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 naked 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.”
by PREMIUM TIMES
