Former national spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, has revealed that now-President Bola Tinubu made several overtures to persuade him to dump PDP for the All Progressives Congress.

Mr Metuh disclosed this on Sunday at a thanksgiving service in Abuja, to mark his 60th birthday and announce his potential return to partisan politics three years after his resignation from the PDP.

Mr Metuh told the congregation that members of the ruling party, who, along with Mr Tinubu, were his political enemies, were there for him when he was facing challenges, but the PDP abandoned him.

Mr Metuh said, “When I had problems, I did not see my party; I did not see the people I suffered for. I was in the court with my family. But in the midst of that, somebody whom I criticised so much, there is no week, because President Tinubu was the head of the opposition then, every week we must find something to criticise him with.

“In the middle of my problem, he sent the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to come and see me. He reached out to me; he comforted me, and he did a lot of things for me then, and this was someone who was my political enemy.

“So I say today, that it is really not where you sow that you will reap, it is where God said you will reap that you will reap. I wish PDP well. I gave my life to PDP. But I have moved on, and I wish them well.”

Mr Metuh, who told journalists after the service that he had on several occasions declined Mr Tinubu’s request to join his party, said, “It took me a long time to get involved in politics. I’ve been called several times. The president wanted to work with me. Even in 2015, when we lost the election, I didn’t bother. He reached out to me again. When I left politics in 2022, he called me to come into his party. I refused. After he won the election, I went to see him. He called me to enter the party that he needed me. I refused because I stopped politics.

“Now that I’m in politics, I want to help. Maybe I could be a good voice on this side. To ensure that the polity is good. 

“I am trying to make sure that I assist the government at the centre, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to deliver the goods, the dividends of democracy. I have seen the steps, I have seen the challenges, and as a patriotic Nigerian, I want to join hands in resolving those challenges. There are a lot of credible citizens, Atiku Abubakar is a very credible person. Peter Obi is a very credible person. David Mark is very credible. There are a lot of people.”