Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday bade the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) “good night” as the party plunged into further crises.
Speaking with newsmen in Jalingo, Taraba State capital, he said that he went to “assess” some of the projects started during his tenure “in order to grow the economy of Taraba and the country.”
The former president also has a farmhouse on the Mambilla Plateau in Gembu, Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State.
Obasanjo was Nigeria’s president on the ticket of the PDP from 1999 to 2007. On February 16, last year, he announced his resignation from the party and tore his PDP membership card but did not declare his interest to join another party.
When asked to comment on the lingering crisis in the PDP which now has two factional national chairmen, Obasanjo said that as he had already bade PDP ‘good night’, he could not return to say ‘good evening’.
“In the part of the country where I come from, there is a saying that you cannot say ‘good night’ and come back to say ‘good evening’ in the same place.
“So for me, it is good night for the Peoples Democratic Party, and that’s all,” he said.
Obasanjo expressed confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari would surmount the present challenges before the country. He urged the president to complete the hydroelectric project on the Mambilla Plateau.
He said: “So far, Buhari has not disappointed us. I trust him (Buhari); he will not fail Nigerians. I know he will overcome the challenges the country is currently facing.”
On Taraba’s endowments, Obasanjo said that the government could no longer ignore the Mambilla Plateau if the country desired greater economic development in the near future.
The former president noted that “Taraba is a great resource to the nation’s progress,” and added that “the Buhari administration has to continue with the Mambilla Hydro Power Project in order to tackle the energy challenge of the country”.
“I sited the Mambilla Hydro Power Project on the plateau due to the great potentials it has for electricity generation for the country,” he said.
“Nigeria must complete the project because the cost is getting higher by the day, and if we do not do it today we must have to do it tomorrow.”
Obasanjo noted that the Kakara Tea Factory on the Mambilla Plateau which was established in 1975 must be put to maximum use for the good of the country.
“We started so many things on the Mambilla Plateau such as the tea factory, livestock, vegetable farms and rice farm in Gassol, among other things, for the nation’s economic growth.
“I have come to the state to assess the state of those projects in order to advise the government of the day on how best to develop them.”