Tukur said this in reaction to a letter written to him and President Goodluck Jonathan, dated January 7, 2014, by Obasanjo.
Obasanjo had, in the letter, raised some issues related to the PDP in the country’s South West geopolitical zone.
The letter had also conveyed Obasanjo’s decision to withdraw from participating in the party`s politics at all levels.
Tukur said in the reply to Obasanjo: “It is an honour that you deemed it fit and proper to intimate me with an issue important to your mind and our party in the south-west zone.
“It is my wish and prayer that such cordial and positive relationship will continue.”
He stated that Obasanjo’s experiences as one of the party`s founding fathers were required in its drive to get stronger and become more formidable.
Tukur said the PDP had more pressing challenges, bordering most importantly on the coming Ekiti and Osun States’ governorship elections and the 2015 general election.
All these, he said, required strong inputs from the former president.
The PDP national chairman said continuous dialogue was needed for a stronger partnership among the party’s stakeholders.
He maintained that the need for PDP to reclaim lost grounds in the South West required the full support of party leaders like Obasanjo.
Tukur expressed gratitude to Obasanjo for his manner of approach and for presenting his grievances on issues in the PDP South West.
“I thank you for your gesture and I pray that we shall all continue to dialogue and partner, so we can move our party forward,” he said.
Tukur also said there was the need for PDP to attain success in the governorship elections coming up in Ekiti and Osun States and the subsequent elections in 2015.
This, according to him, was critical to reclaiming lost grounds in the South West zone of the country.
On issues raised by Obasonjo in the letter on the state of PDP in the South West, Tukur said the crisis within the PDP in the zone preceded his emergence as the party`s national chairman.
He insisted that the party`s National Executive Committee and the National Working Committee were never part of the problems in the South West PDP.
He said: “We came in when we were threatened with contempt of court charges for not obeying the court’s order to dissolve the south-west zonal executive and remove some officers of the party.
“We complied with the court orders because of our belief in the rule of law and to avoid consequences of disobeying such orders.”
Tukur’s letter reads in full:
“It is an honour that you deemed it fit and proper to intimate me with an issue important to your mind and our party in the South-west zone. It is my wish and prayer that such cordial and positive relationship will continue between your good self; former President and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of our great party on one hand, and my humble self, the National Chairman of our party on the other hand.
“Buruji Kasamu came to limelight in politics as a result of the role he played in the politics of Ogun state where both of you come from. He later became a rallying point in the South-west following the Courts’ Orders in the series of cases brought about as a result of disagreements among leaders of the party in the South-west, and Ogun State in particular.
“In my opinion, Buruji became a rallying point because of the absence of a zonal executive in the South-west. This vacuum in the South-west has made him the person to whom many members in all the chapters of the party in the zone approach for one form of assistance or the order.
“We came in when we were threatened with contempt of court charges for not obeying the court’s order to dissolve the South-west zonal executive and remove some officers of the party.
“We complied with the court’s orders because of our belief in the rule of law and to avoid consequences of disobeying such orders.”
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