“When he (Jonathan) came here I told him that he made two political mistakes: first was to lose Rotimi, the Governor of Rivers State. When the crisis was going on, Governor Rotimi was here to pay me a visit. I confronted him and he spoke to me very honestly. Despite the problems, he was not ready to leave the PDP then. Gen. Obasanjo, myself and a few others intervened in the matter as leaders of the party but the president did not foresee the current situation and didn’t take our advice seriously. Rotimi is one young man I like so much for his honesty. He is very bold and always committed to his conviction.”
“I told president Jonathan that the second mistake he made was to call Obasanjo a motor pack tout. What an insult. That was wrong and the beginning of his problems. How many times had he seen Obasanjo insult Gowon. I told him that supporting him would mean to endorse the insult on Gen Obasanjo. I won’t”.
“I advised him to go make peace with Governor Rotimi and Gen. Obasnjo. I told him it is almost getting late. I said to him, you must visit Obasanjo to apologize to him. I don’t think that the outcome was favourable because it was already late.”
– General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB).
