discourage former governor Peter
Odili from accepting Mr. Obasanjo’s
dummy that he was heir apparent.
Also in this edition, the Executive
Director of Neem Foundation, a not-
for-profit NGO, Fatima Akilu, said she
foresaw problems even after the
shooting war with Boko Haram.
Ms. Akilu, a psychologist, warned that
except there is a plan to deal with
post-war stress and build inclusive
communities, the gains of the military
campaign could unravel.