LAGOS — In what is
turning out to be a season of open letters, 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
In the 11-page letter
dated December 16, 2013 exclusively obtained by Vanguard Newspaper, 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.”
Iyabo
Obasanjos letter to her father:
“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.
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.
A letter of remembrance
and called to order from biological daughter to her farther, the rest remains
your decision the reader. Good save Nigeria
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