Obasanjo's 2015 Reconciliation Continues as He Woos Aregbesola in Possible Attempt to Upstage Tinubu

Obasanjo's 2015 Reconciliation Continues as He Woos Aregbesola in Possible Attempt to Upstage Tinubu

That former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been mending political fences with  his hitherto political foes is now an open secret. Only last month, he used the launching of the Bay'tus Salam mosque within his presidential library complex to reconcile with the North which has felt aggrieved with the former President over what they perceived as his betrayal during the 2011 elections.

And reconcile with the North he did as the event was attended lavishly by the who is who of Northern Nigeria. The Master of Ceremony was the Sokoto state governor, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, and  three other governors from the Northwest were physically present including Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Usman Dakingari of KebbiState.

Governors who could not make the event  such  as the governors of  Adamawa, Niger , Kaduna , Zamfara, Kogi ,Kwara also donated N20 million each  for the construction of the mosque. Atiku Abubakar, his former vice used the occasion to reconcile with him and donated 5 million as did the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who had insulted him in September as a bad economist.

After the event Obasanjo proceeded on a tour of the Southeast ostensibly on the invitation of chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, who is in the running for the job of Chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) board of trustees.

From the Southeast Obj as he is fondly called visited the North.

But yesterday, thee former President was in enemy territory when he visited the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) controlled State of Osun ostensibly to placate warring groups in Orile-Owu who are feuding over the selection of a new Olowu of Orile-Owu. Orile-Owu in Osun state is the ancestral home of the Owus and Obasanjo is an Owu Yoruba.

While in Osun state Obasanjo was warmly received by the Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and confessed that he was "flabbergasted and ambushed" by the reception he received from the governor.

In receiving Obasanjo, the governor mobilized the top hierarchy of the state government to the reception including his deputy, Otunba Titi Laoye-Tomori; Secretary to the State Government Moshood Adeoti; Chief of Staff Gboyega Oyetola and the Acting State Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Elder Adebiyi Adelowo.

Obasanjo, an arch enemy of Bola Tinubu, the leader of the ACN, was then invited to unveil a statue of the late Afenifere Leader and former Governor of the Old Oyo State, Chief Bola Ige, which had been erected at the front of the Governor’s Office.

Of recent, there have been reports that some ACN governors had been experiencing issues with Tinubu over his overbearing nature and already it appears that he has fallen out with the governor of Obasanjo's home state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun who has since mended fences with Obasanjo as the two meet often and sometimes in private. There have not been reports that Amosun meets as often and in private with Tinubu.

Given the former President's penchant for dominating his environment, the import of his visit to Osun and the powerful and welcoming reception he was accorded by the state government is not lost on political pundits who are likely to see him as encroaching on Tinubu's territory as 2015 draws near.