LAGOS \u2014 In what is turning out to be a season of open letters, daughter of
\nformer President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo, has ruled out further
\ncommunication with her father till death, describing him as a liar,
\nmanipulator, two-faced hypocrite determined to foist on President Goodluck
\nJonathan what no one would contemplate with him as president.
\nSenator Iyabo Obasanjo in a letter to her father accused him of having an
\negoistic craving for power and living a life where only men of low esteem
\nand intellect thrive.<\/p>\n
In the 11-page letter dated December 16, 2013 exclusively obtained by
\nVanguard, Iyabo accused her father of orchestrating a third term for
\nhimself as president, cruelty to family members, abandonment of children
\nand grandchildren, and also, a legendary reputation of maltreatment of
\nwomen.
\nIyabo who forswore further political engagements in Nigeria denied any
\npolitical motive for her missive, and described Nigeria as a country where
\nher father and his ilk have helped to create a situation where smart,
\ncapable people bend down to imbeciles to survive. She particularly noted
\nher experience as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health when she led
\nthe committee on a retreat appropriated for in the budget only for her to
\nbe prosecuted for it.
\nIyabo, first child of the former president, started the letter titled,
\nOpen Letter to my Father with a 4th century Chinese proverb by Mencius
\nwhich states: \u201cThe great man is he who does not lose his child\u2019s heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brings me no joy to have to write this but since you started this
\ntrend of open letters I thought I would follow suit since you don\u2019t listen
\nto anyone anyway. The only way to reach you may be to make the public
\naware of some things. As a child well brought up by my long-suffering
\nmother in Yoruba tradition, I have been reluctant to tell the truth about
\nyou but as it seems you still continue to delude yourself about the kind
\nof person you are and I think for posterity\u2019s sake it is time to set the
\nrecords straight.
\n\u201cI will return to the issue of my long-suffering mother later in this letter.
\n\u201cLike most Nigerians, I believe there are very enormous issues currently
\nplaguing the country but I was surely surprised that you will be the one
\nto publish such a treatise. I remember clearly as if it was yesterday the
\nday I came over to Abuja from Abeokuta when I was Commissioner of Health
\nin OgunState, specifically to ask you not to continue to pursue the third
\nterm issue.
\n\u201cI had tried to bring it up when your sycophantic aides were present and
\nthey brushed my comments aside and as usual you listened to their
\nself-serving counsel. For you to accuse someone else of what you so
\nobviously practiced yourself tells of your narcissistic megalomaniac
\npersonality. Everyone around for even a few minutes knows that the only
\nthing you respond to is praise and worship of you. People have learnt how
\nto manipulate you by giving you what you crave. The only ones that can\u2019t
\nand will not stroke your ego are family members who you universally treat
\nlike shit (sic) apart from the few who have learned to manipulate you like
\nothers.
\n\u201cBefore I continue, Nigerians are people who see conspiracy and
\nself-service in everything because I think they believe everyone is like
\nthem. This letter is not in support of President Jonathan or APC or any
\nother group or person, but an outpouring from my soul to God. I don\u2019t
\nblame you for the many atrocities you have been able to get away with,
\nNigerians were your enablers every step of the way. People ultimately get
\nleaders that reflect them.
\n\u201cGetting back to the story, I made sure your aides were not around and
\nbrought up the issue, trying to deliver the presentation of the issue as I
\nhad practiced it in my head. I started with the fact that we copied the US
\nconstitution which has term limits of two terms for a President. As is
\nyour usual manner, you didn\u2019t allow me to finish my thought process and
\nlisten to my point of view. Once I broached the subject you sat up and
\nsaid that the US had no term limits in the past but that it had been
\nintroduced in the 1940s after the death of President Roosevelt, which is
\ntrue.
\nI wanted to say to you: when you copy something you also copy the
\nmodifications based on the learning from the original; only a fool starts
\nfrom scratch and does not base his decisions on the learning of others. In
\nscience, we use the modifications found by others long ago to the most
\nrecent, as the basis of new findings; not going back to discover and learn
\nwhat others have learnt. Human knowledge and development and civilization
\nwill not have progressed if each new generation and society did not build
\non the knowledge of others before them.
\nThe American constitution itself is based on several theories and
\nphilosophies of governance available in the 18th century. Democracy itself
\nis a governance method started by the ancient Greeks. America\u2019s founding
\nfathers used it with modifications based on what hadn\u2019t worked well for
\nthe ancient Greeks and on new theories since then.
\n\u201cAs usual in our conversations, I kept quiet because I know you well. You
\nweren\u2019t going to change your mind based on my intervention as you had
\nalready made up your mind on the persuasion of the minions working for you
\nwho were ripping the country blind. When I spoke to you, your outward
\nattitude to the people of the country was that you were not interested in
\nthe third term and that it was others pushing it. Your statement to me
\nthat day proved to me that you were the brain behind the third term
\ndebacle. It is therefore outrageous that you accuse the current President
\nof a similar two-facedness that you yourself used against the people of
\nthe country.
\n\u201cI was on a plane trip between Abuja and Lagos around the time of the
\nthird term issue and I sat next to one of your sycophants on the plane.
\nHe told me: \u201cOnly Obasanjo can rule Nigeria\u201d. I replied: \u201cGod has not
\ncreated a country where only one person can rule. If only one person can
\nrule Nigeria then the whole Nigeria project is not a viable one, as it
\nwill be a non-sustainable project\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how you came about Yar\u2019Adua as the candidate for your party
\nas it was not my priority or job. Unlike you, I focus on the issues I have
\nbeen given responsibility over and not on the jobs of others. It was the
\nday of the PDP Presidential Campaign in Abeokuta during the state-by-state
\ntour of 2007 that Yar\u2019Adua got sick and had to be flown abroad. The MKO
\nAbiola Stadium was already filled with people by 9am when I drove by (and)
\nwe had told people based on the campaign schedule that the rally would
\nstart at noon.
\nAt 11 am I headed for the stadium on foot; it was a short walk as there
\nwere so many cars already parked in and out. As I walked on with two other
\npeople, we saw crowds of people leaving the stadium. I recognized some of
\nthem as politicians and I asked them why people were leaving. They said
\nthe Presidential candidate had died. I was alarmed and shocked. I walked
\nback home and received a call from a friend in Lagos who said the same and
\nadded that he had died in the plane carrying him abroad for treatment and
\nthat the plane was on its way to Katsina to bury him.
\nI called you, and told you the information and that the stadium was
\nalready half-empty. You told me to go to the stadium and tell the people
\non the podium to announce that the Presidential candidate had taken ill
\nthat morning but the rest of the team, including you and the
\nVice-Presidential candidate would arrive shortly. I did as I was told,
\nbut even the people on the podium at first didn\u2019t make the announcement
\nbecause they thought it was true that Yar\u2019Adua had died. I had to take the
\nmicrophone and make the announcement myself. It did little good. People
\nkept trooping out of the stadium. Your team didn\u2019t arrive until 4pm and by
\nthis time we had just a sprinkling of people left.
\nThat evening after the disaster of a rally, you said you had insisted that
\nthe Presidential candidate fly to Germany for a check-up although you said
\nhe only had a cold. I asked why would anyone fly to Germany to treat a
\ncold? And you said \u201cI would rather die than have the man die at this
\ntime.\u201d I thought of this profound statement as things later unfolded
\nagainst me. Then I thought it a stupid statement but as usual I kept
\nquiet, little did I know how your machinations for a person would be used
\nagainst me. When Yar\u2019Adua eventually died, you stayed alive, I would have
\nexpected you to jump into his grave.
\nI left Nigeria in 1989 right after youth service to study in the US and I
\nvisited in 1994 for a week and didn\u2019t visit again until your inauguration
\nin 1999. In between, you had been arrested by Abacha and jailed. We, your
\nchildren, had no one who stood with us. Stella famously went around
\ncollecting money on your behalf but we had no one. We survived. I was the
\nonly one of the children working then as a post-doctoral fellow when I got
\nthe call from a friend informing me of your arrest.
\nA week before your arrest, you had called me from Denmark and I had told
\nyou that you should be careful that the government was very offended by
\nsome of your statements and actions and may be planning to arrest or kill
\nyou as was occurring to many at the time. The source of my information
\nwas my mother who, agitated, had called me, saying I should warn you as
\nthis was the rumour in the country. As usual you brushed aside my
\ncomments, shouting on the phone that they cannot try anything and you will
\ndo and say as you please. The consequence of your bravado is history.
\nWe, your family, have borne the brunt of your direct cruelty and also
\nsuffered the consequences of your stupidity but got none of the benefits
\nof your successes. Of course, anyone around you knows how little respect
\nyou have for your children.
\nYou think our existence on earth is about you. By the way, how many are
\nwe? 19, 20, 21? Do you even know? In the last five years, how many of
\nthese children have you spoken to? How many grandchildren do you have and
\nwhen did you last see each of them? As President you would listen to
\nadvice of people that never finished high school who would say anything to
\nkeep having access to you so as to make money over your children who loved
\nyou and genuinely wished you well.
\n\u201cAt your first inauguration in 1999, I and my brothers and sisters told
\nyou we were coming from the US. As is usual with you, you made no
\narrangements for our trip, instead our mom organized to meet each of us
\nand provided accommodation. At the actual swearing-in at Eagle Square, the
\nothers decided to watch it on TV. Instead I went to the square and I was
\npushed and tossed by the crowd.
\nI managed to get in front of the crowd where I waved and shouted at you as
\nyou and General Abdulsalam Abubakar walked past to go back to the VIP
\nseating area. I saw you mouth \u2018my daughter\u2019 to General Abdullahi who was
\nthe one who pulled me out of the crowd and gave me a seat. As I looked
\naround I saw Stella and Stella\u2019s family prominently seated but none of
\nyour children. I am sure General Abdullahi would remember this incident
\nand I am eternally grateful to him.<\/p>\n
Getting back to my mother, I still remember your beating her up
\ncontinually when we were kids. What kids can forget that kind of violence
\nagainst their mother? Your maltreatment of women is legendary. Many of
\nyour women have come out to denounce you in public but since your madness
\nis also part of the madness of the society, it is the women that are
\nusually ignored and mistreated. Of course, you are the great pretender,
\nmaking people believe you have a good family life and a good relationship
\nwith your children but once in a while your pretence gets cracked.
\nWhen Gbenga gave a ride to help someone he didn\u2019t know but saw was in need
\nand the person betrayed his trust by tapping his candid response on the
\nissues going on between you and your then vice-president, Atiku Abubakar,
\nyou had your aides go on air and denounce the boy before you even spoke to
\nhim to find out what happened. What kind of father does that? Your
\natrocities to some of my other siblings I will let them tell in their own
\ndue time or never if they choose.<\/p>\n
Some of the details of our life are public but the people choose to ignore
\nit and pretended we enjoyed some largesse when you were President.<\/p>\n
This punishing the innocent is part of Nigeria\u2019s continuing sins against
\nGod. While you were military head of state and lived in Dodan Barracks, we
\nstayed either with our mum in the two-bedroom apartment provided for her
\nby General Murtala Mohammed or with your relatives, Bose, Yemisi and your
\nsisters\u2019 kids in the Boys Quarters of Dodan Barracks. At Queens College, I
\nremember being too ashamed to tell my wealthy classmates from Queen\u2019s
\nCollege, Lagos we lived in the two room Boys Quarters or in the two room
\nflat on Lawrence Street.<\/p>\n
No, we did not have privileged upbringing but our mother emphasized
\neducation and that has been our salvation. Of my mother\u2019s 6 children 4
\nhave PhDs. Of the two without PhD, one has a Master\u2019s and the other is an
\nengineer. They are no slouches. Education provided a way to make our way
\nin the world.<\/p>\n
You are one of those petty people who think the progress and success of
\nanother takes from you. You try to overshadow everyone around you, before
\nyou and after you. You are the prototypical \u201cMr. Know it all\u201d. You\u2019ve
\nnever said \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d on any topic, ever. Of course this means you
\nsurround yourself with idiots who will agree with you on anything and need
\nyou for financial gain and you need them for your insatiable ego. This
\nyour attitude is a reflection of the country. It is not certain which came
\nfirst, your attitude seeping into the country\u2019s psyche or the country
\naccepting your irresponsible behavior for so long.<\/p>\n
Like you and your minions, it\u2019s a symbiotic relationship. Nigeria has
\ndescended into a hellish reality where smart, capable people to \u201csurvive\u201d
\nand have their daily bread prostrate to imbeciles. Everybody trying to
\npull everybody else down with greed and selfishness \u2014 the only traits that
\ngets you anywhere. Money must be had and money and power is king. Even the
\nsupposed down-trodden agree with this.<\/p>\n
Nigeria accused me of fraud with the Ministry of Health. As you yourself
\nknow, both in Abeokuta and Abuja I lived in your houses as a Senator. In
\nLagos, I stayed in my mum\u2019s bungalow which she succeeded in getting from
\nyou when you abandoned her with six children to live in Abeokuta with
\nStella.<\/p>\n
I borrowed against my four-year Senate salary to build the only house I
\nhave anywhere in the world in Lagos. I rent out the house for income. I
\ndon\u2019t have much in terms of money but I am extremely happy. I tried to
\ncontribute my part to the development of my country but the country
\ndecided it didn\u2019t need me. Like many educated Nigerians my age, there are
\ncountries that actually value people doing their best to contribute to
\nsociety and as many of them have scattered all over the world so have many
\nof your children.<\/p>\n
I can speak for myself and many of them; what they are running away from
\nis that they can\u2019t even contribute effectively at the same time as they
\nhave to deal with constant threats to their lives by miscreants the
\nsociety failed to educate; deal with lack of electricity and air pollution
\nresulting from each household generating its own electricity, and the lack
\nof quality healthcare or education and a total lack of sense of
\nresponsibility of almost every person you meet. Your contribution to this
\nscenario cannot be overestimated.<\/p>\n
You and your cronies mentioned in your letter have left the country worse
\nthan you met it at your births in the 1930\u2019s and 1940\u2019s. Nigeria is not
\nthe creation of any of you, and although you feel you own it and are \u201cMr
\nNigeria\u201d deciding whether the country stays together or not, and who rules
\nit; you don\u2019t. Nigeria is solely the creation of the British. My dear
\ngone Grandmother whose burial you told people not to attend was not born a
\nNigerian but a proud Ijebu-Yoruba woman. Togetherness is a choice and it
\nmust serve a purpose.<\/p>\n
As for Nigerians thinking I have their money, when it was obvious I was
\npart of the Yar\u2019Adua (government\u2019s) anti-Obasanjo phenomenon that was
\ngoing on at the time. The Ministry of Health and international NGOs paid
\nfor a retreat for the Senate Committee on Health. The House Committee on
\nHealth was treated exactly the same way. The monies were given to members
\nas estacode and the rest used for accommodation, flights and feeding.
\nWhile the Senate was on the retreat in Ghana, the EFCC asked the House
\nCommittee to return the monies they received for their retreat and asked
\nus in the Senate to return ours on our return which I refused, as it was
\nalready used for the purpose it was earmarked for in the budget that year
\nwhich was to work on the National Health Bill.
\nThe House Committee had not gone on their retreat. I did nothing wrong and
\nmy colleagues and I on the retreat did our work conscientiously. I asked
\nthe EFCC not to drag my colleagues into it and I am proud I suffered
\nalone. As is usual in a society where people who are not progressive but
\ntake pleasure in the pain of others, most Nigerians were happy, not
\nlooking at the facts of the matter, just the suffering of an Obasanjo.<\/p>\n
As the people that stole their millions are hailed by them the innocent is
\npunished. When the court case was thrown out because it lacked merit even
\nagainst the Minister, no newspaper carried the news. The wrongful
\nmalicious prosecution of an Obasanjo was not something they wanted to
\nreport; just her downfall. But it really wasn\u2019t about me, it was about
\nright and wrong in society and every society gets the fruit of the seeds
\nit sows.<\/p>\n
How do you think God will provide good leaders to such a people? God helps
\nthose who help themselves. I have realized that as an Obasanjo I am not
\nentitled to work in Nigeria in any capacity. I am not entitled to work in
\nhealth, which is my training, or in any field or anywhere in the country
\nor participate in any business. I have learnt this lesson well and there
\nare societies that actually think capable, well-educated people are
\nimportant to their society\u2019s progress. Apparently, unless I am eating from
\nthe dustbin, Nigerians and possibly you will not be satisfied. I thank
\nGod it has not come to that based on God-given brains and brawn.<\/p>\n
When I left Nigeria in 1989 for graduate studies in America, you promised
\nto pay my school fees and no living expenses. This you did and I am
\ngrateful for because, working in the kitchen and then the library at
\nUniversity of California, Davis and later, working on the IT desk and
\nlater as a Teaching Assistant at Cornell gave me valuable work ethics for
\nlife. I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. As a black woman in the early
\n21st century, I have achieved much and done more than most. My wish is
\nthat black girls all over the world will have the capacity to create their
\nlives, make mistakes, learn from it and move ahead.<\/p>\n
Moving back to Nigeria, thinking I wanted to serve was obviously a grave
\nmistake but one brought about by the tragic incident of April 20, 2003.
\nThis was the day five people were shot dead in my car. The mother of the
\nchildren was an acquaintance I had met only one day before the incident.<\/p>\n
We had attended the same high school and university but she was there ten
\nyears earlier than I. She had also studied public health in the UK as I
\nhad in the US. It was these coincidences that made us connect on our first
\nmeeting and then she decided to visit on the Saturday of the election of
\n2003 when the incident occurred. I am scarred for life by that incident
\nand I know the mother was too as we both looked back to see two men on
\neach side of my car shooting.<\/p>\n
I understand her trauma and her behaviour since then can be judged from
\nthat. Nigeria is a nasty place that pushes people to lose their compass. I
\nparticipated in the campaigns leading to the elections that day, more
\nbecause this was my first experience of electoral process in Nigeria.
\nGrowing up there were no elections and I was too young in the 1979 and
\n1983 elections. It was interesting to see democracy at work. When Gbenga
\nDaniel who I campaigned for offered me a job, I probably would have
\ndeclined it, if not for the memory of the dead.
\nI felt I had to engage in making the country progress and to avoid such
\nincidences in the future. I don\u2019t need to tell you or anyone what kind of
\ngovernor and person Gbenga Daniel is. As usual when I found out, you would
\nnot listen to my opinion but found out for yourself. I also campaigned for
\nAmosun for the Senate in 2003. I have had some wonderful Nigerians do good
\nto me, I will never forget the then Minister of Women Affairs, who saw me
\ntalking in the crowd at a campaign event and was alarmed and said \u201cbad
\nthings can happen to you out there, I will give you one of the orderlies
\nassigned to my office to follow you\u201d. This was the policeman that died in
\nmy car that day. I never really thought bad things would happen to me, I
\nmoved around freely in society until that shooting scarred me and I
\naccepted a police detail. I was constantly scared for my life after that.<\/p>\n
You called me after your vengeful letter as usual; looking out for
\nyourself and thinking you will bribe me by saying the APC will use me for
\nthe Senate. Do you really know me and what I want out of life?
\nAnyone that knows me knows I am done with anything political or otherwise
\nin Nigeria. I have so much to do and think to make this world a better
\nplace than to waste it on fighting with idiots over a political post that
\ndoes no good to society. That letter you wrote to the President, would
\nyou have tolerated such a letter as a sitting President? Don\u2019t do to
\nothers what you will not allow to be done to you. The only thing I was
\nusing that was yours was the house in Abuja where I left my things when I
\nleft the country. I eventually rented it out so that the place would not
\nfall apart but as usual you want to take that as well. You can\u2019t have it
\nwithout explaining to Nigerians how you came about the house?<\/p>\n
As I said earlier, this is not about politics but my frustration with you
\nas a father and a human being. I am not involved with what is currently
\ngoing on in Nigeria; I don\u2019t talk to any Nigerian other than friends on
\nsocial basis. I am not involved with any political groups or affiliation.
\nYou mentioned Governor Osoba when you spoke to me, yes I was walking down
\nthe street of Cambridge, Massachussets a few months ago, when I looked up
\nand saw him reading a map trying to cross the street.
\nI greeted him warmly and offered to give him a ride to where he was going.
\nThis I did not do because I wanted anything from him politically but
\nbecause that is how I was raised by my mother to treat an adult who I
\nreally had no ill-will towards. Some said he was part of the people that
\nmanipulated the elections for me to lose in 2011. I don\u2019t have any
\nill-will to him for that because I think they did me a favour and someone
\nhas to win and lose.<\/p>\n
I had told you I wasn\u2019t going to run in 2011 but you manipulated me to
\nrun; that was my mistake. Losing was a blessing. As usual you wanted me
\nto run for your self-serving purpose to perpetuate your name in the
\npolitical realm and as the liar that you are, you later denied that it was
\nyou who wanted me to run in 2011.<\/p>\n
In 2003 I ran because I wanted to and I thought getting to the central
\ngovernment I will be able to contribute more to improving lives and
\nworking on legislation that impacts the country. I found that nothing gets
\ndone; every public official in Nigeria is working for himself and no one
\nreally is serving the public or the country.<\/p>\n
The whole system, including the public themselves wants oppressors, not
\npeople working for their collective progress. When no one is planning the
\nfuture of a country, such a country can have no future. I won\u2019t be your
\nlegacy, let your legacy be Nigeria in the fractured state you created
\nbecause, it was always your way or the highway.
\nThis is the end of my communication with you for life. I pray Nigeria
\nsurvives your continual intervention in its affairs.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,
\nIyabo Obasanjo, DVM, PhD
\nMassachusetts,
\nUSA.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAGOS \u2014 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n