PDP is gone — whether you believe it or not, says Obasanjo

Former Chairman, Board of Trustee, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Nigeria former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday said the party (PDP) has completely collapsed.

The former president said that the fortunes of PDP began to sink when himself and Ahmadu Ali left the former ruling party.

Obasanjo said this while speaking with journalists in Abeokuta during a symposium held to mark his birthday.

The former president prayed that the fortunes of Nigerians may never sink that of the PDP.

“Ahmadu Ali is truthful and that was why I brought him to head the PDP and all went well when Ahmadu Ali was the national chairman,” he said.

“We were controlling 30 out of the 36 states. When Ahmadu and I left, the fortunes of the PDP began to sink.

“Whether you believe it or not, today’s PDP is sunk and gone. May the fortunes of Nigeria never sink like that of the PDP.”

Obasanjo further noted that the establishment of his presidential library was to correct one of his mistakes of the past.

He narrated the experience, saying, “Somebody among the speakers said God has always given me the opportunity to correct my wrongs. I will say God has done that for me not in all cases, but in most cases and this Presidential Library is actually an act of God which he has given to me to correct one of my mistakes of the past and I have said this very often.

“I was in the war front. It was one very significant thing in my life and in the life of Nigeria. I was military Head of State. It was one significant thing in my life and in the life of Nigeria, but I was not as mindful as I should have been about collecting materials that were connected with those events, the war front and civil war.

“We called them rebels’ side or if you like the Biafran side. They called us vandals, we called them rebels. But we did not collect something. When I was also the military Head of State, I didn’t pay much attention to collect materials, where I should have paid attention to.

“So, by 1988, it occurred to me that these were mistakes. I looked at some of the materials we got from the war front, they were in very bad state of neglect, so what I did was to try and micro-film what we could micro-film.

“I also learnt a lesson. When you are in a position to keep materials and preserve them for posterity, you should do so and I never knew there would be another opportunity. So God created another opportunity for me to correct the mistakes of the past.”