'A dog would never return to its vomit,' says ex-president on PDP return

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed that hell never return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for any reason.

The ex-president said this after he held discussions with the party's National Caretaker Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, in a private meeting at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta on Tuesday, October 17, 2017.

After the meeting, which lasted for an hour, Obasanjo told journalists, "I have told the Chairman that I was in PDP before but not now, God forbid, say when a dog vomits, it will go back to eat its vomit, no.

"I have said no partisan politics for me again and not partisan politics, but Nigeria is my passion until death do us part and anything that concerns Nigeria; the good of Nigeria, you will see my involvement."

While insisting that the meeting with Makarfi was simply a courtesy call, he advocated for strong parties to sustain the country's democratic ideals.

"I have said that publicly before and I will say it again, for our democracy to thrive and continue to be strong, we need strong party in government and strong party in the opposition.

"It has to be that way, otherwise party in government will get away with impunity and that is not good for democracy," he said.

Obasanjo was voted president of Nigeria under the umbrella of the party in 1999 and served two terms until 2007.

In a very public display of the termination of his membership with the party, he tore up his membership card and threw his weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari, then a candidate, in the run up to the 2015 presidential elections.