The relationship between former
president Olusegun Obasanjo and the incumbent has suffered a fatal blow. The
former political father and son went for each other’s jugular due to an 18-page letter titled “Before it is too late” written by
Obasanjo to Jonathan.
And President Jonathan in his own response did not only take
the former president to the cleaners accusing him of hypocrisy but asked “Transparency
International” to ward into the case and investigate all the issues raised in
the letter.
President Obasanjo in the all exposing letter written on December 2,
2013, said that he decided to make the letter open due to several
reasons.
He cited the current situation and
consequent possible outcome as what dictated that he should,
before the door closes on reason and promotion of national
interest, alert Mr. president to the danger
that may be lurking in the
corner.
Other reasons according to him are as follows- that none of the four or more letters that he had written to Jonathan in the past two years or so has elicited an acknowledgment or any response.
-that people close to Jonathan,
if not himself, have been asking, what
does Obasanjo want?
-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.
-everything must be done to guard,
protect and defend our fledgling democracy,
nourish it and prevent bloodshed.
-we must move away from
advertently or inadvertently dividing the country along
weak seams of North-South and Christian-Moslem.
-nothing should be done to allow
the country to degenerate into economic dormancy,
stagnation or retrogression.
-some of our international
friends and development partners are genuinely
worried about signs and signals that
are coming out of Nigeria.
-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.
-I am concerned about your legacy and your
climb-down which you alone can best be the manager of, whenever you so decide.
Moreover, Obasanjo told that 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.
“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.
In conclusion Obasanjo said: 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.
“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.
Olusegun Obasanjo
