OBJ letter to Jonathan
At the end of the letter He "Accept, Dear Mr. President, the assurances of my highest consideration".
Olusegun Obasanjo
Before it is too late
•A letter of appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
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.
Olusegun Obasanj
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