A former special adviser to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo on Political Affairs, Chief Akin Osuntokun, has vowed not to quit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying leaving the PDP under whatever circumstance is like jumping from “frying pan to fire.”
The former managing director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) told newsmen in Okemesi-Ekiti in Ekiti West Local Government Area of Ekiti State, on Tuesday that even though all his notable friends, including Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and some governors had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), this would not make him follow suit.
Chief Osuntokun, who was in Okemesi for the first year memorial of the death of his mother, Mrs Hannah Folorunsho Osuntokun, who died last year December, posited that neither sentiment nor emotion would make him dump the party, contending that those absconding from the party for one reason or the other are “time wasters, joining roller coaster party.”
According to him, “it is not reasonable for somebody to quit frying pan in preference for fire,” saying what the present administration deserved was fervent prayers from all Nigerians in order to sustain the tempo of its current performance so that the country can move forward.
He, however, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to also thread softly and also begin process of reviewing what he described as his “God given assignment of rehabilitation and reconciliation of the country.”
Osuntokun also disagreed with Chief Obasanjo and some other Nigerians on some recent events and utterances in public and cautioned Nigerian politicians against taking hard line postures on certain issues, especially those whose end result could negatively affect the future of the country.
He particularly warned some leaders of the country that he chose not to mention their names, against their negative actions, saying they would be judged by the amount of confusion and crises they generate in the land, saying those calling for one unattainable solution or the other to the country’s problems must be cautious.
He stressed that controversial and volatile issues should always be avoided so as not to jeopardise the nation’s fledgling democracy.
Osuntokun maintained that ongoing conflicts and disagreements between the political parties or individuals were usually the hallmarks of democracy that must sustain.
On the coming governorship election in Ekiti State next year, Osuntokun who said he currently had no ambition to contest for any elective position urged both the electorate and politicians not to allow the exercise to tear the state apart.
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