Controversy on Wednesday surrounded a letter purportedly written by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo to her father, former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
A national newspaper had on Wednesday published the letter.
In the letter, Iyabo allegedly denounced Obasanjo as a self-seeking man lacking in all key expectations of a father and a leader, but often appearing quick to accuse others of the same ills.
Iyabo also allegedly commented on a letter written by his father to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Obasanjo had in an 18-page letter to Jonathan 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 December 11.
Obasanjo had accused the President of pursuing “selfish personal and political interests based on advice from his “self-centered aides.”
But Iyabo, in her purported letter said her father was accusing someone else of what he practised while in power.
When one of our correspondents called her telephone number in the United States, it rang until it went into voice mail.
A recorded voice on the answering machine said, “This is Iyabo, thank you for calling. Please leave a message after the bleep.”
In response, the voice recorder said “The mail box is full you cannot leave a message at this time.”
But a close aide to Obasanjo and a former Peoples Democratic Party deputy governorship candidate, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, described the letter as fake.
Oladunjoye said the letter never existed.
He said, “I can say here authoritatively that the so-called letter from Senator Iyabo Obasanjo to her dad, never existed. It is a forgery and it should be ignored.”
A former Minister of Aviation during Obasanjo’s regime who is also close to the former president, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, asked Nigerians not to be carried away by the alleged letter.
The former minister said that he was not in the position to say whether the letter was real or that it was forged.
He, however, urged Nigerians to ask Jonathan to address the issues raised by Obasanjo in his letter instead of using Iyabo’s alleged letter to divert attention.
He said, “The issues that are important to reasonable Nigerians are the issues raised by former President Obasanjo in his letter to the President. He should sit down and address them in details.
“We should not argue over whether Iyabo wrote any letter or not. I’m not sure whether she wrote the letter or not, but we must also know that Iyabo’s alleged letter was not a response to the letter written by Obasanjo to Jonathan.
“We should not be distracted. President Jonathan should sit down and provide answers to the issues raised by the former President and should not use any gimmick to distract us.”
He added that in any case, the issues raised in the alleged letter by Iyabo, which he said had yet to be proved to either be correct or wrong, dealt with family matters.
When contacted, a former media aide to Iyabo, Mr. Bidemi Osunbiyi, told one of our correspondents that the former lawmaker could not have written such a letter.
She said, “Iyabo didn’t write such a letter. How can somebody write such a letter? I know she is very close to Baba (Obasanjo). There is no cause for her to write such a letter.”
It was gathered that Obasanjo, who travelled out of the country, was informed about the letter by a family member through the telephone on Wednesday.
According to a source, the former President got across to his daughter, who was said to have denied writing such a letter.
The source said, “Baba on learning about the content of the letter, phoned Iyabo, who denied writing it.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Lobatan, No matter the case, Iyabo can not Please President Gej at the expense of her Father.
ReplyDeleteNigerians shouldnt be distracted. Iyabo's purported letter is NOT answers to Issues raised by Obasanjo's letter to GEJ....what happens if by January 2014, Prominent nigerians starts dropping dead by Assassination? is it then that we will know we have problems????
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 8:09. Those Obj have moral justification to make such claims againt GEJ? How many assasination plots took place when he (Obj) was president of this country? GEJ should not respond to a claim made by a killer or murderer while in office as president. Obj is as guilty as those claims he made against GEJ.
DeleteNigerians should take the advice of Fomer aviation minister, cox wat Iyabo wrote is family issue but her wrote smthng that can help our great nation.
ReplyDeleteIf the plan of goodluck Jonathan is to eliminate all the prominent men, yeah Glory be to God, it seem for once sanity is about to come to Nigeria. This so call prominent men are the brain behind Nigeria predicament, corruption and all kinds of evil devices, they just have to go in order for Nigeria to breath a fresh air for once. Goodluck Jonathan, if this is true I'm on your side.. Although I'm not happy with u as well, becos you haven't done anything since you emerge d president of Nigeria. If this cleanse you are about to carry out is true, well, kudos to you.
ReplyDeleteObasanjo exposed the bitter truth and the man helped made president decided to blackmail him?
ReplyDelete"If President Jonathan want to reply the letter my father wrote him, he should be man enough to reply direct. Why are they trying to make me a scape goat? I know my father very well and I don't question his judgement, I believe my father wrote his letter in the best interest of the nation. If Mr President disagree with some of the allegations in the letter, let him be man enough to talk directly to my father, he should stop involving me in an issue I know nothing about.
"How can you write a letter to insult my father and claim I, the daughter is the source. If that is how Ijaw people insult their father, I am a Yoruba Woman; we respect our parent in all circumstances.
Reacting to the fake letter against her father, Iyabo Obasanjo further stated that...
"I have never seen or heard this sort of fabrication in my entire life! I, Iyabo Obasanjo, never contemplate writing a letter to my loving father. I speak with him almost on daily bases. Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo is the best father in the world. He gave birth to me, he raised me up and gave me the best of education. I wouldn't have achieved whatever I did without my father. In fact, WHO AM I WITHOUT MY FATHER? As a father he never disappoints his children in any way, he is a father anybody wish to have.
"I, Iyabo Obasanjo, did not write any letter. Nigerians should please take note. The purported letter is a malicious lies intended to rubbish the good name of my family, when I get to the source of the letter, I will waste no time to take the necessary legal actions.
"I love my father and I never disrespect him."......by Iyabo Obasanjo.
@anonnymous 8:09.....you dont seems to know what is going on in Nigeria..if the so called prominent Nigerians are been assasinated,it is never a problem to Nigeria but a problem solved.....what gave you the impression that,coming 2014,we the youth are not going to kill those bastards ourselves..Enough of bad leaders,it is time the youth start making a changes in our country..
ReplyDeleteFfk u re really a wise man, i really admire ur ways of reasoning and ways of addresing issues. Madam iyabo‘s letter to her father is a personal and family issue it really doesnt hv any effect on nigerians,the most important issue on ground to nigerians is for gej to come publically and defend himself and hi‘s adminitration of the accusations laid against him by the former president not to diver or distract public attention with this baseless letter related to madam iyabo. Yeye goverment wei no get vision,what a shameless fools in the corridor of power!
ReplyDeleteLetter or no letter, failure is failure. PDP and his GEJ presido have failed Nigerian again and will always fail. If Jona want to eliminate prominent failed politicians; fine by us but he MUST be included in the list bcos he also is a prominent failure.
ReplyDeleteGEJ, If I were you, I would have resigned and gone on exile for failing for life with an un-merited opportunity and supports of Nigerians given to you FOC.
Guys aunty iyabo don finally talk oh:
ReplyDelete"I Did Not Write Any Letter to My Father, IYABO OBASANJO Speaks Out! December18, 2013 IYABO OBASANJO (On Rainbow FM):
"I have never seen or heard this sort of fabrication in my entire life!
I, IYABO OBASANJO never contemplate writing a letter to my Loving Father. I speak with him almost on daily bases.
"Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo is the best father in the world. He gave birth to me, he raise me up and gave me the best of Education.
I wouldn't have achieved whatever I did without my father.
IN FACT, WHO AM I WITHOUT MY FATHER? "As a father he never disappoints his children in any way, he is a father anybody wish to have.
"If President Jonathan want to reply the letter my father wrote him, he should be man enough to reply direct.
Why are they trying to make me a scape goat?
I know my father very well and I don't question his judgement, I believe my father wrote his letter in the best interest of the nation.
If Mr. President disagree with some of the allegations in the letter, let him be man enough to talk directly to my father, he should stop involving me in an issue I know nothing about.
"How can you write a letter to insult my father and claim I, the daughter is the source.
If that is how Ijaw people insult their father, I am a Yoruba Woman; we respect our parent in all circumstances.
"I IYABO OBASANJO did not write any letter. Nigerians should please take note.
"The purported letter is a malicious lies intended to rubbish the good name of my family, when I get to the source of the letter, I will waste no time to take the necessary legal actions.
"I love my father and I never disrespect him."
Pls,let us be wise oooooooooooo from ipetumodu
ReplyDeleteThis is too much on us. Who are we to believe, the letter purputedly written to her father yesterday or the one we just finished reading. Watch the way u people(press) toy with our brains.
ReplyDelete