The season of letter writing may not be over in Nigeria yet as elder statesman and former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark joined the fray to excoriate former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his 18-page letter to President Goodluck Jonathan.
In his 10-page delayed response to Obasanjo, titled: ‘Let The Truth Be Told Before It Is Too Late,’ Chief Clark described Obasanjo as “a mischief maker” and “an ego maniac who always want to play to the gallery.”
Obasanjo wrote his letter to Jonathan on 2 December last year, titled ‘Before It Is too Late’, triggering a political tremor that is yet to quieten down.
The Ijaw pre-eminent chief and political godfather of President Jonathan, condemned Obasanjo for writing what he called a treasonable letter to the president, adding that Nigeria does not belong to Obasanjo as pointed out by Iyabo Obasanjo in her open letter to her father.
“Ordinarily, I never intended to join in the affray of accusations and counter accusations between a former president and a sitting president and a daughter in between. But, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in your usual characteristic hatred and use of sarcastic remarks about Ijaw, you have again berated and insulted us the Ijaws in your letter to Mr. President. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has never for once acted nor behaved as an Ijaw man since he took office as President, and we hold no grudge against him for that.
“In addition, I want to butress the assertion that all Nigerians are equal no matter where they come from, that is no one is a second class citizen of this nation. You have no right to plunge Nigeria into crisis as your past actions and recent open letter to the president connotes. The generality of Nigerians think your letter is treasonable,” Chief Clark stated.
The former minister goes further to describe Obasanjo as an unrepentant trouble maker, adding that he had in the past embarrassed former Heads of State through his devilish open letters.
“My dear Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, you have become an unrepentant trouble maker, as Nigeria gave you more than you truly deserve. Hence you see yourself as lord of the manor. You have without recourse in the past embarrassed all past Heads of State and Presidents in Nigeria through open letters and unsavory comments. In such letters, you have always alleged maladministration, corruption and incompetence against them,” Clark wrote.
While admitting that Obasanjo contributed to Jonathan’s emergence as president, the former minister criticised Obasanjo for trying to dictate to Jonathan and when the latter refused to toe his footsteps, started attacking him.
“Nigerians are aware that you set the stage for the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as President of the Federal Republic. But the saying goes that if you present a gift of goat to a friend you must let go of the tether. You are probably different. Right from the inception of the Jonathan presidency, your body language indicated you want to play the role of the piper, that is, dictate how Jonathan runs the government, a phenomenon you did not tolerate from those who put you in office in 1999.
“An incident that played itself out then will suffice. You masterminded the removal of Chief Tony Anenih, then PDP Chairman, Board of Trustees, and appointed yourself thinking the position will give you powers to control and manipulate the President. The futility of your actions dawned on you when you realised Jonathan is his own man. And in frustration you resigned as PDP Board of Trustee Chairman. You had thought the president will kneel before you begging that you stay on, but he never did. Every Nigerian therefore, knows that you connived, with PDP renegades and opposition parties to ridicule and undo President Jonathan and the government because he refused to be your puppet,” he stated.
Citing other instances of Obasanjo’s hypocrisy and corruption, Clark reminded him: “My dear OBJ, I was your colleague in the General Yakubu Gowon government in 1975. You were then the Minister of Works. The Head of State directed you to develop the Tincan Island Port. It was widely rumoured then that you carved out a portion of land from the area earmarked for the project for yourself, the area now known as Beachland Estate in Apapa, Lagos. Your clandestine usurpation of the piece of land led to series of litigations with your front man, in which I believe you are still probably embroiled.
“Mr. former President, I will also like to use the language of your daughter, Iyabo to describe you to Nigerians. You are “a liar, manipulator, two face hypocrite” and that “you have egoistic craving for power and live a life only men of low self esteem and intellect thrive.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Truly we are avng Ijaw president not Nigerian president in person of GEJ, wat is wrong with dis old man.where were dis people wen Obasanjo is nursing Jonathan .Bomboklak .
ReplyDeleteA season of open letters in deed!hmmm..this is getting interesting!@anonymous 5:25PM take am easy oo..make we siddon look and enjoy this glorious seasons of open letters..na
ReplyDeleteCorrupt people imagine since 1975! Ah! this guys nor dey rest? Black race!! Where are their colleagues in other climes? Are they not retired? In fact most are by now, please if any of you guys on this platform is related one way or the other to this people do appeal to them to RETIRE!
ReplyDeleteMalik.
I think such letter and body langauge of both sectional leader is prune to disintergarte national unity,I think Chief Clark doesn't need this such letter at this time.where is the wisdom and maturity sense!
ReplyDelete#Teamthinkforme
Does Jonathan being "a man of his own" justify his questionable gestures toward Al Mustapha, Bode George, former Bayelsa State Governor, etc, whose name I have troubles spelling here for fear of a litigation over mis-spelling? Not to mention turning a blind eye (or blind eyes, if you like) to evidence-proven corruption in higher places? If Jonathan were determined to take a break from the Obasanjo tradition, he should have striven to uphold the tenets of good governance, which OBJ rubbished. That is when Jonathan can be described as "a man of his own."
ReplyDeletethey should remain on the scene so that they expose them selfs more and more to we the younger once. If not i only no of the operation feed the nation loan that obasanjo took and share with his other general friend when he was military head of state. Thank you Baba E . D CLARK for this piece of information.
ReplyDeleteClark, you are very ungrateful, you were indetifyied as one of the most corrupt Minister during your time. Former Sch. of nursing you stole money to build at Warri during your time as a minister is OBJ that handed it over to you 2000. You caused Warri crisis to enrich yourself and Ijaws through oil bunkery, you accused Ibori for not performing and you were bribed, Who appointed you as GEJ political godfather? You shall reap your political evil plan on earth here and you shall also confirmed it that God Almighty exist.How many old men like you are living at Abuja? When will you be useful to your communities. Coontinue to think wisely because your current ideas has no inputs to Nigerian growth because we have better brains than you think because you have been given opportunity to serve and could not perform. We need you in Delta state, please come back home.
ReplyDeleteThis old fool has not addressed issues raised by OBJ has regards the performance of his kinsman! where was this old fool whven Yaradua boys were dealing with the mumu GEJ? is it not people from the south west that fought and protested against the injustice then? I think niger delta people should talk to GEJ to actually develop the zone rather than fighting OBJ. What has happened to the east west road under OBJ? what is Niger delta ministry doing to develop the zone? what of the NDDC? Is it that these agencies of government had no budgetry allocation to perform? lets assume that GEJ rule for another 4 years, can developmental issues in niger delta be addressed completely? how about GEJ trying to distabilise the zone again by fostering violence in prt harcourt? Niger deltans, please, be wise!
ReplyDeleteNigeria is God's own country and at His own time he will deliver us from the clutches of the evil doers
ReplyDeleteEdqin Clark, is a political thug to GEJ, no doubt about that. And a thug will do all what he can just to continue eating from the govt. treasury. shame on you.
ReplyDeleteEdwin Clark, is a political thug to GEJ, no doubt about that. And a thug will do all what he can just to continue eating from the govt. treasury. shame on you.
ReplyDelete