Honestly, no one recants as much as former President Olusegun Obasanjo does in all of Nigeria.

On Friday, immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan made a surprising trip to Ibogun, Ogun State to visit Obasanjo at his residence there.

Here is some of what former President Obasanjo had to say to Jonathan during the visit:

“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. The first point I want to make is to thank you very sincerely and most sincerely for taking it upon yourself to pay us a visit at this point in time and at this location. Secondly, since you left office, you hardly have time to sit down and relax like you have been able to do today and I hope, I sincerely hope and pray for more such relaxed situation where we can reminisce on situations of the past that we have been through in this country and we can also look at what the future portends.

I believe that not only Nigeria, West Africa and Africa and indeed the world will continue to tap our experiences,   our wisdom and I hope and pray that when the call is made to you, you will be more than ready to put your experience, the lessons you have learnt into the service of this country, for Africa and indeed for humanity in general.

Since the fall-out between him and President Muhammadu Buhari late last year, we’d been on the  look out for whom he’d likely choose as the vessel that he’s use to get back at the President. We just never thought it’ll be former President Goodluck Jonathan.

This is the same Jonathan that Obasanjo had sent a scathing letter in 2013 calling him out for betraying the mandate of the Nigerian people who voted him to power by pursuing selfish, personal and political interests based on advice he received from unpatriotic aides.

The two leaders traded insults on account of this as Jonathan did not hesitate to repond, calling Obasanjo “unbecoming, mischievous and provocative”.

That was December 2013.

In 2015, when things appeared very rosy for Buhari and Obasanjo, the former President took his loyalty one step forward by openly trading insults with Ghana’s John Mahama at the Annual Global African Investment Forum which held in Westminster, Central London. He called Mahama out for buying numerous properties in Nigeria and South Africa and financially contributing 12 million dollars to Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign.

Even when in 2015, Jonathan wrote to the Statesman to inform him of his intention to launch a Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, Obasanjo’s letter was just shy of being a blatant insult:

“Maybe seeking how to be better and more serviceable to the nation and humanity is also a form of penitence and soul-searching to give conscience a relief and to show remorse.”

Now all of a sudden, Obasanjo thinks that Jonathan is an exemplary leader. Well, alright then.

Roqeebah

Creative mind. Enthusiast. Learner. Multipotentialite. And here, an assistant editor.