TheCable

Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos state, on Thursday went down memory lane in recalling the disagreement between him and Olusegun Obasanjo, saying the former president once walked him out of the presidential villa.

Until the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, both men had a cat-and-mouse relationship. So sour was their relationship that three years ago, Tinubu lampooned Obasanjo on his birthday.

“I didn’t even remember his [Obasanjo] birthday. I opened the newspaper and saw it,” he said during an interview with The Sun Newspaper.

“There are so many news items that are seriously more newsworthy than to be looking for Obasanjo’s congratulatory messages in the newspaper. A man who had great opportunity to put Nigeria on the right path and failed to do so.”

But speaking in Abeokuta during the 78th birthday celebration of Obasanjo, the national leader of APC, said the political differences between him and Obasanjo kept him on his toes.

He described the former president as a true nationalist who has the interest of the nation at heart.

“Some nine years ago, I went to the villa and the president walked me out, then I chose to abuse him on the pages of newspapers,” Tinubu said.

“I told him that he was a tenant here, because this house belongs to every Nigerian. But it is true that there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in politics, what we have is permanent interest. All his actions and inactions during that time, I now find them not to be emotional but a passion for perfection.”

On his part, John Oyegun, chairman of APC, described the celebrant as “the only symbol of this country everybody can now run to meet”.

Oyegun commended the former president for leaving the ruling party, adding that he speaks the truth without caring whose ox is gored.

“Nigerians have an icon now, a non partisan man has arrived, somebody we can all go to and if you do well he tells you and if you have not done well, he can look at you in the eyes and say, go to hell,” Oyegun said.

He further said the history of the country can never be complete without making reference to Obasanjo.

Dignitaries at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, where a birthday lecture held, were the likes of Martin Luther Agwai, former chief of army staff; Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former governor of Osun state; and Segun Oni, former governor of Ekiti state.