An apparently angry and frustrated
ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
has written what clearly competes
as one of the most acerbic letters
in modern history to President
Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of
ineptitude and of taking actions
calculated at destroying Nigeria.
“Nigeria is bleeding and the
hemorrhage must be stopped,” Mr.
Obasanjo said in the 18-page letter
dated December 2, 2013 and
exclusively obtained by PREMIUM
TIMES Tuesday.
He said Mr. Jonathan has failed to
deliver on his promises to the
Nigerian people, stem corruption,
promote national unity and
strengthen national security.
He said in the letter titled “Before
it is too late” that rather than take
steps to advance Nigeria’s interest
and up the standards of living of
Nigerians, Mr. Jonathan had
betrayed God and the Nigerian
people that brought him to power,
and has been pursuing selfish
personal and political interests
based on advice he receives from
“self-centred aides”.
In the detailed letter, dripping of
anger , frustration and what
appears a genuine concern to
rescue a nation on the brink, Mr.
Obasanjo lamented that Mr.
Jonathan had become terribly
divisive and clannish, destroying his
own party, polarizing the country
along regional and religious lines
and ridiculing Nigeria in the comity
of nations.
Without mincing words, Mr.
Obasanjo blamed Mr. Jonathan for
the crises tearing the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
apart.
He said apart from using party
chairman Bamanga Tukur to cause
multiple crises and divide the ranks
of the party, the president’s failure
to keep a promise he made not to
seek a second term is also
generating tension within the
ruling party.
“It would be unfair to continue to
level full blames on the Chairman
(Tukur) for all that goes wrong with
the party,” Mr. Obasanjo said. “The
chairman is playing the tune
dictated by the paymaster
(Jonathan). But the paymaster is
acting for a definitive purpose for
which deceit and deception seem
to be the major ingredients.
“Up till two months ago, Mr.
President, you told me that you
have not told anybody that you
would contest in 2015. I quickly
pointed out to you that the signs
and the measures on the ground
do not tally with your statement.
You said the same to one other
person who shared his observation
with me. And only a fool would
believe that statement you made
to me judging by what is going on.
I must say it is not ingenious. You
may wish to pursue a more
credible and more honorable
path.”
The former President said Mr.
Jonathan told him before the 2011
election he would not seek a
second term, and made the same
promise to governors, party
stakeholders and Nigerians.
The president’s refusal to keep that
promise cast him as a man without
honour, Mr. Obasanjo said.
Saying it would be “fatally morally
flawed” for Mr. Jonathan to contest
in 2015, Mr. Obasanjo added, “As a
leader, two things you must
cherish and hold dear among
others are trust and honour both of
which are important ingredients of
character. I will want to see
anyone in the Office of the
Presidency of Nigeria as a man or
woman who can be trusted, a
person of honour in his words and
character.”
Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr.
Jonathan of anti-party conducts –
supporting opposition parties’
candidates in governorship
elections in Lagos, Ondo, Edo and
Anambra states at the detriment of
PDP’s own candidates –, and of
pitting party members against one
another.
Saying the President had failed to
address the underlying causes of
the Boko Haram menace, Mr.
Obasanjo urged Mr. Jonathan to
adopt a carrot and stick approach in dealing with the insurgency
explaining that “conventional
military actions based on standard
phases of military operations alone
will not permanently and effectively deal with the issue of
Boko Haram”.
Mr. Obasanjo also tackled Mr.
Jonathan for allegedly being
clannish. “For you to allow yourself
to be “possessed”, so to say, to the
exclusion of most of the rest of
Nigerians as an “Ijaw man” is a
mistake that should never have
been allowed to happen. Yes, you
have to be born in one part of
Nigeria to be Nigerian if not
naturalized but the Nigerian
President must be above ethnic
factionalism. And those who prop
you up as of, and for ‘Ijaw nation’
are not your friends genuinely, not
friends of Nigeria nor friends of
‘Ijaw nation’ they tout about.
“To allow or tacitly encourage
people of ‘Ijaw nation’ to throw
insults on other Nigerians from
other parts of the country and
threaten fire and brimstone to
protect your interest as an Ijaw
man is myopic and your not openly
quieting them is even more
unfortunate.
Two Ijaw men, ex-militant Mujahid
Dokubo-Asari, and a former federal
commissioner for information,
Edwin Clark, who carries himself
around as the political godfather of
the president, are known to talk
down on people opposed to the
president.
Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr.
Jonathan of placing over 1000
Nigerians on political watch list and
“training snipers and other armed
personnel secretly and
clandestinely acquiring weapons to
match for political purposes like
Abacha and training them where
Abacha trained his killers”.
He wondered why the Presidency
was providing assistance for a
murderer to evade justice.
“Presidential assistance for a
murderer to evade justice and
presidential delegation to welcome
him home can only be in bad taste
generally but particularly to the
family of his victim,” Mr. Obasanjo
said. “Assisting criminals to evade
justice cannot be part of the job of
the presidency. Or, as it is viwed in
some quarters, is he being
recruited to do for you what he had
done for Abacha in the past?
Hopefully, he should have learned
his lesson. Let us continue to
watch.”
Mr. Obasanjo did not mention the
name of the murderer he accused
the President of protecting but he
seems to be referring to Hamza Al-
Mustapha, a former security aide to
late Head of State, General Sani
Abacha, who is facing trial for
allegedly masterminding the killing
of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of
Moshood Abiola, the winner of the
annulled 1993 presidential
election.
Mr. Al-Mustapha was freed by the
appeal court in July but the Lagos
state government has since
appealed the judgment at the
Supreme Court.
The former President also called on
the National Assembly to rise up
and take decisive action over the
recent allegation in the country
that the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation failed to
remit billions of dollars in proceeds
of crude oil sales to the federation
account.
“This allegation will not fly away by
non-action, cover-up, denial or
bribing possible investigators,” Mr.
Obasanjo told the President.
“Please deal with this allegation
transparently and let the truth be
known.
“The dramatis personae in this
allegation and who they are
working for will one day be public
knowledge. Those who know are
watching if the National Assembly
will not be accomplice in the
heinous crime and Unclad grand
corruption. May God grant you the
grace for at least one effective
corrective action against high
corruption which seems to stink all
around you in your government.”
Mr. Obasanjo said he wrote the
letter in the national interest,
saying nothing, at this stage of his
life, would prevent him from
standing up for whatever he
considers to be in the best interest
of Nigeria, Africa and the world.
He said he was ready for whatever
backlash his letter would provoke
from the presidency.
“Knowing what happens around you most of which you know of and
condone or deny, this letter will
proke cacophony from hired and
unhired attackers but I will
maintain my serenity because by
this letter, I have done my duty to
you as I have always done, to your
government, to the party, PDP, and
to our country, Nigeria…,” Mr.
Obasanjo said.
“I have passed the stage of being
flattered, intimidated, threatened,
frightened, induced or bought…
Death is the end of all human
beings and may it come when God
wills it to come.”
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