Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has opened up on why he would never return to the Peoples Democratic Party again.
The ex-president, who renounced his membership of the party in 2015, stated this when he received the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu; and other stakeholders who paid him a visit on Saturday in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
According to sources, the visit was targeted at returning the former president to the opposition party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
But Obasanjo told the visiting chieftains of his former party that he could not return to the party because he has decided to retire fully from partisan politics.
Obasanjo, while addressing the stakeholders, said he had vowed to remain as a statesman. He, however, said PDP would always be part of his life.
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He said, “I’m no longer in partisan politics and there is nothing that can bring back. Anybody who wants my advice, I will always be there in the best interest of Nigeria.
“Whatever I do in my own life…because I became president on the platform of PDP, PDP will continue to be part of my life.
“Since the day I tore my PDP card, that was the day I ceased to be a member of PDP. That day I vowed not to be a member of any political party. I will continue to be a statesman.
Obasanjo who was elected President under the PDP platform in 1999 and 2003 tore up his membership card of the party in public ahead of 2015 general elections.