Why Jonathan moved against Nwodo -Ex-minister, Adoke

By Ismail Omipidan

Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, in the Jonathan administration has revealed reasons former President Goodluck Jonathan forced the then Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, out of office.
The revelation is contained in a new book, titled “Against the Run of play: How an incumbent President was defeated in Nigeria,” written by the Editorial Board chairman of ThisDay Newspapers, Olusegun Adeniyi. In the book, which was formally presented to the public on Friday, Adoke was quoted as saying that the decision by the Nwodo-led leadership of the party to grant waiver to former vice president, Atiku Abubakar to run, angered Jonathan.
Sunday Sun recalls that an Enugu High Court had, barely 24 hours to the PDP presidential primaries in January 2011, ordered the party’s national chairman to stop parading himself as the holder of the office, pending the determination of the substantive suit before it.
But Adoke while reacting to the claims by Nwodo that he was misled by the information he (Adoke) gave him and which caused his removal as party chairman, the former AGF noted that the former chairman was mixing things up.
Nwodo had in the same book explained that even when he was loyal to the former president, Jonathan instead believed he (Nwodo) was working for Atiku.
He added that his appearance at the convention ground against the court order that restrained him from parading himself as the party chairman was all Jonathan needed to confirm his suspicion.
But Nwodo said he was advised to show up at the convention ground by Adoke, who he claimed had told him that the restraining order had been vacated.
“I recall I spoke to the President and his wife the night before the convention where I told them that with the court order that had become a problem, I would not come to the convention. His wife was insistent that I should come but I knew the right thing to do was to stay away. “But the next day, as all the delegates gathered at Eagle Square, I got a call from the AGF, Mohammed Adoke, who said the order had been vacated. That was why I rushed to the Eagle Square to take the speech from my deputy,” Nwodo, said.
However, Nwodo’s explanation of what transpired made little or no sense to Jonathan, who was said to be livid at the turn of events even at the convention ground.
The next day, Nwodo was said to have been summoned to the Villa, apparently to explain the reason for his actions.
“After I explained to him what happened the previous day, he (Jonathan) said my continued stay as PDP chairman had become a problem. I asked him whether I should resign and he answered in the affirmative. His wife called me later, asking me not to resign. Unfortunately, her husband had already arranged for a NEC meeting the next day where a motion had been prepared for my removal. But there were people who argued that it was wrong to do anything in my absence. While they were still arguing, my emissary arrived with my letter of resignation,” Nwodo said.
However, Adoke in his response said the former National Chairman of the party “must have forgotten what happened or he was mistaking me for someone else. Otherwise, he would know I could not have told him that.”
“In the process, it was Nwodo’s Special Adviser, Bala Buhari, a former minister of state for foreign Affairs, who misled him. The matter was before the Enugu High Court and in case Dr. Nwodo has forgotten, he was actually the person who called me to say Bala told him the order had been vacated, not the other way round. I recall saying to him that if Bala had confirmation that the order had been vacated then so be it.
“President Jonathan said the decision to grant the waiver to Atiku was done without his knowledge even though Nwodo claimed he told him.
That was where the problem between them started, but on the issue of Enugu court order, I had nothing to do with the claim made by Nwodo and I want you to put that straight,” Adoke said.

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