Chapters

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Adebolajo, Adebowale found guilty of soldier’s murder

Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, have been found guilty of the murder of British soldier, Lee Rigby. The two Muslim extremists were found guilty today of hacking to death the British soldier in broad daylight on a London street.

Adebolajo tried to behead Rigby with a meat cleaver in front of horrified passers-by. The pair had argued they attacked the 25-year-old soldier to avenge the deaths of Muslims at the hands of British troops.
Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain was united in condemnation of the killing, which state prosecutors described as ‘one of the most savage offences ever prosecuted by our counter-terrorism lawyers’.
Rigby’s relatives, who had walked out of the trial several times during harrowing evidence about his death, broke down in tears as the guilty verdicts were given. Adebolajo kissed his copy of the Koran as he was taken down to the cells at the Old Bailey court in London.
Michael Adebolajo: found guilty of murder
Michael Adebolajo: found guilty of murder
Jurors cleared Adebolajo and Adebowale of the attempted murder of a police officer. The pair were shot by armed police at the murder scene in Woolwich, southeast London, after Adebolajo charged at them waving the meat cleaver, while Adebowale raised a rusty, unloaded gun.
The killers, both Britons who were raised by Nigerian Christian families before converting to Islam, may not be sentenced until January. The court heard that they believed they were “soldiers of Allah” who were avenging the deaths of Muslims, but the judge ruled on Tuesday that this could not be used as a defence.
Minutes after the murder, Adebolajo, still wielding the cleaver and with his hands covered with blood, told onlookers the attack was ‘an eye for an eye’. “We swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone,” he said in a rant that was filmed on a witness’s mobile phone.
“I apologise that women had to witness this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe.”
Rigby: the soldier hacked to death by 2 Nigerian-Britons. Photo: Manchester Evening News
Rigby: the soldier hacked to death by 2 Nigerian-Britons. Photo: Manchester Evening News
Rigby’s family said justice had been done, but ‘no amount of justice will bring Lee back’. His widow Rebecca, mother of their toddler son, sobbed as a family spokesman told reporters outside the court: “This has been the toughest time of our lives. No one should have to go through what we’ve been through as a family.”
In a police interview after the killing, Adebolajo said he had tried to behead Rigby because it was the most ‘humane’ way of ending his life, comparing it to halal butchery methods. The defendants’ lawyers told the court the pair had sought martyrdom by challenging police at the murder scene in the hope of being killed.
The murder stunned Britain and sparked a rise in community tensions, with several mosques attacked by arsonists. British Muslim leaders deplored the killing. The brutal daylight attack also raised questions for British intelligence agencies as Adebolajo was known to the security services, having been arrested in Kenya in 2010 and deported.

UK deports Nigerian asylum seeker on hunger strike

Isa Muazu: deportation to Nigeria succeeds

A Nigerian failed asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for around 100 days was removed from Britain on Wednesday following an unsuccessful legal battle.
Isa Muazu has been returned to Nigeria, immigration minister Mark Harper said.
The 45-year-old had been detained since July after he was found to have overstayed his leave by five-and-a-half years.
He began his hunger strike in September. His weight at one point was measured at 53 kilogrammes (eight stone) — little for his 1.8-metre (5ft 11in) height.
Isa Muazu: deportation to Nigeria succeeds
Muazu was first sent to Nigeria at the start of the month but the plane turned back, reportedly because Nigerian authorities refused to let it land.
Harper said: “Today (Wednesday), Mr Muazu, a failed asylum seeker from Nigeria, has been successfully returned.”
While Britain rarely comments on individual cases, the minister said in Muazu’s case, “he was not found to have a genuine need of protection”.
“Halting the removal of Mr Muazu because of his protest would undermine our asylum and immigration system, and provide a dangerous incentive for others to follow suit,” he said.
“The health of those in our care is something we take very seriously and all detainees including Mr Muazu have access to healthcare provision.
“At every stage, the government has offered appropriate assistance to him and has also facilitated his transport to a hospital in Nigeria where the cost of an assessment will be covered.”
Muazu claims he faces persecution from the militant Islamic group Boko Haram if he returns to Nigeria.

Pastor Jailed 20 Years For Raping Pregnant, Deaf Woman

A 38-year old pastor of the Abuakwa branch of Miracle House Ministry in the Ashanti Region, has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour by the Tarkwa Circuit Court for raping a 19-year old deaf and dumb woman who is seven months pregnant.Philip Osei Tutu pleaded not guilty.
Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Albert A. Adiita told the court presided over by Mr. Samuel Obeng Diawuo that on November 27, this year, the convict visited one Joshua Tetteh the Asankrangwa branch pastor of the Miracle House Ministry.
According to the prosecutor, on December 1, Osei Tutu went to Asankra-Saa for preaching and deliverance, and on December 3, the victim and her colleague Rita Adofo were passing by when the convict who was preaching called and informed them that Adofo will not live to celebrate the Christmas festivity and Arthur will also not have safe delivery.
DSP Adiita said Osei Tutu directed the two to his house for special prayers and deliverance.
He said when the victim and Adofo went to the house of the convict, he asked them separately to buy a bottle of voltic water and after praying on it Arthur claimed he put a medicine in it and asked her to drink it and use the remaining to take her bath.
The prosecutor said Osei Tutu asked the victim to offer some money as thanksgiving but Arthur who was not having money on her went home and returned with 20 Ghana cedis for the offertory.
DSP Adiita said when she got to the house the convict lured her into his room and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her.
He said the victim reported the incident to Adofo and a report was made to the police after which the victim was issued with a medical report form.
The prosecutor said when the convict was arrested he denied the offence in his statement but the victim who testified in sign language in court said Osei Tutu raped her. DSP Adiita said after investigation he was charged with the offence.

Iyabo Obasanjo Tells Family Members, I Will Not Deny My Letter,

The first daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo, has refused entreaties by family members, friends and political leaders to withdraw her statement disparaging her father.In her statement exclusively obtained by the Vanguard newspapers, Iyabo Obasanjo described her father as a liar, manipulator, megalomaniac, narcissistic, two-faced hypocrite determined to foist on President Goodluck Jonathan what no one would contemplate with him as president. She also ruled out further communication with her father till death.
In the 11-page open letter, Iyabo Obasanjo, a former senator of the Federal Republic, painted a very unwholesome intimate portrait of Nigeria’s leader, accusing him “of having an egoistic craving for power and living a life where only men of low esteem and intellect thrive.”
And to dismiss insinuations and other reports in the social media that she was not the author of the statement, Iyabo insisted yesterday that she did not tell anybody to deny the statement on her behalf.
“Nobody can say that I told him that I didn’t write it. I am not a liar. I will not back away from what I wrote and there is nothing that is there that is a lie,” Iyabo told the paper.
She disclosed that she decided to break away from her father after realising that he cannot change from his manipulative person she had known all along, adding that throughout last year she did not speak with her father. She started speaking with him recently.
“The last time I spoke to him was three days ago and I decided that I was not going to speak to him again after that. That was the communication through which I realised that this man would never change from manipulations for himself,” Iyabo told the paper.
P.M.NEWS gathered that Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, who is in the United States, refused various entreaties by friends and family members to deny the statement by refusing to carry her telephone calls yesterday.
In the damning statement, Iyabo accused her father of orchestrating a third term for himself as president, cruelty to family members, abandonment of children and grandchildren, and also, a legendary reputation of maltreatment of women, including the mother.
Iyabo also foreclosed further political engagements in Nigeria. She denied any political motive for her missive, and described Nigeria as a country where her father and his ilk have helped to create a situation where smart, capable people bend down to imbeciles to survive.
“For you to accuse someone else of what you so obviously practiced yourself tells of your narcissistic megalomaniac personality. Everyone around for even a few minutes knows that the only thing you respond to is praise and worship of you,” she wrote in reference to Obasanjo’s letter dated 2 December to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Iyabo was not the only child of Obasanjo that denounced him, Gbenga, the first son of Obasanjo, had sometime ago expressed his frustration in a 50-paragraph affidavit before a court in Lagos detailing how his father slept with his estranged wife, Mojisola. Gbenga was seeking to divorce his wife who he got married to on 29 April, 2000.
In the 10th paragraph of the affidavit signed by Emankhu Addeh, of Addeh and Associates, legal practitioner for the petitioner, the petitioner averred “that he knows for a fact that the respondent, his wife, committed adultery with and had an intimate, sexual relationship with his own father, General Olusegun Obasanjo, due to her greed to curry favours and contracts from him in his capacity as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He said Mojisola also got rewarded for her adulterous acts with several oil contracts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, from his father, among which was the NNPC consultancy training in supply chain management and project management awarded to her company, Bowen and Brown.
In Bitter-Sweet, My Life With Obasanjo, Oluremi, the wife of Chief Obasanjo, emphasised the former President’s hatred for his family when she said: “he told me to wait for him. When he emerged, he was in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. He slapped me twice and ran after me as I fled down the stairs…Throughout his tenure as Head of State, Obasanjo also ensured that I was not given any allowance as his wife. What he gave with one hand, he retrieved with the other.
“It rained cats and dogs the day Obasanjo handed over to Shagari at the Race Course, Onikan, Lagos, October 1, 1979. He asked me to move to Abeokuta with him but I declined because of his extra-marital indiscipline.
“When he was being drawn out of the Army, I was in the same car with him. When we went for thanksgiving at Owu Baptist Church, Abeokuta, I was also in the same car. At the church, I sat with him on the front pew. During the reception I was in control of events and sat his mistresses with other guests as their importance demanded.
“I made Stella take one of the middle seats with her friend, Julie Coker. After the ceremony, I told my husband that I had risen to the top with him by the grace of God. Now, I was giving him a free rein to misbehave with his mistresses as I would not stay with him at Abeokuta. He begged me earnestly not to leave him alone. He said he had not finished his house at Victoria Island, Lagos, wondering where I would stay. I still kept my flat on Lawrence Road, Ikoyi.
“Obasanjo did not forgive me that I did not live with him in Abeokuta. He stopped taking care of the children, probably thinking I had a lot of money. He only sent N400 a month. Iyabo and Busola were at Queen’s College, Lagos; Segun was at King’s College. I was now torn between raising my children and running the farm. Sometime in 1981, Gbenga and Enitan were due to return to school at Corona after the long break.
“When the school fees were not forthcoming from their father, I went to the late Simbiat Abiola for assistance. She prayed that God would help. I later sold off my gold bangles to Alhaja Abdulraq, a jeweller, to raise the fees.
“My topsy-turvy relationship with Obasanjo continued. He would drive past Oduduwa Crescent without checking on his children, who were progressing in education. Iyabo, Busola and Segun were making excellent grades at school. I was struggling to make ends meet.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Iyabo Obasanjo blasts father in 11-page open letter: ‘Dear Daddy, you don’t own Nigeria’

4
By Vanguard
The daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo, has ruled out further communication with her father till death, describing him as a liar, manipulator, two-faced hypocrite determined to foist on President Goodluck Jonathan what no one would contemplate with him as president.
Senator Iyabo Obasanjo in a letter to her father accused him of having an egoistic craving for power and living a life where only men of low esteem and intellect thrive.
Olusegun Obasanjo and Iyabo Obasanjo
In the 11-page letter dated December 16, 2013 exclusively obtained by Vanguard, Iyabo accused her father of orchestrating a third term for himself as president, cruelty to family members, abandonment of children and grandchildren, and also, a legendary reputation of maltreatment of women.
Iyabo who forswore further political engagements in Nigeria denied any political motive for her missive, and described Nigeria as a country where her father and his ilk have helped to create a situation where smart, capable people bend down to imbeciles to survive. She particularly noted her experience as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health when she led the committee on a retreat appropriated for in the budget only for her to be prosecuted for it.
Iyabo, first child of the former president, started the letter titled, Open Letter to my Father with a 4th century Chinese proverb by Mencius which states: “The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.”
The copy of the letter:


“It brings me no joy to have to write this but since you started this trend of open letters I thought I would follow suit since you don’t listen to anyone anyway. The only way to reach you may be to make the public aware of some things. As a child well brought up by my long-suffering mother in Yoruba tradition, I have been reluctant to tell the truth about you but as it seems you still continue to delude yourself about the kind of person you are and I think for posterity’s sake it is time to set the records straight.
“I will return to the issue of my long-suffering mother later in this letter.
“Like most Nigerians, I believe there are very enormous issues currently plaguing the country but I was surely surprised that you will be the one to publish such a treatise. I remember clearly as if it was yesterday the day I came over to Abuja from Abeokuta when I was Commissioner of Health in OgunState, specifically to ask you not to continue to pursue the third term issue.
“I had tried to bring it up when your sycophantic aides were present and they brushed my comments aside and as usual you listened to their self-serving counsel. For you to accuse someone else of what you so obviously practiced yourself tells of your narcissistic megalomaniac personality. Everyone around for even a few minutes knows that the only thing you respond to is praise and worship of you. People have learnt how to manipulate you by giving you what you crave. The only ones that can’t and will not stroke your ego are family members who you universally treat like shit (sic) apart from the few who have learned to manipulate you like others.
“Before I continue, Nigerians are people who see conspiracy and self-service in everything because I think they believe everyone is like them. This letter is not in support of President Jonathan or APC or any other group or person, but an outpouring from my soul to God. I don’t blame you for the many atrocities you have been able to get away with, Nigerians were your enablers every step of the way. People ultimately get leaders that reflect them.
“Getting back to the story, I made sure your aides were not around and brought up the issue, trying to deliver the presentation of the issue as I had practiced it in my head. I started with the fact that we copied the US constitution which has term limits of two terms for a President. As is your usual manner, you didn’t allow me to finish my thought process and listen to my point of view. Once I broached the subject you sat up and said that the US had no term limits in the past but that it had been introduced in the 1940s after the death of President Roosevelt, which is true.
I wanted to say to you: when you copy something you also copy the modifications based on the learning from the original; only a fool starts from scratch and does not base his decisions on the learning of others. In science, we use the modifications found by others long ago to the most recent, as the basis of new findings; not going back to discover and learn what others have learnt. Human knowledge and development and civilization will not have progressed if each new generation and society did not build on the knowledge of others before them.
The American constitution itself is based on several theories and philosophies of governance available in the 18th century. Democracy itself is a governance method started by the ancient Greeks. America’s founding fathers used it with modifications based on what hadn’t worked well for the ancient Greeks and on new theories since then.
“As usual in our conversations, I kept quiet because I know you well. You weren’t going to change your mind based on my intervention as you had already made up your mind on the persuasion of the minions working for you who were ripping the country blind. When I spoke to you, your outward attitude to the people of the country was that you were not interested in the third term and that it was others pushing it. Your statement to me that day proved to me that you were the brain behind the third term debacle. It is therefore outrageous that you accuse the current President of a similar two-facedness that you yourself used against the people of the country.
“I was on a plane trip between Abuja and Lagos around the time of the third term issue and I sat next to one of your sycophants on the plane. He told me: “Only Obasanjo can rule Nigeria”. I replied: “God has not created a country where only one person can rule. If only one person can rule Nigeria then the whole Nigeria project is not a viable one, as it will be a non-sustainable project”
“I don’t know how you came about Yar’Adua as the candidate for your party as it was not my priority or job. Unlike you, I focus on the issues I have been given responsibility over and not on the jobs of others. It was the day of the PDP Presidential Campaign in Abeokuta during the state-by-state tour of 2007 that Yar’Adua got sick and had to be flown abroad. The MKO Abiola Stadium was already filled with people by 9am when I drove by (and) we had told people based on the campaign schedule that the rally would start at noon.
At 11 am I headed for the stadium on foot; it was a short walk as there were so many cars already parked in and out. As I walked on with two other people, we saw crowds of people leaving the stadium. I recognized some of them as politicians and I asked them why people were leaving. They said the Presidential candidate had died. I was alarmed and shocked. I walked back home and received a call from a friend in Lagos who said the same and added that he had died in the plane carrying him abroad for treatment and that the plane was on its way to Katsina to bury him.
I called you, and told you the information and that the stadium was already half-empty. You told me to go to the stadium and tell the people on the podium to announce that the Presidential candidate had taken ill that morning but the rest of the team, including you and the Vice-Presidential candidate would arrive shortly. I did as I was told, but even the people on the podium at first didn’t make the announcement because they thought it was true that Yar’Adua had died. I had to take the microphone and make the announcement myself. It did little good. People kept trooping out of the stadium. Your team didn’t arrive until 4pm and by this time we had just a sprinkling of people left.
That evening after the disaster of a rally, you said you had insisted that the Presidential candidate fly to Germany for a check-up although you said he only had a cold. I asked why would anyone fly to Germany to treat a cold? And you said “I would rather die than have the man die at this time.” I thought of this profound statement as things later unfolded against me. Then I thought it a stupid statement but as usual I kept quiet, little did I know how your machinations for a person would be used against me. When Yar’Adua eventually died, you stayed alive, I would have expected you to jump into his grave.
I left Nigeria in 1989 right after youth service to study in the US and I visited in 1994 for a week and didn’t visit again until your inauguration in 1999. In between, you had been arrested by Abacha and jailed. We, your children, had no one who stood with us. Stella famously went around collecting money on your behalf but we had no one. We survived. I was the only one of the children working then as a post-doctoral fellow when I got the call from a friend informing me of your arrest.
A week before your arrest, you had called me from Denmark and I had told you that you should be careful that the government was very offended by some of your statements and actions and may be planning to arrest or kill you as was occurring to many at the time. The source of my information was my mother who, agitated, had called me, saying I should warn you as this was the rumour in the country. As usual you brushed aside my comments, shouting on the phone that they cannot try anything and you will do and say as you please. The consequence of your bravado is history.
We, your family, have borne the brunt of your direct cruelty and also suffered the consequences of your stupidity but got none of the benefits of your successes. Of course, anyone around you knows how little respect you have for your children.
You think our existence on earth is about you. By the way, how many are we? 19, 20, 21? Do you even know? In the last five years, how many of these children have you spoken to? How many grandchildren do you have and when did you last see each of them? As President you would listen to advice of people that never finished high school who would say anything to keep having access to you so as to make money over your children who loved you and genuinely wished you well.
“At your first inauguration in 1999, I and my brothers and sisters told you we were coming from the US. As is usual with you, you made no arrangements for our trip, instead our mom organized to meet each of us and provided accommodation. At the actual swearing-in at Eagle Square, the others decided to watch it on TV. Instead I went to the square and I was pushed and tossed by the crowd.
I managed to get in front of the crowd where I waved and shouted at you as you and General Abdulsalam Abubakar walked past to go back to the VIP seating area. I saw you mouth ‘my daughter’ to General Abdullahi who was the one who pulled me out of the crowd and gave me a seat. As I looked around I saw Stella and Stella’s family prominently seated but none of your children. I am sure General Abdullahi would remember this incident and I am eternally grateful to him.
Getting back to my mother, I still remember your beating her up continually when we were kids. What kids can forget that kind of violence against their mother? Your maltreatment of women is legendary. Many of your women have come out to denounce you in public but since your madness is also part of the madness of the society, it is the women that are usually ignored and mistreated. Of course, you are the great pretender, making people believe you have a good family life and a good relationship with your children but once in a while your pretence gets cracked.
When Gbenga gave a ride to help someone he didn’t know but saw was in need and the person betrayed his trust by tapping his candid response on the issues going on between you and your then vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, you had your aides go on air and denounce the boy before you even spoke to him to find out what happened. What kind of father does that? Your atrocities to some of my other siblings I will let them tell in their own due time or never if they choose.
Iyabo Obasanjo and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
Some of the details of our life are public but the people choose to ignore it and pretended we enjoyed some largesse when you were President.
This punishing the innocent is part of Nigeria’s continuing sins against God. While you were military head of state and lived in Dodan Barracks, we stayed either with our mum in the two-bedroom apartment provided for her by General Murtala Mohammed or with your relatives, Bose, Yemisi and your sisters’ kids in the Boys Quarters of Dodan Barracks. At QueensCollege, I remember being too ashamed to tell my wealthy classmates from Queen’s College, Lagos we lived in the two room Boys Quarters or in the two room flat on Lawrence Street.
No, we did not have privileged upbringing but our mother emphasized education and that has been our salvation. Of my mother’s 6 children 4 have PhDs. Of the two without PhD, one has a Master’s and the other is an engineer. They are no slouches. Education provided a way to make our way in the world.
You are one of those petty people who think the progress and success of another takes from you. You try to overshadow everyone around you, before you and after you. You are the prototypical “Mr. Know it all”. You’ve never said “I don’t know” on any topic, ever. Of course this means you surround yourself with idiots who will agree with you on anything and need you for financial gain and you need them for your insatiable ego. This your attitude is a reflection of the country. It is not certain which came first, your attitude seeping into the country’s psyche or the country accepting your irresponsible behavior for so long.
Like you and your minions, it’s a symbiotic relationship. Nigeria has descended into a hellish reality where smart, capable people to “survive” and have their daily bread prostrate to imbeciles. Everybody trying to pull everybody else down with greed and selfishness — the only traits that gets you anywhere. Money must be had and money and power is king. Even the supposed down-trodden agree with this.
Nigeria accused me of fraud with the Ministry of Health. As you yourself know, both in Abeokuta and Abuja I lived in your houses as a Senator. In Lagos, I stayed in my mum’s bungalow which she succeeded in getting from you when you abandoned her with six children to live in Abeokuta with Stella.
I borrowed against my four-year Senate salary to build the only house I have anywhere in the world in Lagos. I rent out the house for income. I don’t have much in terms of money but I am extremely happy. I tried to contribute my part to the development of my country but the country decided it didn’t need me. Like many educated Nigerians my age, there are countries that actually value people doing their best to contribute to society and as many of them have scattered all over the world so have many of your children.
I can speak for myself and many of them; what they are running away from is that they can’t even contribute effectively at the same time as they have to deal with constant threats to their lives by miscreants the society failed to educate; deal with lack of electricity and air pollution resulting from each household generating its own electricity, and the lack of quality healthcare or education and a total lack of sense of responsibility of almost every person you meet. Your contribution to this scenario cannot be overestimated.
You and your cronies mentioned in your letter have left the country worse than you met it at your births in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Nigeria is not the creation of any of you, and although you feel you own it and are “Mr Nigeria” deciding whether the country stays together or not, and who rules it; you don’t. Nigeria is solely the creation of the British. My dear gone Grandmother whose burial you told people not to attend, was not born a Nigerian but a proud Ijebu-Yoruba woman. Togetherness is a choice and it must serve a purpose.
As for Nigerians thinking I have their money, when it was obvious I was part of the Yar’Adua (government’s) anti-Obasanjo phenomenon that was going on at the time. The Ministry of Health and international NGOs paid for a retreat for the Senate Committee on Health. The House Committee on Health was treated exactly the same way. The monies were given to members as estacode and the rest used for accommodation, flights and feeding. While the Senate was on the retreat in Ghana, the EFCC asked the House Committee to return the monies they received for their retreat and asked us in the Senate to return ours on our return which I refused, as it was already used for the purpose it was earmarked for in the budget that year which was to work on the National Health Bill.
The House Committee had not gone on their retreat. I did nothing wrong and my colleagues and I on the retreat did our work conscientiously. I asked the EFCC not to drag my colleagues into it and I am proud I suffered alone. As is usual in a society where people who are not progressive but take pleasure in the pain of others, most Nigerians were happy, not looking at the facts of the matter, just the suffering of an Obasanjo.
As the people that stole their millions are hailed by them the innocent is punished. When the court case was thrown out because it lacked merit even against the Minister, no newspaper carried the news. The wrongful malicious prosecution of an Obasanjo was not something they wanted to report; just her downfall. But it really wasn’t about me, it was about right and wrong in society and every society gets the fruit of the seeds it sows.
How do you think God will provide good leaders to such a people? God helps those who help themselves. I have realized that as an Obasanjo I am not entitled to work in Nigeria in any capacity. I am not entitled to work in health which is my training, or in any field or anywhere in the country or participate in any business. I have learnt this lesson well and there are societies that actually think capable, well-educated people are important to their society’s progress. Apparently, unless I am eating from the dustbin, Nigerians and possibly you will not be satisfied. I thank God it has not come to that based on God-given brains and brawn.
When I left Nigeria in 1989 for graduate studies in America, you promised to pay my school fees and no living expenses. This you did and I am grateful for because, working in the kitchen and then the library at University of California, Davis and later, working on the IT desk and later as a Teaching Assistant at Cornell gave me valuable work ethics for life. I wouldn’t have it any other way. As a black woman in the early 21st century, I have achieved much and done more than most. My wish is that black girls all over the world will have the capacity to create their lives, make mistakes, learn from it and move ahead.
Moving back to Nigeria, thinking I wanted to serve was obviously a grave mistake but one brought about by the tragic incident of April 20, 2003. This was the day five people were shot dead in my car. The mother of the children was an acquaintance I had met only one day before the incident.
We had attended the same high school and university but she was there ten years earlier than I. She had also studied public health in the UK as I had in the US. It was these coincidences that made us connect on our first meeting and then she decided to visit on the Saturday of the election of 2003 when the incident occurred. I am scarred for life by that incident and I know the mother was too as we both looked back to see two men on each side of my car shooting.
I understand her trauma and her behaviour since then can be judged from that. Nigeria is a nasty place that pushes people to lose their compass. I participated in the campaigns leading to the elections that day, more because this was my first experience of electoral process in Nigeria. Growing up there were no elections and I was too young in the 1979 and 1983 elections. It was interesting to see democracy at work. When Gbenga Daniel who I campaigned for offered me a job, I probably would have declined it, if not for the memory of the dead.
I felt I had to engage in making the country progress and to avoid such incidences in the future. I don’t need to tell you or anyone what kind of governor and person Gbenga Daniel is. As usual when I found out, you would not listen to my opinion but found out for yourself. I also campaigned for Amosun for the Senate in 2003. I have had some wonderful Nigerians do good to me, I will never forget the then Minister of Women Affairs, who saw me talking in the crowd at a campaign event and was alarmed and said “bad things can happen to you out there, I will give you one of the orderlies assigned to my office to follow you”. This was the police man that died in my car that day. I never really thought bad things would happen to me, I moved around freely in society until that shooting scarred me and I accepted a police detail. I was constantly scared for my life after that.
You called me after your vengeful letter as usual, looking out for yourself and thinking you will bribe me by saying the APC will use me for the Senate. Do you really know me and what I want out of life?
Anyone that knows me knows I am done with anything political or otherwise in Nigeria. I have so much to do and think to make this world a better place than to waste it on fighting with idiots over a political post that does no good to society. That letter you wrote to the President, would you have tolerated such a letter as a sitting President? Don’t do to others what you will not allow to be done to you. The only thing I was using that was yours was the house in Abuja where I left my things when I left the country. I eventually rented it out so that the place would not fall apart but as usual you want to take that as well. You can’t have it without explaining to Nigerians how you came about the house?
As I said earlier, this is not about politics but my frustration with you as a father and a human being. I am not involved with what is currently going on in Nigeria, I don’t talk to any Nigerian other than friends on social basis. I am not involved with any political groups or affiliation. You mentioned Governor Osoba when you spoke to me, yes I was walking down the street of Cambridge, Massachussets a few months ago, when I looked up and saw him reading a map trying to cross the street.
I greeted him warmly and offered to give him a ride to where he was going. This I did not do because I wanted anything from him politically but because that is how I was raised by my mother to treat an adult who I really had no ill-will towards. Some said he was part of the people that manipulated the elections for me to lose in 2011. I don’t have any ill-will to him for that because I think they did me a favour and someone has to win and lose.
I had told you I wasn’t going to run in 2011 but you manipulated me to run; that was my mistake. Losing was a blessing. As usual you wanted me to run for your self-serving purpose to perpetuate your name in the political realm and as the liar that you are, you later denied that it was you who wanted me to run in 2011.
In 2003 I ran because I wanted to and I thought getting to the central government I will be able to contribute more to improving lives and working on legislation that impacts the country. I found that nothing gets done; every public official in Nigeria is working for himself and no one really is serving the public or the country.
The whole system, including the public themselves want oppressors, not people working for their collective progress. When no one is planning the future of a country, such a country can have no future. I won’t be your legacy, let your legacy be Nigeria in the fractured state you created because, it was always your way or the highway.
This is the end of my communication with you for life. I pray Nigeria survives your continual intervention in its affairs.
Sincerely,
Iyabo Obasanjo, DVM, PhD
Massachusetts,
USA.

Iyabo Obasanjo Insults Ijaw People

I Did Not Write Any Letter To My Father-iyabo Obasanjo by decrox199(m): 9:51am On Dec 18
"I Did Not Write Any Letter to My Father, IYABO OBASANJO Speaks Out! December18, 2013 IYABO OBASANJO
"I have never seen or heard this sort of fabrication in my entire life! I, IYABO OBASANJO never contemplate writing a letter to my Loving Father. I speak with him almost on daily bases. "Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo is the best father in the world. He gave birth to me, he raise me up and gave me the best of Education. I wouldn't have achieve whatever I did without my father. IN FACT, WHO AM I WOTHOUT MY FATHER? "As a father he never disappoint his children in any way, he is a father anybody wish to have. "If President Jonathan want to reply the letter my father wrote him, he should be man enough to reply direct. Why are they trying to make me a scape goat? I know my father very well and I don't question his judgement, I believe my father wrote his letter in the best intrest of the nation. If Mr. President disagree with some of the allegations in the latter, let him be man enough to talk directly to my father, he should stop involving me in an issue I know nothing about. "How can you write a letter to insult my father and claim I, the daughter is the source. If that is how Ijaw people insult their father, I am a Yoruba Woman, we respect our parent in all circumstances. "I IYABO OBASANJO did not write any letter. Nigerians should please take note. "The purported letter is a malicious lies intended to rubish the good name of my family, when I get to the source of the letter, I will waste no time to take the necessary legal actions. "I love my father and I never disrespect him."

Iyabo Obasanjo’s purported letter to her father stirs controversy

Olusegun Obasanjo and Iyabo Obasanjo


Controversy on Wednesday surrounded a letter purportedly written by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo to her father, former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
A national newspaper (not The PUNCH) had on Wednesday published the letter.
In the letter, Iyabo allegedly denounced Obasanjo as a self-seeking man lacking in all key expectations of a father and a leader, but often appearing quick to accuse others of the same ills.
Iyabo  also allegedly commented on a letter written by his father to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Obasanjo had  in an 18-page letter to Jonathan accused him, among other things, of not honouring his words and taking actions calculated at destroying Nigeria.
The letter dated December 2, 2013 and titled, “Before it is too late” became public knowledge on December 11.
Obasanjo had accused the President of pursuing “selfish personal and political interests based on advice from his “self-centered aides.”
But Iyabo, in her purported letter said her father was accusing someone else of what he practised while in power.
When one of our correspondents called her telephone number in the United States, it rang until it went into voice mail.
A recorded voice on the answering machine said, “This is Iyabo, thank you for calling. Please leave a message after the bleep.”
In response, the voice recorder said “The mail box is full you cannot leave a message at this time.”
But a close aide to Obasanjo and a former Peoples Democratic Party deputy governorship candidate, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye, in a telephone interview with  one of our correspondents, described  the letter as fake.
Oladunjoye said the letter never existed.
He said, “I can say here authoritatively that the so-called letter from Senator Iyabo Obasanjo to her dad, never existed. It is a forgery and it should be ignored.”
A former Minister of Aviation during Obasanjo’s regime who is also close to the former president, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, asked Nigerians not to be carried away by the alleged letter.
The former minister said that  he was not in the position to say whether the letter was real or that it was forged.
He, however, urged Nigerians to ask Jonathan to address the issues raised by Obasanjo in his letter instead of using Iyabo’s alleged letter to divert attention.
He said, “The issues that are important to reasonable Nigerians are the issues raised by former President Obasanjo in his letter to the President. He should sit down and address them in details.
“We should not argue over whether Iyabo wrote any letter or not. I’m not sure whether she wrote the letter or not, but we must also know that Iyabo’s alleged letter was not a response to the letter written by Obasanjo to Jonathan.
“We should not be distracted. President Jonathan should sit down and provide answers to the issues raised by the former President and should not use any gimmick to distract us.”
He added that in any case, the issues raised in the alleged letter by Iyabo, which he said had yet to be proved to either be correct or wrong, dealt with family matters.
When contacted, a former media aide to Iyabo, Mr. Bidemi Osunbiyi, told one of our correspondents that the former lawmaker could not have written such a letter.
She said, “Iyabo didn’t write such a letter. How can somebody write such a letter?  I know she is very close to Baba  (Obasanjo). There is no cause for her to write such a letter.”
It was gathered that Obasanjo, who travelled out of the country, was informed about the letter by a family member through the telephone on Wednesday.
According to a source, the former President got across to his daughter, who was said to have denied writing such a letter.
The source said, “Baba on learning about the content of the letter, phoned Iyabo, who denied writing it.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Be ready for consequences of treason, Presidency warns APC

Be ready for consequences of treason, Presidency warns APC


Following the call by the All Progressives Congress (APC) asking the National Assembly to begin impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan, the Presidency has warned that it will not tolerate what it described as the reckless and irresponsible utterances by the APC.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, the Presidency said it would not have dignified Lai Mohammed’s (APC’s National Publicity Secretary) utterances with a response, but thought it necessary to warn that the Federal Government would not let the nation be plunged into unnecessary crisis and political instability.
The statement read in part: “The Presidency totally condemns the decision by Alhaji Mohammed and his party to move further beyond the bounds of honourable and acceptable political conduct with the senseless call for the impeachment of a president who continues to sincerely devote himself to the discharge of the sacred mandate freely given to him by Nigerians. The APC, which remains a minority party with doubtful credentials in the National Assembly, knows full well that its attempt to hector and blackmail a parliament dominated by loyal members of the president’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), into an impeachment process, will come to nothing.
“The emptiness and hollowness of the APC’s call for President Jonathan’s impeachment will be obvious to all objective and discerning Nigerians who read through the statement issued by Alhaji Mohammed today. It was long on self-serving rhetoric and falsehoods, but lacked a single clearly defined charge on the basis of which any plausible impeachment proceedings against the president can be initiated.”
The Presidency also condemned what it described as an attempt by the APC to  assail the integrity and honour of the Nigerian judiciary.
According to Abati, “Those who are threatening fire and brimstone should be ready for consequences of treasonable action. The APC’s false copy-cat allegation that 1,000 snipers are being trained by the Jonathan administration clearly shows that they are now in cahoots with some other elements who are bent on discrediting this administration and inciting the public against it.
“President Jonathan is running a people’s government. He does not need any snipers. His legitimacy comes from the people. Those who are alleging the existence of snipers should step forward and provide the evidence or shut up forever and go down in history as spineless cowards, driven by sheer greed and indecency.
“We dismiss the APC’s call for the president’s impeachment as opportunistic, partisan and ill-motivated.”

Pastor hacks wife over failure to attend church


Patience Samuel
The police in Ogun State have arrested a pastor with a first generation pentecostal church, Daniel Samuel, for allegedly attacking his wife, Patience Samuel, with machete and inflicting deep cuts at the back of her neck.
The pastor allegedly attacked his wife over her alleged persistent failure to attend prayer meetings and other church programmes.
Our correspondent gathered that 45- year-old David, who became the pastor of the Ode Remo branch of the church about a year ago, had travelled to Owode-Egba in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area, where his wife works and allegedly hit her with the machete that left her injured.
Punch Metro learnt that the pastor had accused his 42-year-old wife of shirking in her dedication to church programmes.
The pastor was said to have on several occasions complained to his in-laws about his wife’s obsession with office work at the expense of her family and church services.
Our correspondent however learnt that Patience also sells firewood, charcoal and food at the Redemption Camp to augment her husband’s N15,000 monthly salary and to support their five children.
An elder brother of the victim, Samson Akpikie, was said to have earlier arranged a meeting between the couple and other district pastors of the church for December 15 (yesterday) to resolve their lingering differences.
But the Pastor, who could not wait, was said to have visited his wife at her station where their disagreement degenerated into a heated argument. The pastor allegedly attacked his wife with a machete during the argument.
It was said David initially alerted the neighbours that his wife was attacked by some unknown men.
But doctors at the Federal Medical Center, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, where the injured wife was taken to, ordered that the case be reported to the police.
The pastor was said to have gone to the Owode-Egba Police Station, where he told the police that the woman was attacked by unknown men.
The police were said to have detained the pastor who later confessed to the crime after interrogation.
The Ogun Command Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident.
He said, “The pastor is with us, he initially lied to the police that his wife was attacked by some men, but later confessed after interrogation. He will soon be charged to court for false information and wounding.”
At the FMC, our correspondent observed that the pastor’s wife could only utter some incoherent words when she was asked questions.
The Consultant of Orthopaedics and Trauma, who was in charge of the patient, Doctor Ojeblenu, said the woman would remain under close observation because of the depth of the injury and the psychological trauma she might be going through.

Village heads beat up monarch over chieftaincy disagreement

Scores of angry youths on Saturday went on the rampage in Ayetoro, Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State, following an alleged assault on the Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Azeez Adelakun, by 10 village heads, popularly called baales.
The youths also took to the streets on Sunday and prevented the opening of the market in the town, while other businesses were forced to close shops.
The baales allegedly beat up Adelakun, cutting the traditional royal beads off his neck over a chieftaincy disagreement.
The fracas between the baales and the monarch was said to have occurred at the palace while Adelakun was making preparations to install the new village head of Ago-Imala, Chief Olayiwola Ajibola, a move which the village heads allegedly opposed.
Our correspondent learnt that there had been a tension between the baales and the monarch over his installation of two village heads in the Saala community, which boiled over on Saturday when Adelakun moved to formalise Ajibola’s headship of Ago-Imala community.
A resident, who pleaded anonymity, explained that the village heads had requested a meeting with the Oba.
He said, “When the monarch entered his palace for the meeting, the aggrieved baales refused to pay him the traditional homage and instead told him that they no longer recognise him as the traditional ruler of the town.
“One of the baales moved to forcibly remove the royal beads from the monarch, but his (monarch) resistance led to the fracas in the palace. The baale beat him up.”
It was learnt that some youths of the community learnt of the assault on the monarch, they rushed to the palace and descended on some of the baales, who were still in the palace.
PUNCH Metro was told that the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, later led his men to restore normalcy in the area.
Our correspondent, who visited the town at about 2.00pm on Saturday, observed bonfire made by the aggrieved youth, who protested the alleged assault on the monarch.
At the Orile Saala Road residence of the monarch, our correspondent was told that the monarch had lost his voice allegedly due to the assault.
However, the Baale of Ayinbo-Ayetoro, Chief Ezekiel Ogundele, who spoke on behalf of the embattled monarch, alleged that his aggrieved colleagues had planned to dethrone Adelakun.
Ogundele said, “They said Kabiyesi disgraced them in Abeokuta and they will retaliate by removing him as the king of the town. There are two baales in Saala and the baales wanted the two offices merged, but Kabiyesi  disagreed, saying he was the one that installed both of them.
“This did not go down well with the aggrieved baales who vowed to deal with the Kabiyesi by removing him.
“When the baales got to the palace, they did not pay homage and   when the monarch asked them why they failed to pay the homage they said the Kabiyesi had been removed as the king.They were about 10 in number.
“Some of them tore the traditional beads of the king and beat him up. All of them had held a meeting where they planned on how to attack the king and they acted the script. As they were beating the Kabiyesi, theKabiyesi urged his people not to touch them. Later the police came and took them away.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the incident, said that 19 Baales were involved in the crisis.
Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, added that only one person was injured in the violence.
He said, “Baale Keesan assaulted the monarch by removing the beads from the king. The youth in the area reacted, but the prompt intervention of policemen saved the day and only one person was injured.
“The Olu of Ilaro and Yewa Traditional council have intervened. So, there is no need of arrest. The Olu of Ilaro has intervened and normalcy has been restored in the area.”

World bids Mandela final goodbye


World bids Mandela final goodbye
With military pomp and traditional rituals, South Africa buried Nelson Mandela on Sunday, thus  marking  the  end of an exceptional journey for the prisoner turned President.
Mandela,  who died on December 5   at the age of 95,  was laid to rest in his childhood village of Qunu.  His body travelled from Pretoria by air to Mthatha in Eastern Cape province, and then by road to Qunu .
Present at the private burial   were about 450 members of the Mandela family,  political and religious leaders as well as foreign dignitaries, including  Britain’s Prince Charles, American civil rights activist ,Reverend Jesse Jackson and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
 Tribal leaders clad in animal skins joined the dignitaries in dark suits at the grave site overlooking the rolling green hills.
As pall-bearers walked toward the site after a funeral ceremony,  three helicopters whizzed past dangling the national flag. Cannons fired a 21-gun salute and their   echoes rang over the quiet village.
  Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief as she watched the proceedings.
“Yours was truly a long walk to freedom. Now you have achieved the ultimate freedom in the bosom of God, your maker,” an officiator at the grave site  was quoted by the Cable News Network as saying.
Military pall-bearers gently removed the South African flag that draped Mandela’s   coffin and handed it to President Jacob Zuma, who gave it to the   former President’s family.
At the request of the family, the lowering of the casket was closed to journalists.
• The funeral ceremony
Before the burial, 4,500 family members, friends and dignitaries attended a state funeral service in a huge domed tent, its interior draped in black, in a field near Mandela’s homestead.
  Seated on either side of  Zuma  were  Graca Machel, and Mandela’s  ex-wife, Winnie.
African National Congress members, veterans of the fight against apartheid, several African presidents and business mogul, Richard Branson, were among the guests.
The flag-covered casket was carried in by military chiefs, with Mandela’s grandson and heir, Mandla, and  Zuma following in their footsteps.
It was then placed on black and white Nguni cattle skins in front of a crescent of 95 candles, one for each year of Mandela’s life. A choir sang Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika or “God Bless Africa” drifted over the village, a giant picture of Mandela looked down with a smile. Mourners placed their fists on their chests, some with tears streaming down their faces.
The Deputy Leader of the ruling ANC , Cyril Ramaphosa, who presided over the three-hour ceremony, broadcast live across the nation and around the world, said, “The person who is lying here is South Africa’s greatest son.”
Zuma, in his remark, described the ex-South African leader as a beacon of hope and    thanked the Mandela family for sharing him with the world.
He said, “Today (Sunday) marks the end of an extraordinary journey that began 95 years ago. It is the end of 95 glorious years of a freedom fighter and a beacon of hope to all those fighting for a just and equitable world order.
“We shall not say goodbye, for you are not gone. You’ll live forever in our hearts and minds.”
In other major cities, including Johannesburg, crowds watched the funeral at special screenings in stadiums.
• I’ve lost a brother -  Mandela’s prison mate
Mourners represented all spheres of Mandela’s life. There were celebrities, presidents, relatives and former political prisoners.
“You symbolise today and always will … qualities of forgiveness and reconciliation,” said a tearful Ahmed Kathrada, Mandela’s  close friend, who served time in prison with him  for defying the apartheid government.
 “I’ve lost a brother. My life is in a void, and I don’t know who to turn to,” Kathrada lamented.
Talk show host, Oprah Winfrey; Prince Charles; and business mogul, Richard Branson, were also among the attendees.
• Final chapter
The funeral and burial ended  10 days of national mourning for a man whose fame transcended borders.
“Mandela was our leader, our hero, our icon and our father as much as he was yours,” Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, said, regaling mourners with tales of a secret visit Mandela made in 1962 to Dar es Salaam to gather support for   the African National Congress.
During his fight against apartheid, Mandela fled to Tanzania, which housed the headquarters of the ANC.
In sharp contrast to the days of apartheid, the events honouring Mandela included a great deal of pageantry as well as state honours.
Before arriving in Qunu, the  ex-President’s body lay in state for three days in Pretoria. After an emotional service at the air base there, which included the handing over of his body to the ANC , it was put in a military helicopter for the final leg of his journey.
Though he dined with kings and presidents in his lifetime, the international icon relished his time at the village. He herded cows and goats there as a child, and always said it was where he felt most at peace. Some of his children were  also buried there.
“He really believed this is where he belonged,” said his daughter, Maki Mandela.
Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for defying the racist apartheid government that led South Africa for decades. He emerged from prison in 1990 and became South Africa’s first black president four years later, all the while promoting forgiveness and reconciliation.
His defiance of white minority rule and his long incarceration for fighting segregation focused the world’s attention on apartheid, the legalised racial segregation enforced by the South African government until 1994.
Years after his 1999 retirement from the Presidency, Mandela was considered the ideal head of state. He became a yardstick for African leaders, who consistently fell short when measured against him.
“Thank you for being everything we wanted and needed in a leader during a difficult period in our lives,” Zuma said

Thursday, December 12, 2013

OBJ letter to Jonathan, the clean and unedited copy


Goodluck Jonathan and 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 Obasanjo