PRESIDENT JONATHAN REPLIES OBASANJO, GIVES TEN REASONS WHY HE REPLIED THE LETTER

His Excellency,
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR
Agbe L'Oba House, Quarry Road,
Ibara, Abeokuta.

RE: BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
I wish to formally acknowledge your letter dated December 2, 2013 and other previous correspondence similar to it.
You will recall that all the letters were brought to me by hand.
Although both of us discussed some of the...
issues in those letters, I
had not, before now, seen the need for any formal reply since, to me,
they contained advice from a former President to a serving President.
Obviously, you felt differently because in your last letter, you
complained about my not acknowledging or replying your previous
letters.
It is with the greatest possible reluctance that I now write this
reply. I am most uneasy about embarking on this unprecedented and
unconventional form of open communication between me and a former
leader of our country because I know that there are more acceptable
and dignified means of doing so.
But I feel obliged to reply your letter for a number of reasons: one,
you formally requested for a reply and not sending you one will be
interpreted as ignoring a former President.
Secondly, Nigerians know the role you have played in my political life
and given the unfortunate tone of your letter, clearly, the grapes
have gone sour.  Therefore, my side of the story also needs to be
told.
The third reason why I must reply you in writing is that your letter
is clearly a threat to national security as it may deliberately or
inadvertently set the stage for subversion.
The fourth reason for this reply is that you raised very weighty
issues, and since the letter has been made public, Nigerians are
expressing legitimate concerns. A response from me therefore, becomes
very necessary.
The fifth reason is that this letter may appear in biographies and
other books which political commentators on Nigeria's contemporary
politics may write. It is only proper for such publications to include
my comments on the issues raised in your letter.
Sixthly, you are very unique in terms of the governance of this
country. You were a military Head of State for three years and eight
months, and an elected President for eight years. That means you have
been the Head of Government of Nigeria for about twelve years. This
must have, presumably, exposed you to a lot of information. Thus when
you make a statement, there is the tendency for people to take it
seriously.
The seventh reason is that the timing of your letter coincided with
other vicious releases. The Speaker of the House of Representatives
spoke of my "body language" encouraging corruption. A letter written
to me by the CBN Governor alleging that NNPC, within a period of 19
months did not remit the sum of USD49.8 billion to the federation
account, was also deliberately leaked to the public.
The eighth reason is that it appears that your letter was designed to
incite Nigerians from other geo-political zones against me and also
calculated to promote ethnic disharmony. Worse still, your letter was
designed to instigate members of our Party, the PDP, against me.
The ninth reason is that your letter conveys to me the feeling that
landmines have been laid for me. Therefore, Nigerians need to have my
response to the issues raised before the mines explode.
The tenth and final reason why my reply is inevitable is that you have
written similar letters and made public comments in reference to all
former Presidents and Heads of Government starting from Alhaji Shehu
Shagari and these have instigated different actions and reactions. The
purpose and direction of your letter is distinctly ominous, and before
it is too late, my clarifications on the issues need to be placed on
record.
Let me now comment on the issues you raised. In commenting I wish to
crave your indulgence to compare... Click link to continue:
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