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
byVanguard, 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 Fatherwith a 4th century Chinese proverb by
Mencius which states: "The great man is he who does not lose his
child's heart."
Her 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.
Details later…
*Vanguard
Let d Wikileaks continue
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