Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR
Agbe L'Oba House, Quarry Road,
Ibara, Abeokuta.
RE: Before It Is Too Late
I wish to formally acknowledge your letter dated December 2, 2013 and
other previous correspondence similar to it.
You will recall that all the letters were brought to me by hand.
Although both of us discussed some of the issues in those letters, I
had not, before now, seen the need for any formal reply since, to me,
they contained advice from a former President to a serving President.
Obviously, you felt differently because in your last letter, you
complained about my not acknowledging or replying your previous
letters. Continue…
It is with the greatest possible reluctance that I now write this
reply. I am most uneasy about embarking on this unprecedented and
unconventional form of open communication between me and a former
leader of our country because I know that there are more acceptable
and dignified means of doing so.
But I feel obliged to reply your letter for a number of reasons: one,
you formally requested for a reply and not sending you one will be
interpreted as ignoring a former President.
Secondly, Nigerians know the role you have played in my political life
and given the unfortunate tone of your letter, clearly, the grapes
have gone sour. Therefore, my side of the story also needs to be
told.
The third reason why I must reply you in writing is that your letter
is clearly a threat to national security as it may deliberately or
inadvertently set the stage for subversion.
The fourth reason for this reply is that you raised very weighty
issues, and since the letter has been made public, Nigerians are
expressing legitimate concerns. A response from me therefore, becomes
very necessary.
The fifth reason is that this letter may appear in biographies and
other books which political commentators on Nigeria's contemporary
politics may write. It is only proper for such publications to include
my comments on the issues raised in your letter.
Sixthly, you are very unique in terms of the governance of this
country. You were a military Head of State for three years and eight
months, and an elected President for eight years. That means you have
been the Head of Government of Nigeria for about twelve years. This
must have, presumably, exposed you to a lot of information. Thus when
you make a statement, there is the tendency for people to take it
seriously.
The seventh reason is that the timing of your letter coincided with
other vicious releases. The Speaker of the House of Representatives
spoke of my "body language" encouraging corruption. A letter written
to me by the CBN Governor alleging that NNPC, within a period of 19
months did not remit the sum of USD49.8 billion to the federation
account, was also deliberately leaked to the public.
The eighth reason is that it appears that your letter was designed to
incite Nigerians from other geopolitical zones against me and also
calculated to promote ethnic disharmony. Worse still, your letter was
designed to instigate members of our Party, the PDP, against me.
The ninth reason is that your letter conveys to me the feeling that
landmines have been laid for me.
Therefore, Nigerians need to have my response to the issues raised
before the mines explode.
The tenth and final reason why my reply is inevitable is that you have
written similar letters and made public comments in reference to all
former Presidents and Heads of Government starting from Alhaji Shehu
Shagari and these have instigated different actions and reactions. The
purpose and direction of your letter is distinctly ominous, and before
it is too late, my clarifications on the issues need to be placed on
record.
Let me now comment on the issues you raised. In commenting I wish to
crave your indulgence to compare what is happening now to what took
place before. This, I believe, will enable Nigerians see things in
better perspective because we must know where we are coming from so as
to appreciate where we now are, and to allow us clearly map out where
we are going.
You raised concerns about the security situation in the country. I
assure you that I am fully aware of the responsibility of government
for ensuring the security of the lives and property of citizens. My
Administration is working assiduously to overcome current national
security challenges, the seeds of which were sown under previous
administrations. There have been some setbacks; but certainly there
have also been great successes in our efforts to overcome terrorism
and insurgency.
Those who continue to down-play our successes in this regard, amongst
whom you must now be numbered, appear to have conveniently forgotten
the depths to which security in our country had plunged before now.
At a stage, almost the entire North-East of Nigeria was under siege by
insurgents. Bombings of churches and public buildings in the North and
the federal capital became an almost weekly occurrence. Our entire
national security apparatus seemed nonplussed and unable to come to
grips with the new threat posed by the berthing of terrorism on our
shores.
But my administration has since brought that very unacceptable
situation under significant control. We have overhauled our entire
national security architecture, improved intelligence gathering,
training, funding, logistical support to our armed forces and security
agencies, and security collaboration with friendly countries with very
visible and positive results.
The scope and impact of terrorist operations have been significantly
reduced and efforts are underway to restore full normalcy to the most
affected North Eastern region and initiate a post-crisis development
agenda, including a special intervention programme to boost the
region's socio-economic progress.
In doing all this, we have kept our doors open for dialogue with the
insurgents and their supporters through efforts such as the work of
the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and the Peaceful Resolution of
the Security Challenges in the North-East. You also know that the
Governor of Borno State provided the items you mentioned to me as
carrots. Having done all this and more, it is interesting that you
still accuse me of not acting on your hardly original recommendation
that the carrot and stick option be deployed to solve the Boko Haram
problem.
Your suggestion that we are pursuing a "war against violence without
understanding the root causes of the violence and applying solutions
to deal with all the underlying factors" is definitely misplaced
because from the onset of this administration, we have been
implementing a multifaceted strategy against militancy, insurgency and
terrorism that includes poverty alleviation, economic development,
education and social reforms.
Even though basic education is the constitutional responsibility of
States, my administration has, as part of its efforts to address
ignorance and poor education which have been identified as two of the
factors responsible for making some of our youth easily available for
use as cannon fodder by insurgents and terrorists, committed huge
funds to the provision of modern basic education schools for the
Almajiri in several Northern States. The Federal Government under my
leadership has also set up nine additional universities in the
Northern States and three in the Southern States in keeping with my
belief that proper education is the surest way of emancipating and
empowering our people.
More uncharitable persons may even see a touch of sanctimoniousness in
your new belief in the carrot and stick approach to overcoming
militancy and insurgency. You have always referred to how you hit Odi
in Bayelsa State to curb militancy in the Niger Delta. If the
invasion of Odi by the Army was the stick, I did not see the
corresponding carrot. I was the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State
then, and as I have always told you, the invasion of Odi did not solve
any militancy problem but, to some extent, escalated it. If it had
solved it, late President Yar'Adua would not have had to come up with
the amnesty program. And while some elements of the problem may still
be there, in general, the situation is reasonably better.
In terms of general insecurity in the country and particularly the
crisis in the Niger Delta, 2007 was one of the worst periods in our
history. You will recall three incidents that happened in 2007 which
seemed to have been orchestrated to achieve sinister objectives. Here
in Abuja, a petrol tanker loaded with explosives was to be rammed into
the INEC building. But luckily for the country, an electric pole
stopped the tanker from hitting the INEC building. It is clear that
this incident was meant to exploit the general sense of insecurity in
the nation at the time to achieve the aim of stopping the 2007
elections. It is instructive that you, on a number of occasions,
alluded to this fact.
When that incident failed, an armed group invaded Yenagoa one evening
with the intent to assassinate me. Luckily for me, they could not.
They again attacked and bombed my country home on a night when I was
expected in the village. Fortunately, as God would have it, I did not
make the trip.
I recall that immediately after both incidents, I got calls expressing
the concern of Abuja. But Baba, you know that despite the apparent
concern of Abuja, no single arrest was ever made. I was then the
Governor of Bayelsa State and the PDP Vice-Presidential candidate. The
security people ordinarily should have unraveled the assassination
attempt on me.
You also raised the issues of kidnapping, piracy and armed robbery.
These are issues all Nigerians, including me are very concerned about.
While we will continue to do our utmost best to reduce all forms of
criminality to the barest minimum in our country, it is just as well
to remind you that the first major case of kidnapping for ransom took
place around 2006. And the Boko Haram crisis dates back to 2002.
Goodluck Jonathan was not the President of the country then. Also,
armed robbery started in this country immediately after the civil war
and since then, it has been a problem to all succeeding governments.
For a former Head of Government, who should know better, to present
these problems as if they were creations of the Jonathan
Administration is most uncharitable.
Having said that, let me remind you of some of the things we have done
to curb violent crime in the country. We have reorganized the Nigerian
Police Force and appointed a more dynamic leadership to oversee its
affairs. We have also improved its manpower levels as well as funding,
training and logistical support.
We have also increased the surveillance capabilities of the Police
and provided its air-wing with thrice the number of helicopters it had
before the inception of the present administration. The National Civil
Defence and Security Corps has been armed to make it a much more
effective ally of the police and other security agencies in the war
against violent crime. At both domestic and international levels, we
are doing everything possible to curb the proliferation of the small
arms and light weapons with which armed robberies, kidnappings and
piracy are perpetrated. We have also enhanced security at our borders
to curb cross-border crimes.
We are aggressively addressing the challenge of crude oil theft in
collaboration with the state Governors. In addition, the Federal
Government has engaged the British and US governments for their
support in the tracking of the proceeds from the purchase of stolen
crude. Similarly, a regional Gulf of Guinea security strategy has been
initiated to curb crude oil theft and piracy.
Perhaps the most invidious accusation in your letter is the allegation
that I have placed over one thousand Nigerians on a political watch
list, and that I am training snipers and other militia to assassinate
people. Baba, I don't know where you got that from but you do me grave
injustice in not only lending credence to such baseless rumours, but
also publicizing it. You mentioned God seventeen times in your letter.
Can you as a Christian hold the Bible and say that you truly believe
this allegation?
The allegation of training snipers to assassinate political opponents
is particularly incomprehensible to me. Since I started my political
career as a Deputy Governor, I have never been associated with any
form of political violence. I have been a President for over three
years now, with a lot of challenges and opposition mainly from the
high and mighty. There have certainly been cases of political
assassination since the advent of our Fourth Republic, but as you well
know, none of them occurred under my leadership.
Regarding the over one thousand people you say are on a political
watch list, I urge you to kindly tell Nigerians who they are and what
agencies of government are "watching" them. Your allegation that I am
using security operatives to harass people is also baseless. Nigerians
are waiting for your evidence of proof. That was an accusation made
against previous administrations, including yours, but it is certainly
not my style and will never be. Again, if you insist on the spurious
claim that some of your relatives and friends are being harassed, I
urge you to name them and tell Nigerians what agencies of my
administration are harassing them.
I also find it difficult to believe that you will accuse me of
assisting murderers, or assigning a presidential delegation to welcome
a murderer. This is a most unconscionable and untrue allegation. It is
incumbent on me to remind you that I am fully conscious of the
dictates of my responsibilities to God and our dear nation. It is my
hope that devious elements will not take advantage of your baseless
allegation to engage in brazen and wanton assassination of high
profile politicians as before, hiding under the alibi your "open
letter" has provided for them.
Nevertheless, I have directed the security ages and requested the
National Human Rights Commission to carry out a thorough investigation
of these criminal allegations and make their findings public.
That corruption is an issue in Nigeria is indisputable. It has been
with us for many years. You will recall that your kinsman, the
renowned afro-beat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti famously sang about it
during your first stint as Head of State. Sonny Okosun also sang about
corruption. And as you may recall, a number of Army Generals were to
be retired because of corruption before the Dimka coup. Also, the
late General Murtala Mohammed himself wanted to retire some top people
in his cabinet on corruption-related issues before he was
assassinated. Even in this Fourth Republic, the Siemens and
Halliburton scandals are well known.
The seed of corruption in this country was planted a long time ago,
but we are doing all that we can to drastically reduce its
debilitating effects on national development and progress. I have been
strengthening the institutions established to fight corruption. I will
not shield any government official or private individual involved in
corruption, but I must follow due process in all that I do. And
whenever clear cases of corruption or fraud have been established, my
administration has always taken prompt action in keeping with the
dictates of extant laws and procedures. You cannot claim to be unaware
of the fact that several highly placed persons in our country,
including sons of some of our party leaders are currently facing trial
for their involvement in the celebrated subsidy scam affair. I can
hardly be blamed if the wheels of justice still grind very slowly in
our country, but we are doing our best to support and encourage the
judiciary to quicken the pace of adjudication in cases of corruption.
Baba, I am amazed that with all the knowledge garnered from your many
years at the highest level of governance in our country, you could
still believe the spurious allegation contained in a letter written to
me by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and
surreptitiously obtained by you, alleging that USD49.8 billion, a sum
equal to our entire national budget for two years, is "unaccounted
for" by the NNPC. Since, as President, you also served for many years
as Minister of Petroleum Resources, you very well know the workings of
the corporation. It is therefore intriguing that you have made such an
assertion. You made a lot of insinuations about oil theft, shady
dealings at the NNPC and the NNPC not remitting the full proceeds of
oil sales to the of CBN. Now that the main source of the allegations
which you rehashed has publicly stated that he was "misconstrued",
perhaps you will find it in your heart to apologize for misleading
unwary Nigerians and impugning the integrity of my administration on
that score.
Your claim of "Atlantic Oil loading about 130, 000 barrels sold by
Shell and managed on behalf of NPDC with no sale proceeds paid into
the NPDC account" is also disjointed and baseless because no such
arrangement as you described exists between Atlantic Oil and the
Nigeria Petroleum Development Company. NPDC currently produces about
138, 000 barrels of oil per day from over 7 producing assets. The
Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD) of the NNPC markets all of this
production on behalf of NPDC with proceeds paid into NPDC account.
I am really shocked that with all avenues open to you as a former Head
of State for the verification of any information you have received
about state affairs, you chose to go public with allegations of "high
corruption" without offering a shred of supporting evidence. One of
your political "sons" similarly alleged recently that he told me of a
minister who received a bribe of $250 Million from an oil company and
I did nothing about it. He may have been playing from a shared script,
but we have not heard from him again since he was challenged to name
the minister involved and provide the evidence to back his claim. I
urge you, in the same vein, to furnish me with the names, facts and
figures of a single verifiable case of the "high corruption" which you
say stinks all around my administration and see whether the corrective
action you advocate does not follow promptly. And while you are at it,
you may also wish to tell Nigerians the true story of questionable
waivers of signature bonuses between 2000 and 2007.
While, by the Grace of God Almighty, I am the first President from a
minority group, I am never unmindful of the fact that I was elected
leader of the whole of Nigeria and I have always acted in the best
interest of all Nigerians. You referred to the divisive actions and
inflammatory utterances of some individuals from the South-South and
asserted that I have done nothing to call them to order or distance
myself from their ethnic chauvinism. Again that is very untrue. I am
as committed to the unity of this country as any patriot can be and I
have publicly declared on many occasions that no person who threatens
other Nigerians or parts of the country is acting on my behalf.
It is very regrettable that in your letter, you seem to place sole
responsibility for the ongoing intrigues and tensions in the PDP at my
doorstep, and going on from that position, you direct all your appeals
for a resolution at me. Baba, let us all be truthful to ourselves, God
and posterity. At the heart of all the current troubles in our party
and the larger polity is the unbridled jostling and positioning for
personal or group advantage ahead of the 2015 general elections. The
"bitterness, anger, mistrust, fear and deep suspicion" you wrote about
all flow from this singular factor.
It is indeed very unfortunate that the seeming crisis in the party was
instigated by a few senior members of the party, including you. But,
as leader of the party, I will continue to do my best to unite it so
that we can move forward with strength and unity of purpose. The PDP
has always recovered from previous crises with renewed vigour and
vitality. I am very optimistic that that will be the case again this
time. The PDP will overcome any temporary setback, remain a strong
party and even grow stronger.
Instigating people to cause problems and disaffection within the party
is something that you are certainly familiar with. You will recall
that founding fathers of the Party were frustrated out of the Party at
a time. Late Chief Sunday Awoniyi was pushed out, Late Chief Solomon
Lar left and later came back, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Chief Tom Ikimi
also left. Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo left and later came back. In
2005/2006, link-men were sent to take over party structures from PDP
Governors in an unveiled attempt to undermine the state governors. In
spite of that, the Governors did not leave the Party because nobody
instigated and encouraged them to do so.
The charge that I was involved in anti-party activities in
governorship elections in Edo, Ondo, Lagos, and Anambra States is also
very unfortunate. I relate with all Governors irrespective of
political party affiliation but I have not worked against the interest
of the PDP. What I have not done is to influence the electoral
process to favour our Party. You were definitely never so inclined,
since you openly boasted in your letter of how you supported Alhaji
Shehu Shagari against Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe and
others in the 1979 presidential elections while serving as a military
Head of State. You and I clearly differ in this regard, because as the
President of Nigeria, I believe it is my duty and responsibility to
create a level playing field for all parties and all candidates.
Recalling how the PDP lost in states where we were very strong in 2003
and 2007 such as Edo, Ondo, Imo, Bauchi, Anambra, and Borno,
longstanding members of our great party with good memory will also
consider the charge of anti-party activities you made against me as
misdirected and hugely hypocritical. It certainly was not Goodluck
Jonathan's "personal ambition or selfish interest" that caused the PDP
to lose the governorship of Ogun State and all its senatorial seats in
the last general elections.
You quoted me as saying that I have not told anybody that I will seek
another term in office in 2015. You and your ambitious acolytes within
the party have clearly decided to act on your conclusion that "only a
fool will believe that statement" and embark on a virulent campaign to
harass me out of an undeclared candidature for the 2015 presidential
elections so as to pave the way for a successor anointed by you.
You will recall that you serially advised me that we should refrain
from discussing the 2015 general elections for now so as not to
distract elected public officials from urgent task of governance.
While you have apparently moved away from that position, I am still of
the considered opinion that it would have been best for us to do all
that is necessary to refrain from heating up the polity at this time.
Accordingly, I have already informed Nigerians that I will only speak
on whether or not I will seek a second term when it is time for such
declarations. Your claims about discussions I had with you, Governor
Gabriel Suswam and others are wrong, but in keeping with my declared
stance, I will reserve further comments until the appropriate time.
Your allegation that I asked half a dozen African Presidents to speak
to you about my alleged ambition for 2015, is also untrue. I have
never requested any African President to discuss with you on my
behalf. In our discussion, I mentioned to you that four Presidents
told me that they were concerned about the political situation in
Nigeria and intended to talk to you about it. So far, only three of
them have confirmed to me that they have had any discussion with you.
If I made such a request, why would I deny it?
The issue of Buruji Kashamu is one of those lies that should not be
associated with a former President. The allegation that I am imposing
Kashamu on the South-West is most unfortunate and regrettable. I do
not even impose Party officials in my home state of Bayelsa and there
is no zone in this country where I have imposed officials. So why
would I do so in the South West? Baba, in the light of Buruji's
detailed public response to your "open letter", it will be charitable
for you to render an apology to Nigerians and I.
On the issue of investors being scared to come to Nigeria, economic
dormancy, and stagnation, I will just refer you to FDI statistics from
2000 to 2013. Within the last three years, Nigeria has emerged as the
preferred destination for investments in Africa, driven by successful
government policies to attract foreign investors. For the second year
running, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Investments
(UNCTAD) has ranked Nigeria as the number one destination for
investments in Africa, and as having the fourth highest returns in the
world.
Today, Nigeria is holding 18 percent of all foreign investments in
Africa and 60 percent of all foreign investments in the ECOWAS
Sub-Region. Kindly note also that in the seven years between 2000 and
2007 when you were President, Nigeria attracted a total of $24.9
Billion in FDI. As a result of our efforts which you disparage, the
country has seen an FDI inflow of $25.7 Billion in just three years
which is more than double the FDI that has gone to the second highest
African destination. We have also maintained an annual national
economic growth rate of close to seven per cent since the inception of
this administration. What then, is the justification for your
allegation of scared investors and economic dormancy?
Although it was not emphasized in your letter of December 2, 2013, you
also conveyed, in previous correspondence, the impression that you
were ignorant of the very notable achievements of my administration in
the area of foreign relations. It is on record that under my
leadership, Nigeria has played a key role in resolving the conflicts
in Niger, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Guinea Bissau and others.
The unproductive rivalry that existed between Nigeria and some ECOWAS
countries has also been ended under my watch and Nigeria now has
better relations with all the ECOWAS countries. At the African Union,
we now have a Commissioner at the AU Commission after being without
one for so long. We were in the United Nations Security Council for
the 2010/2011 Session and we have been voted in again for the
2014/2015 Session. From independence to 2010, we were in the U.N.
Security Council only three times but from 2010 to 2015, we will be
there two times.
This did not happen by chance. My Administration worked hard for it
and we continue to maintain the best possible relations with all
centres of global political and economic power. I find it hard
therefore, to believe your assertions of untoward concern in the
international community over the state of governance in Nigeria
With respect to the Brass and Olokola LNG projects, you may have
forgotten that though you started these projects, Final Investment
Decisions were never reached. For your information, NNPC has not
withdrawn from either the Olokola or the Brass LNG projects.
On the Rivers State Water Project, you were misled by your informant.
The Federal Government under my watch has never directed or instructed
the Africa Development Bank to put on hold any project to be executed
in Rivers state or any other State within the Federation. The Rivers
Water Project was not originally in the borrowing plan but it was
included in April 2013 and appraised in May. Negotiations are ongoing
with the AfDB. I have no doubt that you are familiar with the entire
process that prefaces the signing of a Subsidiary Loan Agreement as in
this instance.
Let me assure you and all Nigerians that I do not engage in negative
political actions and will never, as President, oppress the people of
a State or deprive them of much needed public services as a result of
political disagreement
I have noted your comments on the proposed National Conference.
Contrary to the insinuation in your letter, the proposed conference is
aimed at bringing Nigerians together to resolve contentious national
issues in a formal setting. This is a sure way of promoting greater
national consensus and unity, and not a recipe for "disunity,
confusion and chaos" as you alleged in your letter.
Having twice held the high office of President, Commander-In-Chief of
the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I trust that you
will understand that I cannot possibly find the time to offer a
line-by-line response to all the accusations and allegations made in
your letter while dealing with other pressing demands of office and
more urgent affairs of state.
I have tried, however, to respond to only the most serious of the
charges which question my sincerity, personal honour, and commitment
to the oath which I have sworn, to always uphold and protect the
interests of all Nigerians, and promote their well-being.
In closing, let me state that you have done me grave injustice with
your public letter in which you wrongfully accused me of deceit,
deception, dishonesty, incompetence, clannishness, divisiveness and
insincerity, amongst other ills.
I have not, myself, ever claimed to be all-knowing or infallible, but
I have never taken Nigeria or Nigerians for granted as you implied,
and I will continue to do my utmost to steer our ship of state towards
the brighter future to which we all aspire.
Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration and warm regards.
GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN
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