It was gathered by Punch that the separate meetings Obasanjo held with Senate President, David Mark, and an APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, marked the beginning of the last attempt to get his support ahead of party primaries.
At the meeting with Tinubu which was attended by the APC National Vice-Chairman, Segun Oni, Obasanjo was said to have advised the opposition party to choose a presidential candidate with a clean record.
The APC leaders specifically solicited the support of the former president for the party.
It was learnt that the PDP chose David Mark to head the reconciliation team that met with the former president because of his closeness to Obasanjo.
It is a well-known fact that President Goodluck Jonathan and Obasanjo are not best of friends as the former president is in opposition to Jonathan’s second term ambition on the grounds that in 2011, he promised not to re-contest.
A top PDP chieftain who spoke on condition of anonymity however said the president still holds Obasanjo in high regards and believes he can still support him.
Another source who was part of the team who visited Obasanjo in his residence said the meeting which held for about four hours was centred principally on the need for the former President to lend his support to efforts being made by the party to fully re-integrate all aggrieved members back into its fold.
He said: “The Senate President is playing a crucial rule in the current integration efforts by the leadership of the PDP to bring back the aggrieved leaders of our party into the mainstream again and Obasanjo is very key to the success of the team’s assignment. So, that is why we went to him.
“The 2015 elections is around the corner and the leadership of the PDP is determined to ensure success in all the geo-political zones. This will be a little bit difficult if the aggrieved leaders and members are not integrated back to the system.”
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the Obasanjo had not changed his position on Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.
According to an aide to the former President, Obsanjo did not disclose his discussion he had with David Mark and Tinubu at the separate meetings he held with them.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has said party primaries will hold between October 2 and December 11, 2014.
Although the PDP has endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole presidential candidate, its presidential primary would hold on December 6, 2014.
On the other hand, the APC will choose between former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and an ex-Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at its national convention on December 2, 2014.
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