President Goodluck Jonathan is under a fresh
attack . This time, it is a stinker from a former
President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
The Balogun of Owu, Abeokuta, did not make an
impromptu speech at a public forum, he took his
time to pen what he felt to be Jonathan’s failings.
In an 18-page letter to the President, Obasanjo
accused him, among other things, of not
honouring his words and taking actions calculated
at destroying Nigeria.
The letter dated December 2, 2013 and titled,
“Before it is too late” became public knowledge
on Wednesday. Only on Monday, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, said
Jonathan was paying lip service to the anti-
corruption campaign in the country.
In the letter, Obasanjo accused the President of
pursuing “ selfish personal and political interests
based on advise from his “self-centred aides.”
He also alleged that the President had failed to
deliver on his promises to Nigerians and to curb
insurgency and corruption in the country.
“Nigeria is bleeding and the hemorrhage must be
stopped,” an obviously angry Obasanjo lamented.
He went ahead to declare that “Jonathan had
betrayed God and Nigerians,” who voted him into
power.
Obasanjo further alleged that Jonathan had not
only placed more than 1, 000 Nigerians on a
political watchlist, he had succeeded in
destroying the ruling Peoples Democratic Party
and polarised Nigeria along regional and religious
lines.
He also said the President was involved in anti-
party activities.
• PDP crises and Jonathan’s personal agenda
He said the President was using the PDP National
Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, to cause the lingering
crises in the party.
Obasanjo said, “Let me start with the leadership of
the ruling party. Many of us were puzzled over
what was going on in the party. Most party
members blamed the national chairman. I
understand that some in the Presidency tried to
create the impression that some of us were to
blame.
“The situation became clear only when the national
chairman spoke out that he never did anything or
acted in any way without the approval or
concurrence of the party leader (Jonathan) and
that where the party leader disapproved, he made
correction or amendment, that we realised most
actions were those of the chairman but the
motivation and direction were those of the leader.
“It would be unfair to continue to level full blames
on the chairman for all that goes wrong with the
party. 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.”
Obasanjo stated that Jonathan’s failure to keep his
promise not to seek a second term had also
worsened the crises in the PDP.
“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 honourable path.”
He added that before the 2011 general elections,
the President told some governors and the PDP
stakeholders, including himself, that he would not
seek reelection.
He specifically mentioned Benue State Governor
Gabriel Suswam, as having told him that Jonathan
accepted not to run for Presidency in 2015.
The former head of state said, “ He (Suswam)
told me that you had accepted a one-term
Presidency to allow for ease of getting support
across the board in the North. I decided to
cross-check with you. You did not hesitate to
confirm to me that you are a strong believer in a
one-term of six years for the President and that
by the time you have used the unexpired time
of your predecessor and the four years of your
first term, you would have almost used up to six
years and you would not need any more term or
time.”
According to the former Nigerian leader,
Jonathan’s failure to keep the promise had made
him appear like a man without honour.
Obasanjo told the President that it would be
“fatally morally flawed” for him to contest in 2015.
He wrote, “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 as a man or woman who can be
trusted, a person of honour in his words and
character.”
The former President accused Jonathan of
supporting the candidates of opposition parties in
governorship elections in Lagos, Ondo, Edo and
Anambra states and causing disagreements
between party members.
He said, “Maybe you also need to know that many
party members feel disappointed in the double
game you were alleged to play in support of party
governorship candidates in some states where
you surreptitiously supported non-PDP candidates
against PDP candidates in exchange for promise or
act of those non-PDP governors supporting you
for your election in the past or for the one that you
are yet to formally declare.”
He claimed that a former Lagos State Governor,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu “was nocturnally brought to
Abuja to strike a deal for support “ for Jonathan’s
personal election at the expense of the PDP and
its governorship candidate.
“If you as leader of the party cannot be seen to be
loyal to the PDP in support of the candidates of the
party and the interests of such party candidates
have to be sacrificed on the altar of your personal
and political interest, then good luck to the party
and I will also say as I have had occasions to say
in the past, good luck to Goodluck,” he said in the
letter.
• Insecurity/Boko Haram
Noting that the President had not been able to
tackle the remote causes of insurgency in the
country, Obasanjo again advised him to adopt “a
carrot and stick approach” to stem the problem.
He stated that “conventional military actions
based on standard phases of military operations
alone will not permanently and effectively deal with
the issue of Boko Haram.”
• Factionalism/clannishness
 Obasanjo also took on Jonathan for being
clannish and wondered why he had not quietened
some Ijaw leaders who publicly attack those
opposed to his leadership style.
The former President said, “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 naturalised 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 the ‘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.”
• Political watchlist
Obasanjo also alleged that the President had not
only placed more than 1, 000 Nigerians on a
political watch list, he had encouraged the
“training of snipers and other armed personnel
secretly and clandestinely.”
He added that weapons were being purchased
them for political purposes and training given to
them where Abacha trained his killers.
The former President wondered why the
Presidency was providing assistance for “a
murderer” to evade justice.
He said, “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.
“Assisting criminals to evade justice cannot be part
of the job of the presidency. Or, as it is viewed 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.”
Obasanjo did not give the name of the but he
was apparently referring to the former Chief
Security Officer to Abacha, Hamza Al-Mustapha.
• Corruption
Obasanjo called on Jonathan to take at least, “one
effective corrective action against high corruption
which seems to stink all around you in your
government.”
He mentioned the recent allegation 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,”
he told the President.
He added, “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 naked grand corruption.
“As head of government, the buck of the
performance and non-performance stops on
your table and let nobody tell you anything to
the contrary. Corruption has reached the level
of impunity. It is also necessary to be mindful
that corruption and injustice are fertile breeding
grounds for terrorism and political instability.”
He also told Jonathan to do the right things
because God and Nigerians would hold him
responsible for “whatever happens and fails to
happen in the country.”
“I have had opportunity, in recent times to interact
closely with you and I have come to the conclusion
painfully or happily that if you can shun yourself to
a great extent of personal and political interests
and dwell more on the national interest and also
draw the line between advice from selfish and
self-centered aides and advice from those who in
the interest of the nation may not tell you what you
will want to hear,” Obasanjo said.
The former President told Jonathan that nothing,
at this stage of his life, would prevent him from
standing up for whatever he considered to be in
the best interest of Nigeria, Africa and the world.
He added that he was ready for whatever reaction
the letter would provoke from the Presidency.
He said, “Knowing what happens around you,
most of which you know of and condone or deny,
this letter will provoke a 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
PDP, and to our country, Nigeria.
“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.
“The harassment of my relations and friends and
innuendos that are coming from the government
security apparatus on whether they belong to New
PDP or supporters of defected governors and
which are possibly authorised or are the work of
overzealous aides and those reading your lips
to act in your interest will be counter-productive.
“It is abuse of security apparatus. Such abuse took
place last in the time of Abacha. Lies and
untruths about me emanating from the Presidency
is too absurd to contemplate. Saying that I
recommended a wanted criminal by United
Kingdom and United States authorities to you or
your aides to supplant legitimately elected PDP
leader in the South-West is not only unwise and
crude but also disingenuous. It is a clear
indication of how unscrupulous and unethical the
Presidency can go to pursue your personal and
political interest.
The former Nigerian leader urged the President to
share the contents of his letter with former Heads
of State, Generals Abdulsalami Abubakar and Gen.
Ibrahim Babangida as well as a former Vice-
President Alex Ekwueme and ex-Chief of Army
Staff, Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma.
He told Jonathan that he should do so because
Abubakar and Babangida had shared the
concerns he raised in the letter with him
(Obasanjo).
Obasanjo said, “I crave your indulgence to share
the contents of this letter, in the first instance, with
Generals Babangida and Abubakar, who, on a
number of occasions in recent times, have shared
with me their agonising thoughts, concerns and
expressions on most of the issues I have raised in
this letter concerning the situation and future of
our country. I also crave your indulgence to share
the contents with Gen. Danjuma and Ekwueme,
whose concerns for and commitments to the good
of Nigeria have been known to be strong.”
Initial fear that the letter did not emanate from
Obasanjo was doused by his Chief of Staff,
Deacon Victor Durodola, who confirmed its
authenticity to one of our correspondents.
Durodola said the elder statesman decided to write
Jonathan despite their perceived close rapport.
“The reasons are already stated in the letter,
including where Baba (Obasanjo) said the last
letter he wrote was not even acknowledged; so,
the reasons are there, about 10 of them. So, he
wrote the letter.”
He also confirmed that Obasanjo left South- Africa
on Tuesday after the memorial service for the
former South African President, Nelson Mandela.
But the Presidency described the allegations by
Obasanjo as “most reckless, baseless,
unjustifiable and indecorous.”
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who confirmed receipt
of the letter by the Presidency, added that it was
“highly unbecoming, mischievous and provocative”
that it (letter) was deliberately leaked to the
mass media in an effort to impugn the integrity of
the President.
The presidential spokesman said in a statement
that Jonathan, at the appropriate time, would offer
a full personal response to the allegations.
The statement reads, “We have noted the
publication on several websites today
(Wesnesday) of a letter recently written by Chief
Obasanjo to President Jonathan.
“The Presidency acknowledges that it has indeed
received the said letter from Chief Obasanjo.
“We however find it highly unbecoming,
mischievous and provocative that a letter written
by a former Head of State and respected elder
statesman to President Jonathan has been
deliberately leaked to the mass media in a
deplorable effort to impugn the integrity of the
President and denigrate his commitment to giving
Nigeria the best possible leadership.
“While many patriotic, objective and well-meaning
Nigerians have already condemned the leaked
letter as self-serving, hypocritical, malicious,
indecent, and very disrespectful of the highest
office in the land, President Jonathan has directed
that none of his aides or any government official
should join issues with Chief Obasanjo over it.
“The President himself will, at the appropriate time,
offer a full personal response to the most reckless,
baseless, unjustifiable and indecorous charges
levied against him and his administration by the
former Head of State.”
The PDP, in a statement by Tukur also called on
Obasanjo to tread with caution. It said the letter
was a direct assault on the person of Jonathan.
It added, “ For such a statement against the
person of the national chairman of the PDP, to
come from Chief Obasanjo, a former head of state
and President is most unfortunate.
“For him to insinuate that the President is using the
national chairman to cause multiple problems for
the party doesn’t in any way portray him as a true
democrat.
“Obasanjo’s letter is certainly an attack on the
personal integrity and credibility of Tukur.”
Copyright PUNCH.