The Letter from Aso Rock…

By Matthew Mahmood

President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in PDP 'uniform'

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote his successor President Goodluck Jonathan an 18-page letter. Some days later, Buruji Kashamu threatened to sue Obasanjo for libel due to the content of the letter that referred to him as a drug trafficker and wanted criminal in the United States of America. It must be emphasised that Buruji claimed that he spent N3 billion to fight former Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State in favour of President Obasanjo. Suddenly, Obasanjo’s first child former Senator Iyabo Obasanjo Bello allegedly wrote him an 11-page letter. Both letters lambasted the recipients to a ‘stupor’. Recently, Jonathan replied his predecessor Obasanjo from Aso Rock Presidential Villa regardless of the fact that Obasanjo initially told Jonathan not to reply and save Nigeria instead. Nevertheless, Obasanjo said he will not reply Jonathan or join issues with him.

Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan came at the appropriate time because ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ unless we want to risk a similar situation like South Sudan where rebels of the former Vice President Riek Machar are fighting the government forces of President Salva Kir Mayardt although it is a military regime and not like Nigeria’s civilian regime. It is up to Jonathan to sit down and analyze the allegations levelled against him by his mentor and predecessor rather than tell the security agencies to investigate allegations of killer squad etc., because the so called ‘investigators’ are under him and neither are they independent to say the truth. Why can’t Jonathan hire independent investigators from foreign countries? Your answer may be as good as ours!

Moreover, Obasanjo was not traditionally installed as the Ebora Owu aka the Oracle of Ota for nothing. He has the metaphysical ability to see ahead of time. Some seers warned Nigerians that if Jonathan became President it would lead to the end of Nigeria but they were visualised as the prophets of doom. Recently, Prophet Marcus Tibetan predicted the untimely death of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State in the upcoming 2015 Presidential election. Obasanjo’s ‘killer squad’ allegation and the prediction seem to have something in common with the presidency but we humbly pray that Amaechi will not lose his life in this manner especially as he keeps saying that his life is in danger. For daring to publish blog posts in favour of Amaechi some people have suffered from blackmail, character assassination and severe bullying. At this juncture, it may be better for Amaechi to hire a foreign security agency to guard him or go ‘underground’ during the election process. What Jonathan should have done was to order a thorough investigation into the social media allegation that some people had to die before he achieved major things in life. Were such deaths mysterious or by mere coincidence? According to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo:

Allegation of keeping over 1000 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, it 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 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.

Obasanjo became angry with Jonathan because a large junk of PDP members moved to APC. He initially warned Jonathan to leave Amaechi alone several months ago after the Jonathan caucus overrode the election of Nigeria Governors’ Forum by accepting the loser of the election (Governor Jang) with 16 votes over the winner (Governor Amaechi) who had 19 votes, but Jonathan and his cohorts continued to humiliate Amaechi until sympathetic governors sprung up and formed the G7 which eloped to APC and the mass movement of PDP members to APC has not stopped ever since. It is obvious that Jonathan allowed envy and greed to make him hate Amaechi because he wanted Amaechi to forgo his vice presidential bid and support him for another tenure as president.

Those who are sympathetic to Jonathan’s second term presidential ambition like Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (of all people) either suffer from amnesia or have no principle because Jonathan promised and lied to the masses that he would have a single tenure if they voted for him before he won the Presidential election in 2011. Madiba Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013) of South Africa had a single tenure so why can’t Jonathan? Madiba did not cause trouble like this; Madiba was a man of peace. He was contented with a tenure as president therefore a tenure is enough especially for a president who lacks performance in office like Jonathan, but the political disciples of Jonathan cannot identify his faults because they are not members of the suffering masses who live in penury. Jonathan should have wooed the masses by using political strategies that allow the governed to decide if he deserves a second term or not and not force his second term bid on PDP and the masses.

As soon as Mandela died, one would have expected President Jonathan to eulogize Mandela but nay! Jonathan and his spin doctors had nothing glorious to say. They kept mute for days and announced a three day mourning scenario that got Jonathan the ‘backbench’ at Mandela’s funeral which meant that all the hard work of Nigerian activists who fought for Mandela before his release from prison was smitten into oblivion while US President Barrack Obama was treated "like a Hollywood star" as he "stole" the show with memorable words of Nelson Mandela before attending the event. Don’t blame the South African government; kindly blame President Jonathan of Nigeria.

It is rather odd that Jonathan was unable to appear on international TV programmes such as Straight Talk Africa where Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Dr Reuben Abati had to speak on his ‘behalf’, take a strong stance on African issues or project Nigeria as one of the leading countries in the African continent. Oratory and political skills are essential skills for presidents. Instead of Abati to teach his boss how to quickly respond to international events, he told Obasanjo to stop playing god simply because Obasanjo’s daughter told her father that he was not the owner of Nigeria. As a Yoruba adage says: Oro agba bi o se lowuro bo pe titi ase lojo ale (meaning: if the comment of an elder does not come to pass now it will definitely come to pass later.)

However, the squabble in the Obasanjo first family is mainly based on years of father absenteeism which was caused by the side-effects of polygamy. Iyabo and her siblings went through a very difficult childhood and their mother struggled to bring them up on her own. No matter the situation, we hope the Oracle of Ota would apologise to Iyabo and her siblings and try to keep in touch with Iyabo’s mother Mrs Oluremi Obasanjo despite the fact that she wrote an autobiography Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo (2008) which exposed a lot about her marriage… After all, nobody is perfect!

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