Wednesday, 11 December 2013
OBASANJO ACCUSED JONATHAN OF DESTROYING NIGERIA
An
apparently angry and frustrated ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has written what
clearly competes as one of the most acerbic letters in modern history to
President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of ineptitude and of taking actions
calculated at destroying Nigeria.
“Nigeria is bleeding and the
hemorrhage must be stopped,” Mr. Obasanjo said in the 18-page letter dated
December 2, 2013 and exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday.
He said Mr. Jonathan has
failed to deliver on his promises to the Nigerian people, stem corruption,
promote national unity and strengthen national security.
He
said in the letter titled “Before it is too late” that rather than take steps
to advance Nigeria’s interest and up the standards of living of Nigerians, Mr.
Jonathan had betrayed God and the Nigerian people that brought him to power,
and has been pursuing selfish personal and political interests based on advice
he receives from “self-centred aides”.
In the
detailed letter, dripping of anger , frustration and what appears a genuine
concern to rescue a nation on the brink, Mr. Obasanjo lamented that Mr.
Jonathan had become terribly divisive and clannish, destroying his own party,
polarizing the country along regional and religious lines and ridiculing
Nigeria in the comity of nations.
Without
mincing words, Mr. Obasanjo blamed Mr. Jonathan for the crises tearing the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, apart.
He
said apart from using party chairman Bamanga Tukur to cause multiple crises and
divide the ranks of the party, the president’s failure to keep a promise he
made not to seek a second term is also generating tension within the ruling
party.
“It
would be unfair to continue to level full blames on the Chairman (Tukur) for
all that goes wrong with the party,” Mr. Obasanjo said. “The chairman is
playing the tune dictated by the paymaster (Jonathan). But the paymaster is
acting for a definitive purpose for which deceit and deception seem to be the
major ingredients.
“Up
till two months ago, Mr. President, you told me that you have not told anybody
that you would contest in 2015. I quickly pointed out to you that the signs and
the measures on the ground do not tally with your statement. You said the same
to one other person who shared his observation with me. And only a fool would
believe that statement you made to me judging by what is going on. I must say
it is not ingenious. You may wish to pursue a more credible and more honorable
path.”
The
former President said Mr. Jonathan told him before the 2011 election he would
not seek a second term, and made the same promise to governors, party
stakeholders and Nigerians.
The
president’s refusal to keep that promise cast him as a man without honour, Mr.
Obasanjo said.
Saying
it would be “fatally morally flawed” for Mr. Jonathan to contest in 2015, Mr.
Obasanjo added, “As a leader, two things you must cherish and hold dear among
others are trust and honour both of which are important ingredients of
character. I will want to see anyone in the Office of the Presidency of Nigeria
as a man or woman who can be trusted, a person of honour in his words and
character.”
Mr.
Obasanjo also accused Mr. Jonathan of anti-party conducts – supporting
opposition parties’ candidates in governorship elections in Lagos, Ondo, Edo
and Anambra states at the detriment of PDP’s own candidates –, and of pitting
party members against one another.
Saying
the President had failed to address the underlying causes of the Boko Haram
menace, Mr. Obasanjo urged Mr. Jonathan to adopt a carrot and stick approach in
dealing with the insurgency explaining that “conventional military actions
based on standard phases of military operations alone will not permanently and
effectively deal with the issue of Boko Haram”.
Mr.
Obasanjo also tackled Mr. Jonathan for allegedly being clannish. “For you to
allow yourself to be “possessed”, so to say, to the exclusion of most of the
rest of Nigerians as an “Ijaw man” is a mistake that should never have been
allowed to happen. Yes, you have to be born in one part of Nigeria to be
Nigerian if not naturalized but the Nigerian President must be above ethnic
factionalism. And those who prop you up as of, and for ‘Ijaw nation’ are not
your friends genuinely, not friends of Nigeria nor friends of ‘Ijaw nation’
they tout about.
“To
allow or tacitly encourage people of ‘Ijaw nation’ to throw insults on other
Nigerians from other parts of the country and threaten fire and brimstone to
protect your interest as an Ijaw man is myopic and your not openly quieting
them is even more unfortunate.
Two
Ijaw men, ex-militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and a former federal commissioner
for information, Edwin Clark, who carries himself around as the political
godfather of the president, are known to talk down on people opposed to the
president.
Mr.
Obasanjo also accused Mr. Jonathan of placing over 1000 Nigerians on political
watch list and “training snipers and other armed personnel secretly and
clandestinely acquiring weapons to match for political purposes like Abacha and
training them where Abacha trained his killers”.
He
wondered why the Presidency was providing assistance for a murderer to evade
justice.
“Presidential
assistance for a murderer to evade justice and presidential delegation to
welcome him home can only be in bad taste generally but particularly to the
family of his victim,” Mr. Obasanjo said. “Assisting criminals to evade justice
cannot be part of the job of the presidency. Or, as it is viwed in some
quarters, is he being recruited to do for you what he had done for Abacha in
the past? Hopefully, he should have learned his lesson. Let us continue to
watch.”
Mr.
Obasanjo did not mention the name of the murderer he accused the President of
protecting but he seems to be referring to Hamza Al-Mustapha, a former security
aide to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who is facing trial for
allegedly masterminding the killing of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of Moshood
Abiola, the winner of the annulled 1993 presidential election.
Mr.
Al-Mustapha was freed by the appeal court in July but the Lagos state
government has since appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court.
The
former President also called on the National Assembly to rise up and take
decisive action over the recent allegation in the country that the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation failed to remit billions of dollars in proceeds
of crude oil sales to the federation account.
“This
allegation will not fly away by non-action, cover-up, denial or bribing
possible investigators,” Mr. Obasanjo told the President. “Please deal with
this allegation transparently and let the truth be known.
“The
dramatis personae in this allegation and who they are working for will one day
be public knowledge. Those who know are watching if the National Assembly will
not be accomplice in the heinous crime and naked grand corruption. May God
grant you the grace for at least one effective corrective action against high
corruption which seems to stink all around you in your government.”
Mr.
Obasanjo said he wrote the letter in the national interest, saying nothing, at
this stage of his life, would prevent him from standing up for whatever he
considers to be in the best interest of Nigeria, Africa and the world.
He
said he was ready for whatever backlash his letter would provoke from the
presidency.
“Knowing
what happens around you most of which you know of and condone or deny, this
letter will proke cacophony from hired and unhired attackers but I will
maintain my serenity because by this letter, I have done my duty to you as I
have always done, to your government, to the party, PDP, and to our country,
Nigeria…,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
“I
have passed the stage of being flattered, intimidated, threatened, frightened,
induced or bought… Death is the end of all human beings and may it come when
God wills it to come.”
SHARE THIS POST
Designer: Emeka
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments: