There are only three incumbent
Nigerian presidents whom ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has not descended on
heavily since he left as a military ruler in 1979. They are Sani Abacha, the
late dictator who jailed him, apparently to shut him up; Ernest Shonekan, who
spent just 82 days in office and himself. Of course, it would have been absurd
for him to have written an open letter to himself when he presided over this
nation between 1999 and 2007.
Tuesday was the turn of President
Muhammadu Buhari and it is not clear if the letter bomb titled: ‘The way out: A
Clarion Call for The Coalition for Nigeria Movement’, is the beginning of more
to come.
When Obasanjo bombarded
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in December 2013, he did not stop until
Nigerians went to the polls in March 2015.
It is not even certain if he has
stopped hitting Jonathan. In one breath, he attacks Jonathan before you know
it, he would shower praises on him. Anyway, below is the open letter he wrote
to the immediate past president on December 2, 2013.
I am constrained to make this an
open letter to you for a number of reasons.
One, the current
situation and consequent
possible outcome dictate that I
should, before the door closes on reason and promotion of national interest,
alert you to
the danger that
may be lurking
in the corner. Two, none of the
four or more letters
that I have written to
you in the past
two years or
so has elicited
an acknowledgment or any
response. Three, people
close to you,
if not yourself,
have been asking, what
does Obasanjo want?
Four, I could
sense a semblance between the situation that we are
gradually getting into and the situation we fell into as a nation during
the Abacha era. Five, everything must
be done to guard,
protect and defend
our fledgling democracy,
nourish it and prevent
bloodshed. Six, we
must move away
from advertently or inadvertently dividing
the country along weak seams of North-South and Christian-Moslem. Seven,
nothing should be done to
allow the country to
degenerate into economic
dormancy, stagnation or
retrogression.
Eight, some
of our international
friends and development
partners are genuinely worried
about signs and
signals that are
coming out of Nigeria.
Nine, Nigeria should
be in a position to take
advantage of the present
favourable international interest
to invest in
Africa – an opportunity that
will not be
open for too
long. Ten, I am
concerned about your legacy and your climb-down which you alone can best
be the manager of, whenever you so decide.
Mr. President, you have on a
number of occasions acknowledged the role God
enabled me to
play in your
ascension to power.
You put me third
after God and
your parents among
those that have
impacted most on
your life. I
have always retorted
that God only put
you where you are and those
that could be regarded as having
played a role were only instruments of God to achieve
God’s purpose in your life. For me, I
believe that politically,
it was in
the best interest
of Nigeria that
you, a Nigerian from
minority group in
the South, could rise
to the highest pinnacle of
political leadership. If Obasanjo
could get there,
Yar’Adua could get there and Jonathan can get there, any Nigerian can.
It is now not a matter of the turn
of any section or geographical
area but the best interest of Nigeria
and all Nigerians. It has been
proved that no group – ethnic,
linguistic, religious or
geographical location –
has monopoly of materials
for leadership of
our country. And
no group solely
by itself can crown any of its members the Nigerian CEO. It is
good for Nigeria.
I
have also always
told you that
God has graciously
been kind, generous, merciful
and compassionate to
me and He
has done more than
I could have
ever hoped for.
I want nothing
from you personally except that you should run the
affairs of Nigeria not only to make Nigeria good, but
to make Nigeria
great for which
I have always
pleaded with you and I will always do so. And it is
yet to be done for
most Nigerians to see. 2
For five capacities in which you
find yourself, you must hold yourself most significantly responsible for what
happens or fails to happen in Nigeria and in any case, most others will hold
you responsible and God who put you there
will surely hold
you responsible and
accountable. 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, it
will be well.
The five positions which
you share with nobody
except with God
and which place great
and grave responsibility on you are
leadership of the
ruling party, headship of
the Federal Government
or national government, Commander-in-Chief of the Military,
Chief Security Officer
of the nation, and
the political leader of the country. Those positions go with being the President of our country and while
depending on your disposition, you can delegate or
devolve responsibility, but
the buck must
stop on your
table whether you like it or not.
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 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.
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 that it is not
ingenious. You may wish to pursue a
more credible and more honourable path.
Although you have not formally informed
me one way
or the other,
it will be
necessary to refresh
your memory of
what transpired in
2011. I had
gone to Benue
State for the marriage
of one of my staff,
Vitalis Ortese, in the State.
Governor Suswam was
my hospitable host.
He 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.
Later, I heard from
other sources including sources
close to you that
you made the same
commitment elsewhere, hence,
my inclusion of
it in my
address at the finale of your campaign in 2011 as follows:
“…PDP should
be praised for
being the only
party that enshrines
federal character, zoning and
rotation in its
Constitution and practises it.
PDP has brought stability and substantial predictability to
the polity and to the system. I do not know who will be President of
Nigeria after Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
That is in the hand of God. But
with PDP policy and practice, I can reasonably guess from where,
in term of
section of the
country, the successor
to President Jonathan will come.
And no internal democracy or
competition will thereby be destroyed.
The recent resort
to sentiments and
emotions of religion
and regionalism is self-serving,
unpatriotic and mischievous,
to say the
least. It is also preying on dangerous emotive issues
that can ignite uncontrollable passion and
can distabilise if
not destroy our
country. This is
being oblivious to the
sacrifices others have
made in the
past for unity,
stability and democracy
in Nigeria in giving
up their lives,
shedding their blood, and in
going to prison. I personally
have done two out of those three sacrifices and I am ready to do the third if
it will serve the best interest of Nigerian dream. Let me appeal to those who have embarked on
this dangerous road to reflect and desist from taking us on a perishable
journey.
With common identity as
Nigerians, there is more that binds
us than separates
us. I am
a Nigerian, born a Yoruba
man, and I am
proud of
both identities as
they are for
me complementary. Our
duties, responsibilities and obligations to our country as citizens and,
indeed, as leaders must go side
by side with
our rights and
demands. There must be
certain values and virtues
that must go concomitantly with our dream.
Thomas Paine said “my country is
the world”; for me, my country I hold dear.
On two
occasions, I have
had opportunity to
work for my
successors to the government of
Nigeria. On both occasions,
I never took
the easy and distabilising route of ethnic,
regional or religious
consideration, rather I took
the enduring route of
national, uniting and
stabilising route. I
worked for both President Shagari and President Yar’Adua
to succeed me not just because they are
Moslems, Northerners or Hausa-Fulani, but because
they could strengthen the
unity, stability and
democracy in Nigeria. We
incurred the displeasure
of ethnic chauvinists for doing what was right for the country. That is in the nature of burden of
leadership. A leader must lead, no
matter whose ox is gored.
In the
present circumstance, let me reiterate
what I have said on a
number of occasions. Electing Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in his
own right and on his own merit,
as the President
of Nigeria will
enhance and strengthen
our unity, stability and
democracy. And it
will lead us
towards the achievement
of our Nigerian dream.
There is a press report that Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan has already taken a unique and unprecedented step
of declaring that
he would only
want to be
a one-term President. If
so, whether we
know it or
not, that is
a sacrifice and it is
statesmanly. Rather than vilify him
and pull him down, we, as a
Party, should applaud and commend
him and Nigerians should reward and venerate him. He has taken the first good step.
Let us encourage
him to take
more good steps by voting
him in
with landslide victory as the fourth
elected President of
Nigeria on the
basis of our
common Nigerian identity and for the purpose of actualising Nigerian
dream…”
When you won the election, one of
the issues you very early pursued was that of one term of six years. That convinced me that you meant what
you told me before my Speech at the
campaign. Mr. President, whatever may
be your intention or plan, I cannot comment much on the constitutional
aspect of your
second term or what
some people call third term.
That is for both legal
and judicial attention.
But if constitutionally you
are on a strong wicket if you so decide, it will be
fatally and morally flawed. 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. I
will respect you for
upholding these attributes
and for dignifying
that Office.
Chinua Achebe said, “One of the
truest test of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.” It
is a lesson
for all leaders including
you and me.
However, Mr. President, let me
hope that as you claimed that you have not told anybody that you are contesting
and that what we see and hear is a rumbling
of overzealous aides,
you will remain
a leader that
can be believed and trusted
without unduly passing the buck or engaging in game of denials.
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 gubernatorial
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. It happened
in Lagos in 2011 when Bola Tinubu was nocturnally
brought to Abuja to strike a deal
for support for your personal election
at great price materially and in the
fortune of PDP
gubernatorial candidate.
As Chairman of BOT, I spoke to
you at that time. It happened in Ondo
State where there was in addition
evidence of cover-up and
non-prosecution of fraud of fake
security report against
the non-PDP candidate
and his collaborators for the
purpose of extracting personal electoral advantage for you. In fact, I have raised with you the story
of those in other States in the South-West
where some disgruntled PDP
members were going around to recruit people into the Labour Party
for you, because, for electoral purpose at the national level, Labour Party will have no candidate but you. It also
happened in Edo
State and those
who know the
detail never stopped talking about it.
And you know it. Ditto in Anambra
State with the fiasco coming from undue
interference. 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.
If on
the altar of
the Party you
go for broke,
the Party may
be broken beyond repairs.
And when in a dispute
between two sides,
they both stubbornly decide to
fight to the last
drop of blood,
no one knows whose blood would
be the last to
drop. In such a
situation, Nigeria as a
nation may also be adversely affected, not just the PDP. I wish to see no more bloodshed occasioned
by politics in
Nigeria. Please, Mr.
President, be mindful of
that. You were exemplary in words when
during the campaign and the 2011 elections, you said, “My election is not worth
spilling the blood of any Nigerian.”
From you, it
should not be
if it has
to be, let it be. It
should be from
you, let peace,
security, harmony, good
governance, development and progress be
for Nigeria. That
is also your
responsibility and mandate. You
can do it and I plead that you do it. We all have to be mindful of
not securing pyrrhic
victory on the
ashes of great
values, attributes and issues
that matter as
it would amount
to hollow victory without honour and integrity.
Whatever may
be the feud
in PDP and no
matter what you or
your aides may feel,
you, as the
Party Leader, have
the responsibility to
find solution, resolve and
fix it. Your
legacy is involved.
If PDP as
a ruling Party collapses,
it will be
the first time
in an independent
Nigeria that a ruling political party would collapse not
as a result of a military coup. It is
food for
thought. At the prompting
of Governors on
both sides of the divide, and on
encouragement from you, I spent two nights to intervene in the dispute of the
PDP Governors. I kept you fully
briefed at every stage.
I deliberately chose Banquet Hall
at the Villa to ensure transparency.
Your aides studied all the recordings of the two nights. But I told you at the end of the
exercise that I
observed five reactions
among the Governors
that required your immediate attention as you are the only one from the
vantage point of your five positions that could deal effectively with the five
reactions which were bitterness,
anger, mistrust, fear
and deep suspicion.
I could only hope
that you made
efforts to deal
with these unpleasant
reactions.
The feud leading to the
factionalisation of the Party made me to invite some select elders
of the Party
to mediate again.
Since I was engaged
in assignment outside the country, I was not able to join the three
members of the elders group that presented the report of our mediation
to you. I was briefed that you
agreed to work
on the report.
It would appear
that for now, the ball
is in your court as the Leader of the Party. I can only wish you every
success in your
handling of the
issue. But time
is not your friend or that of the Party in this
respect. With leadership come not just
power and authority
to do and
to undo, but
also responsibility and accountability to
do and to
undo rightly, well
and justly. Time
and opportunity are treasure that must be appreciated and shared to enhance their value and
utilitarianism.
It is instructive that after half
a dozen African Presidents have spoken to me
to help you with
unifying the Party
based on your
request to them and
I came in company of Senator
Amadu Ali to discuss the whole issue with
you again, strangely,
you denied ever
requesting or authorising
any President to talk to me. I
was not surprised because I am used to such a situation of denial coming from
you. Of course, I was not
deterred. I have done and I will continue to do and say
what is first, in the best
interest of Nigeria and second, what is in the best interest of the Party. I stand for the aims, objectives, mission
and vision of the founding fathers of the Party, to use it as a wholesome
instrument of unity, good governance, development, prosperity and progress of
Nigeria and all Nigerians. I have
contributed to this goal in
the past and
no one who
has been raised to
position on the platform
of the Party
should shy away
from further contribution
to avoid division and destruction
of the Party on any altar whatsoever.
Debates and
dialogues are necessary
to promote the
interest and work for the progress of any human institution or organisation. In such a situation, agreements and
disagreements will occur but in the final analysis, leadership will
pursue the course
of action that
benefit the majority
and serve the purpose of the organisation, not the purpose of an
individual or a minority. In that
process, unity is
sustained and everybody
becomes a winner. The so-called crisis in the PDP can be
turned to an opportunity of unity,
mutual understanding and
respect with the
Party emerging with enhanced strength and victory. It will be a win-win for all members of the
Party and for the country. By
that, PDP would have
proved that it
could have internal disagreement
and emerge stronger. The calamity of
failure can still be avoided.
Please, move away from fringes or the extremes and move to the centre
and carry ALL along. Time is running
out.
I
will only state
that as far
as your responsibility as
Chief Security Officer of
the nation is
concerned for Nigerians,
a lot more
needs to be done to enhance the feeling of security
amongst them. Whether one talks of the
issue of militancy in the Niger Delta, the underlying causes of which have not
been adequately addressed,
if addressed at all,
kidnapping, piracy, abductions and armed robberies which rather than
abate are on the increase and Boko Haram which requires carrot and stick
approach to lay its ghost to
rest, the general
security situation cannot
be described as comforting. Knowing
the genesis of
Boko Haram and
the reasons for escalation of violence from that sector
with the widespread and ramification of
the menace of
Boko Haram within
and outside the
Nigerian borders,
conventional military actions
based on standard
phases of military operations alone will not
permanently and effectively deal with the issue of Boko Haram.
There are many
strands or layers
of causes that
require different solutions, approaches
or antidotes. Drug,
indoctrination, fundamentalism,
gun trafficking, hate
culture, human trafficking,
money laundering, religion,
poverty, unemployment, poor
education, revenge and
international terrorism are among factors that have effect on Boko Haram.
One single prescription cannot
cure all these ailments that combine in Boko Haram. Should we pursue war against violence
without understanding the root causes of
the violence and
applying solutions to
deal with all underlying factors – root, stem and
branches? Nigeria is bleeding and the
hemorrhage must be
stopped. I am
convinced that you
can initiate measures that will
bring all hands on deck to deal effectively with this great menace.
Mr. President,
the most important
qualification for your
present position is your
being a Nigerian. Whatever else
you may be
besides being a Nigerian
is only secondary
for this purpose.
And if majority
of Nigerians who voted
had not cast their votes for
you, you
could not have been there. 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 a 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
‘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. You know
that I have
expressed my views
and feelings to you
on this issue
in the past
but I have
come to realise
that many others feel the way I have earlier expressed to you. It is not
the best way of making
friendship among all
sections of Nigeria.
You don’t have shared
and wholesome society
without inclusive political,
economic and social sustainable
development and good
governance. Also declaring
that one section of the
country voted for you as if
you got no
votes from other sections
can only
be an unnecessary
talk, to put it mildly.
After all and at the end of the
day, democracy is a game of numbers.
Even, if you would not need people’s vote across the country again, your
political Party will.
Allegation of keeping over 1,000
people on political watch list rather than
criminal or security
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 own killers, if it is true, cannot augur well for the initiator,
the government and the people
of Nigeria. Here
again, there is
the lesson of
history to learn from
for anybody who
cares to learn
from history. Mr.
President would always remember
that he was
elected to maintain
security for all Nigerians
and protect them.
And no one
should prepare to
kill or maim Nigerians for
personal or political
ambition or interest
of anyone. The Yoruba adage says, “The man with whose
head the coconut is broken may not live to savour the taste of the succulent
fruit.” Those who advise you to go
hard on
those who oppose
you are your
worst enemies. Democratic politics admits and is permissive of supporters and opponents. When the consequences come, those who have
wrongly advised you will not be there to help carry the can. Egypt must teach some lesson.
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.
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. Most of our
friends and development
partners are worried and they see what we pretend to cover
up. They are worried about issue of security
internally and on
our coastal waters,
including heavy oil
theft, alias bunkering and
piracy. They are
worried about corruption
and what we are
doing or not
doing about it.
Corruption has reached
the level of impunity. It
is also necessary
to be mindful
that corruption and
injustice are fertile breeding ground for terrorism and political
instability. And if you are not
ready to name,
shame, prosecute and
stoutly fight against corruption, whatever
you do will
be hollow. It
will be a
laughing matter.
They are worried
about how we play our
role in our region
and, indeed, in the world.
In a way,
I share some
of their concerns
because there are notable
areas we can do more or do
better than we are
doing. Some of our
development partners were
politically frustrated to
withdraw from the Olokola
LNG project, which
happily was not
yet the same
with the Brass. I initiated
them both. They
were viable and would
have taken us close to Qatar as LNG producing country. Please do not frustrate Brass LNG and in the interest of
what is best for
Nigerian economy, bring
back the OK LNG into active implementation. The major
international oil companies
have withheld investment in
projects in Nigeria.
If they have
not completely moved out, they
are divesting. Nigeria, which is the
Saudi of Africa in oil and gas terms,
is being overtaken
by Angola only
because necessary decisions are
not made timely
and appropriately. Mr.
President, let me again plead with you to be decisive on the
oil and gas sector so that Nigeria may not lag behind. Oil with gas is being discovered all over
Africa. New technology is producing
oil from shale
elsewhere. We should
make hay while the sun
shines. I hope we can still save the OK
and Brass LNG projects.
Three things
are imperative in the oil
and gas sector
– stop oil
stealing, encourage investment,
especially by the
IOCs and improve
the present poor management of
the industry. On the economy generally,
it suffices to say that we could do
better than we are doing. The
signs are there and the
expectations are high. The
most dangerous ticking
bomb is youth unemployment, particularly in the face
of unbridled corruption and obscene rulers’ opulence.
Let me
repeat that as far as the
issue of corruption,
security and oil stealing is concerned,
it is only apt to say that when the guard becomes the thief,
nothing is safe,
secure nor protected
in the house.
We must all remember
that corruption, inequity
and injustice breed
poverty, unemployment,
conflict, violence and
wittingly or unwittingly
create terrorists because the
opulence of the
governor can only
lead to the leanness of the governed. But God never sleeps, He is watching,
waiting and bidding His time to dispense justice.
The serious and strong allegation
of non-remittance of about $7bn from the NNPC to central bank occurring from
export of some 300,000 barrels per day, amounting to $900 million a month, to be
refined and with refined products
of only $400m
returned and Atlantic
Oil loading about 130,000
barrels sold by
Shell and managed
on behalf of
NPDC with no sale
proceeds paid into NPDC
account is incredible. The
allegation was buttressed by the
letter of the Governor of
Central Bank of Nigeria to you on non-remittance to the central bank. This
allegation will not
fly away by non-action, cover-up, denial or bribing
possible investigators. 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.
The international
community knows us as we
are and maybe
more than we claim to know ourselves. And a good friend will tell you
the truth no matter how bitter. Denials and cover-up
of what is
obvious, true and factual
can detract from
honour, dignity and
respect. Truth and transparency dignify
and earn respect.
And life without
passion for something can
only achieve little.
I was taken
aback when an
African Development Bank Director
informed me that
the water project
for Port Harcourt, originally initiated by the Federal Government and to
be financed by the bank, is being put in
the cooler by the Federal Government because of the Amaechi-Jonathan
face-off. Amaechi, whether he likes it
or not, will cease to be governor over Rivers State, which Port Harcourt is
part by the end of May 2015, but residents of Port Harcourt will continue to
need improvement of their water
supply. President Jonathan should
rise above such pettiness and unpresidential act, if it
is coming from him. But if not, and it
is the
action of overzealous officials
reading the situation, he
should give appropriate
instruction for the project to be pursued. And there are other projects anywhere
suffering the same
coolness as a
result of similar situation, let
national interest supercede personal or political feud and
the machinations of satanic officials.
Mr. President,
let me plead
with you for a few
things that will
stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. Don’t always consider critics on
national issues as
enemies. Some of
them may be
as patriotic and nationalistic as
you and I
who have been
in government. Some of
them have as much
passion for Nigeria
as we have.
I saw that
among Nigerians living abroad,
hence, I initiated Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, NIDO.
You must also
differentiate between malevolent, mischievous and
objective criticism. Analyses,
criticisms and commentaries on
government actions and policies are sinew of democracy.
Please, Mr. President, be very
wary of assistants, aides and
collaborators who look for enemies for you.
I have seen them with you and some were around me
when I was
in your position.
I knew how
not to allow
them create enemies for me. If you allow
them, everybody except
them will be your enemy. They are more dangerous than identified
adversaries. May God save
leaders from sycophants.
They know what
you want to
hear and they feed you with it essentially for their own selfish
interest. As far as you and Nigeria
are concerned, they
are wreckers. Where
were they when God
used others to
achieve His will
in your life.
They possess you now for their
interest. No interest should be higher or more important than the Nigerian
interest to you. You have already made
history and please do nothing to mar history.
I supported you as I supported Yar’Adua. For me, there is neither North-South divide
nor Christian-Moslem divide but one Nigeria.
Let me
put it, that
talks, loose and
serious, abound about
possible abuse and misuse of the military and the legitimate security
apparatus for unwholesome personal and political interest to the detriment of
the honour, dignity, oath and professionalism
of these honourable and patriotic
forces.
Let me urge the authorities not to embark on
such destructive path for
an important element of our
national make-up. The roles of the military and the security agencies
should be held sacrosanct in the best interest of the nation. Again, let not history repeat itself here.
I
believe that with
what Nigeria went
through in the
past, the worst should have
already happened. It must be your responsibility as the captain of
the ship to
prevent the ship
from going aground
or from a shipwreck. For anybody close to you saying that if the
worst happens, he or she would not be involved is idle and loose talk. If we leave God to do His will and we don’t
rely only on our own
efforts, plans and wisdom, God will always do
His best. And the
power of money and
belief in it is satanically tempting. As I go around Nigeria and the world, I
always come across Nigerians who are first-class citizens of the world and who
are doing well where they
are and who
are passionate to
do well for
Nigeria. My hope for our
country lies in these people. They
abound and I hope that all of us will realise that they are the jewels of
Nigeria wherever they may be and not those who arrogate to themselves eternal
for ephemeral.
Also, to
my embarrassment at
times, I learned
more about what
is going on in the public and private sectors of Nigeria from our
development partners, international institutions and those transacting business
in Nigeria most times I was abroad. On
returning home to verify the veracity of these stories, I
found some of them not
only to be true but
more horrifying than they were
presented abroad. Other
countries look up
to Nigeria for regional leadership. Failure on the part of Nigeria will create
a schism that will be bad for the region.
Knowing what happens around
you, most of
which you know of and condone or
deny, this letter will provoke 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. If I stuck out my neck and God used me and
others as instrument to work hard for you to reach where you are today in what
I considered the
best political interest
of Nigeria, tagging
me as your enemy or
the enemy of
your administration by you, your
kin or
your aides can only be regarded
as ridiculous to extreme. If I see any
danger to your life, I will point it out to you or ward it off as I have done
in the past.
But I will not support what I
believe is not in the best interest of Nigeria, no matter who is putting it forward or who is behind it. Mr. President, I have passed the
stage of being
flattered, intimidated, threatened,
frightened, induced or bought. I
am never afraid to agree or disagree but it will always 13 be on principles,
and if on politics, in the national interest. After my prison experience in the
close proximity of and sharing facilities with an asylum in Yola, there is
nothing worse for anyone alive and well.
And that was for a military dictator to
perpetuate himself in
power. 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 innuendo 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 UK and
USA authorities to you or your aides to supplant legitimately elected PDP
leader in South-West is not only unwise
and crude but
also disingenuous. Nobody
in his or
her right senses will
believe such a
story and surely
nobody in Ogun
State or South-West zone will
believe such nonsense. It is a clear indication of how unscrupulous and
unethical the presidency can go to pursue your personal and political
interest. Nothing else matters. What a pity! Nothing at this stage of my life would prevent
me from standing for whatever I consider to be in the best interest of Nigeria
– all Nigeria, Africa and the world in
that order. I believe strongly that a united and strong PDP at all costs
is in the best interest of
Nigeria. In these respects,
if our interests
and views coincide, together
we will march.
Putting a certified
unashamed criminal wanted abroad
to face justice and who has greatly contributed to corruption within the
judiciary on a high profile of politics as you and your aides have done with
the man you enthrone as PDP Zonal leader in the South-West is the height of
disservice to this country politically and height of insult to the people of
South-West in general
and members of
PDP in that
zone in particular.
For me, my politics goes with
principles and morality and I will not be a party to highly profiling criminals in politics, not to say
one would be my
zonal leader. It
destroys what PDP
stands for from
its inception…
God is never a supporter of evil
and will surely save PDP and Nigeria from the hands of destroyers. If everything fails and the Party
cannot be retrieved from
the hands of
criminals and commercial
jobbers and discredited touts,
men and women
of honour, principles,
morality and integrity must step
aside to rethink.
Let me also appeal to and urge
defected, dissatisfied, disgruntled and in any way displeased PDP Governors,
legislators, party officials and party members to respond positively if the
President seriously takes the initiative to
find mutually agreeable
solution to the
current problems for
which he alone has the key and
the initiative. I have heard it said
particularly within the presidency circle that the disaffected Governors and members of PDP are my
children. I begin
to wonder if,
from top to
bottom, any PDP
15 member in
elective office today
is not directly
or indirectly a
beneficiary and, so to say, my
political child. Anyone who may claim
otherwise will be like a river that has forgotten its source. But like a good father, all I seek is
peaceful and amicable solution that
will re-unite the
family for victory
and progress of the family and the nation and nothing else.
In a
democracy, leaders are
elected to lighten
the burden of the
people, give them
freedom, choice and
equity and ensure
good governance and not to
deceive them, burden them, oppress
them, render them hopeless
and helpless. Nothing
should be done
to undermine the tenets, and values of democratic
principles and practice. Tyranny in
all its manifestation may be appealing to a leader in trying times of political
feud or disagreement. Democracy
must, however, prevail
and be held
as sacrosanct. Today, you
are the President
of Nigeria, I acknowledge you and respect you as such.
The act of
an individual has a way
of rubbing off
on the generality.
May it never be the wish of
majority of Nigerians that Goodluck Jonathan, by his
acts of omission
or commission, would
be the first
and the last Nigerian
President ever to
come from Ijaw
tribe. The idea
and the possibility must
give all of
us food for thought. That was
never what I worked
for and that
would never be
what I will
work for. But
legacy is made of such or the
opposite.
My last
piece of advice,
Mr. President, is
that you should
learn the lesson of history and
please do not take Nigeria and Nigerians for granted.
Move away
from culture of
denials, cover-ups and
proxies and deal honesty, sincerely and transparently
with Nigerians to regain their trust and confidence. Nigerians are no fools, they can see, they
can hear, they can talk among themselves, they can think, they can compare and
they can act in the interest of
their country and in their
own self-interest. They
keenly watch all actions
and deeds that
are associated with
you if they
cannot believe your words.
I know you
have the power
to save PDP
and the country. I beg you to have the courage and the will
with patriotism to use the power for
the good of the country.
Please uphold some
form of national core values. I will appeal to all Nigerians particularly
all members of PDP to
respect and dignify
the Office of
the President. We
must all know that individuals
will come and go but the Office will remain.
Once again, time is of the
essence. Investors are already
retreating 16 from Nigeria,
adopting ‘wait and
see attitude’ and
knowing what we are
deficient of, it
will take time to
reverse the trend
and we may
miss some golden opportunities.
Finally, your later-day conversion
into National Conference is fraught with danger of disunity, confusion and
chaos if not well handled. I believe
in debate and
dialogue but it
must be purposeful,
directed and managed well without ulterior motives. The ovation has not died out yet and there
is always life after a decent descent.
Accept, Dear Mr.
President, the assurances
of my highest consideration.
Olusegun Obasanjo
PS
I
crave your indulgence
to share the
contents of this
letter, in the
first instance, with General
Ibrahim Babangida and
General Abdulsalami 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 General Yakubu
Danjuma and Dr. Alex Ekwueme,
whose concerns for and commitments to the good of Nigeria have been
known to be
strong.
The limit of sharing of
the contents may be
extended as time goes on.
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