Obasanjo has written what clearly competes as one of the
most acerbic letters in modern history to President Goodluck
Jonathan, accusing him of ineptitude and of taking actions
calculated at destroying Nigeria.
"Nigeria is bleeding and the hemorrhage must be stopped,"
Mr. Obasanjo said in the 18-page letter dated December 2,
2013.
He said Mr. Jonathan has failed to deliver on his promises to
the Nigerian people, stem corruption, promote national unity
and strengthen national security.
He said in the letter titled "Before it is too late" that rather
than take steps to advance Nigeria's interest and up the
standards of living of Nigerians, Mr. Jonathan had betrayed
God and the Nigerian people that brought him to power, and
has been pursuing selfish personal and political interests based
on advice he receives from "self-centred aides".
In the detailed letter, dripping of anger , frustration and what
appears a genuine concern to rescue a nation on the brink, Mr.
Obasanjo lamented that Mr. Jonathan had become terribly
divisive and clannish, destroying his own party, polarizing the
country along regional and religious lines and ridiculing
Nigeria in the comity of nations.
Without mincing words, Mr. Obasanjo blamed Mr. Jonathan
for the crises tearing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, apart.
He said apart from using party chairman Bamanga Tukur to
cause multiple crises and divide the ranks of the party, the
president's failure to keep a promise he made not to seek a
second term is also generating tension within the ruling party.
"It would be unfair to continue to level full blames on the
Chairman (Tukur) for all that goes wrong with the party," Mr.
Obasanjo said. "The chairman is playing the tune dictated by
the paymaster (Jonathan). 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 it is not ingenious.
You may wish to pursue a more credible and more honorable
path."
The former President said Mr. Jonathan told him before the
2011 election he would not seek a second term, and made the
same promise to governors, party stakeholders and Nigerians.
The president's refusal to keep that promise cast him as a man
without honour, Mr. Obasanjo said.
Saying it would be "fatally morally flawed" for Mr. Jonathan
to contest in 2015, Mr. Obasanjo added, "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."
Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr. Jonathan of anti-party
conducts – supporting opposition parties' candidates in
governorship elections in Lagos, Ondo, Edo and Anambra
states at the detriment of PDP's own candidates –, and of
pitting party members against one another.
Saying the President had failed to address the underlying
causes of the Boko Haram menace, Mr. Obasanjo urged Mr.
Jonathan to adopt a carrot and stick approach in dealing with
the insurgency explaining that "conventional military actions
based on standard phases of military operations alone will not
permanently and effectively deal with the issue of Boko
Haram".
Mr. Obasanjo also tackled Mr. Jonathan for allegedly being
clannish. "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 Nigerian if not naturalized 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.
Two Ijaw men, ex-militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and a
former federal commissioner for information, Edwin Clark,
who carries himself around as the political godfather of the
president, are known to talk down on people opposed to the
president.
Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr. Jonathan of placing over 1000
Nigerians on political 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 killers".
He wondered why the Presidency was providing assistance for
a murderer to evade justice.
"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," Mr. Obasanjo said. "Assisting criminals to evade
justice cannot be part of the job of the presidency. Or, as it is
viwed 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."
Mr. Obasanjo did not mention the name of the murderer he
accused the President of protecting but he seems to be
referring to Hamza Al-Mustapha, a former security aide to
late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who is facing trial
for allegedly masterminding the killing of Kudirat Abiola, the
wife of Moshood Abiola, the winner of the annulled 1993
presidential election.
Mr. Al-Mustapha was freed by the appeal court in July but the
Lagos state government has since appealed the judgment at
the Supreme Court.
The former President also called on the National Assembly to
rise up and take decisive action over the recent allegation in
the country that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
failed to remit billions of dollars in proceeds of crude oil sales
to the federation account.
"This allegation will not fly away by non-action, cover-up,
denial or bribing possible investigators," Mr. Obasanjo told
the President. "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."
Mr. Obasanjo said he wrote the letter in the national interest,
saying nothing, at this stage of his life, would prevent him
from standing up for whatever he considers to be in the best
interest of Nigeria, Africa and the world.
He said he was ready for whatever backlash his letter would
provoke from the presidency.
"Knowing what happens around you most of which you know
of and condone or deny, this letter will proke 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…," Mr. Obasanjo said.
"I have passed the stage of being flattered, intimidated,
threatened, frightened, induced or bought… Death is the end
of all human beings and may it come when God wills it to
come."
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