Encomium
Peoples Democratic Party chairman, Organisation and Mobilization Committee (OMC) South-West, Prince Buruji Kashamu has shed light on the real reason former President Olusegun Obasanjo is at war with him.
Speaking with ENOMIUM Weekly on Sunday, October 19, 2014, via his media aide, Mr. Austen Oniyokor, the billionaire businessman-turned politician expressed discomfort about the recent utterances of the former president which he described as not only provocative but malicious.
According to the Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun born politician, the real reason OBJ, as Obasanjo is also known, is not comfortable with him is not unconnected with the fact that he has taken control of PDP in Ogun State and South West in general from him.
He, however, stated that his reaction to OBJ’s verbal assault on him was simply to clear the drug allegations leveled against him by the Ota farmer.
“Buruji Kashamu bears no personal grudge against Obasanjo. His statement was just to clear the drug allegation leveled against him by the former president, which is normal. Kashamu’s fight with OBJ is based on principles. He is not a criminal as alleged.”
On the chances of PDP winning the 2015 general elections in Ogun State and South West in general if peace is not brokered between the two political gladiators, Mr. Oniyokor said, “Let me tell you, with or without OBJ, PDP is winning already. So, whether or not he remains in PDP, we will still capture the zone in 2015.
“To start with, OBJ is not in PDP anymore. He is only a PDP man by mouth. But in every conduct and character, he belongs to All Progressives Congress (APC), which is obvious. For instance, all his boys, including Segun Oni, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Dipo Odujinrin, Bode Mustapha and others have decamped to APC. So, what are we saying?
“Also recently, Tinubu led his men to meet OBJ at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and he gave them audience. If he were to be a PDP man, would he have allowed that to happen? So, his behaviour is anti-PDP by all ramifications.”
Asked to comment on the likelihood of reconciliation between the two warring leaders, Oniyokor reacted, “I have told you, Kashamu’s grouse with Obasanjo is not personal. We are not averse to any peace move. So, if that happens, it’s very much welcome.”
However, one of OBJ’s close aides who spoke to ENCOMIUM Weekly under the condition of anonymity ruled out any likelihood of peace talk between Kashamu and Obasanjo.
The source said, “Let me tell you the truth, Baba has nothing to do with either Kashamu or PDP again. Do you expect him to swallow his words? I think you also should understand the kind of person OBJ is. He always stands by his words. And in this matter, he is very sure of his fact. He has said what was in his mind and that’s all.
“He stated it categorically that Buruji Kashamu is one of many reasons he can’t return to PDP because he can’t associate with a criminal. So, do you now expect him to retract his statement? Left to me, I don’t see it as if Baba is fighting Buruji Kashamu, his stance is just a matter of principle.”
Meanwhile, Kashamu had, a couple of days back issued a press statement to counter Obasanjo’s alleged attack on him. The statement reads:
“My attention has been drawn to yet another politically motivated attack on my character by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in what was supposed to be his response to alleged appeals made to him by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for his return to the party.
Chief Obasanjo was reported to have said that I am “One of the many issues” that he had pointed out and still pointing out. Although he did not state what the other “Many issues” were, he made a heavy weather of my purported indictment over some drug-related offences.
May I reiterate that Chief Obasanjo’s statements exhibit his disdain for the rule of law and the authority of the courts since this cocktail of lies comprise the same malicious falsehood that is the subject of the libel action I have commenced against him and in which trial commenced on, Tuesday, October 14, 2014.”
In addition to the above and for the avoidance of doubt, I would further state for the records as follows:
“In this rehash of earlier attacks, Chief Obasanjo said he was displeased with the PDP because I had been made the leader of the party in the South West.
First, it should be noted that as against his earlier assertion that I am “A wanted habitual criminal…for whom extradition has been requested by the US Government…”, he has now described me “as an indicted drug baron wanted in America”. Neither statement is true. I am not a habitual criminal and I am not a drug baron. All available records including the exonerating judgments of the English courts and the reports of the Interpol investigation negate these lies.
The indubitable fact of history that Baba Obasanjo has not told the world is that it was during his first tenure as president that he and former Beninoise President, Matthew Kerekou directed the relevant security agencies to give truthful evidence that rebutted the false allegation that I was a habitual criminal or involved in any drug related crime.
That was why the Interpol in Benin Republic as well as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Nigeria came to the London courts between 2000 and 2002, to give evidence during my incarceration and trial.
Chief Obasanjo used me to prosecute his battle against former Governor Gbenga Daniel and to wrest the control of the PDP from Otunba Daniel in 2011. When it was time to field candidates for the 2011 general elections, Chief Obasanjo brought his stooge, Gen. Adetunji Olurin, and asked me to roll the party structure behind his anointed candidate.
With an affected air of moral rectitude, Chief Obasanjo talked about not being able to work with me because of his principles, honour and integrity. The obvious question on many minds is whether Chief Obasanjo has any justification to moralise and pontificate at all given his well-chronicled personal moral bankruptcy.
However, I would beg Nigerians to ask him where his “principles” were when he used to take me into the inner recesses of his abode? Where was his “honour” when he served me breakfast, lunch and dinner in his Hilltop mansion? Where was his “integrity” when he mounted the rostrum to sing my praises, praying for me as he did in May 2010, during a reception for the former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye?
I can go on and on!
“Despite his pretensions, the reason I have become the target of Obasanjo’s wicked campaign of calumny and blackmail is because he perceives me as his obstacle to the control of the PDP structures in Ogun State and in the South West.
Chief Obasanjo has publicly declared his opposition to the second term entitlement of President Goodluck Jonathan and had wanted to use the erstwhile National Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the former National Auditor, Bode Mustapha and the former National Vice-Chairman, Segun Oni, to thwart Mr. President’s re-election. The Almighty Allah Subhana wa tala used me to stand up to him and the rest is history.
Before Chief Obasanjo’s very eyes, the PDP in the South West (without him and his lackeys) is on a rebound and we are winning elections free and square unlike what obtained during his reign when contrived electoral victories were being easily upturned. Despite throwing his total weight behind the All Progressives Congress (APC) and working for that party in the South West against the PDP, the PDP is waxing stronger in the zone. This has proved our very point that Obasanjo is not an asset to the PDP in the South West. He may represent some nuisance value to a fast diminishing section of the party establishment who feel some obligation to him for past favours but that value is far eroded by his iconoclastic tendencies and negative electoral value.
Contrary to Obasanjo’s claim, I am just one of the leaders of the party in the South West. I am one of the party’s foot soldiers in the zone and it is in that capacity that I am made the Chairman of the Organisation and Mobilisation Committee for the South West PDP.
The party in the zone has not been handed over to anyone but to its relevant constitutional organs and structures.
I particularly find it calculating and manipulative for Chief Obasanjo to call me the leader of the PDP in a zone where the party parades political juggernauts like Governor Ayo Fayose, Chief Olabode George, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, Senator Lekan Balogun, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Senator Teslim Folarin, Alhaji Yekeen Adeojo, Senator Clement Awoyelu, Senator Bode Olajumoke and a host of others.
Now, on the issue of my so-called indictment in the United States, I wish to state for the umpteenth time that I am not wanted by anyone. Even if that were the case, there are processes and procedures to follow, and they are not subject to anyone’s whims and caprices, not even Obasanjo’s because no man is God.
As I have continually stated, I have never ever set my feet on the territory of the U.S; neither do I have any business there.
I was wrongly accused of, arrested, tried and discharged in respect of the offences charged in the same indictment alluded to by my adversaries. Indeed, my arrest, detention and trial were at the behest of the U.S authorities, which fully participated in the whole extradition proceedings.
If after a full trial on the basis of the same indictment, the British courts exonerated me (finding that it was a case of mistaken identity), one wonders which other indictment Chief Obasanjo is talking about.
Even the U.S. Court of Appeal, in its recent judgment in respect of an application I filed against the continued existence of this dead indictment, has said that it realised that the U.S. authorities has no chance of succeeding against me in any further extradition attempt because of the findings of the English Courts that I am not the person involved in the alleged offences, describing any such attempt as “Whistling in the dark”.
While I would do a more detailed response to Obasanjo’s relentless tirades against me in due course; it is high time he retraced his misguided steps. He should borrow a leaf from a timetested Yoruba proverb which says those who dance naked with glee in the night would have themselves exposed to shame when the morning comes. Although he is seen as Goliath, I will triumph over him the same way God used me to rescue the party from his vice-grip in Ogun State, in particular and the South West in general.”
– TADE ASIFAT
