You’re now wiser after leaving office, Obasanjo tells Jonathan as the duo held a secret meeting in Ogun

Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday  sneaked into Ibogun ,Ogun State, the ancestral village of  one of his  predecessors in office,and an architect of his defeat  in the 2015 election, ex – President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo (right) with a former Minister of National Planing, Prof. Suleiman Abubakar (stooping second right); ex-president Goodluck Jonathan; ex-Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola (behind Jonathan) and a guest during the Ayo Game which was part of the visit to Obasanjo’s ancestral village, Ibogun in Ogun State...yesterday..
Photo credit: The Nation. 

The rare meeting between the duo who were bitterly divided in the run-up to the election saw Obasanjo tell his host how wise he (Jonathan) had become since leaving office.

“When leaders come, they have little or no experience. When they have to go is when they have really amassed a lot of experience, where they have wisdom, their  experience is  in high demand.

“Those like you and me who have the grace of God to bow out gracefully, if there is now what I call constitutional office, we have residual responsibilities for Nigeria,”Obasanjo said.

With Jonathan on the trip, which observers branded as fence mending  yesterday ,were former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Kabir Turaki; a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Suleiman Abubakar; King A.J.Turner ;and a former Chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency( FERMA), Engr. Jide Adeniji.

They flew into the village in a chartered helicopter at about  11.30am.

The visit lasted about four hours of which Obasanjo and Jonathan alone spoke behind closed doors  for  40 minutes.

No member of Jonathan’s  entourage or Obasanjo’s associates was allowed into the inner room where the  secret talks took place.