Nearly a year after his daughter, Iyabo, wrote a well-publicised open letter to him, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has replied her, alleging that she was induced by President Goodluck Jonathan\u2019s administration to write the stinker. In portions of his latest memoirs, My Watch, seen in advance by TheCable, Obasanjo said he had been warned that \u201cthis administration\u201d was attempting to induce two of his daughters to do a \u201cdirty job\u201d and that he warned both of them against it. Obasanjo said Iyabo succumbed to the advances because of \u201cher character\u201d and \u201cthe influence of her mother\u201d \u2013 who is the retired general\u2019s first wife. In her letter, Iyabo, a former commissioner in Ogun state and former senator, recounted Obasanjo\u2019s failings as a father and questioned his moral right to criticise others. \u201cThis is the end of my communication with you for life. I pray Nigeria survives your continual intervention in its affairs,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Obasanjo had written a highly critical letter to Jonathan titled \u201cBefore It Is Too Late\u201d in which he raised issues about insecurity and corruption in the country. He wrote: \u201cYou must hold yourself most significantly responsible for what happens or fails to happen in Nigeria and in any case, most others will hold you responsible and God who put you there will surely hold you responsible and accountable.\u201d Obasanjo further repeated an allegation that Jonathan was training snipers to kill his political opponents.<\/p>\n
He had remained silent since Iyabo\u2019s open letter to him was published in the medai, but has now responded in volume one of the three-volume memoirs. Obasanjo wrote: \u201cI got a warning that this administration was attempting to induce two of my daughters, including Iyabo, to do a dirty job. I warned them both against it, but because of her character, the influence of her mother and her attitude, Iyabo succumbed; the other daughter did not. \u201cI was warned about a former minister of finance, who wrote the reply for Jonathan, and about the writer of the letter to which E. K. Clark appended his signature. Iyabo\u2019s letter and the response to it has been treated as a family issue, so that all the members of the family can be equipped with the other side of the story from me for posterity. \u201cIf Iyabo was childish and unwise enough to allow herself to be used, no other member of the family should allow himself or herself to be so used. Tolerance and acceptance of others must be practised in the face of any provocation, no matter how vile.\u201d Obasanjo has previously been openly accused of incest and adultery by his son, Gbenga, who sought to divorce his wife alleging that his father was sleeping with her. The former president, meanwhile, said a \u201ccabal\u201d surrounding late President Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adau framed corruption charges against Iyabo when she was a senator in order to get back at him because of his personal views against them. \u201cMy adversaries tried other means to get to me,\u201d he stated. \u201cIf Obasanjo could not be cut down to size, they must have thought, what about those close to him, including his daughter? When Senator Iyabo, my daughter, was accused of corruption, I took my time to have a serious interview with her on what exactly had transpired. She briefed me in detail and I was satisfied. \u201cBut I did not stop there. I spoke with the Senate President, who also briefed me and assured me that Iyabo had not committed any offence as he had personally looked into the matter. I was again reassured but did not stop there. I talked to another senator, Mrs. Ekaette, who was a member of the health committee of which Iyabo was chairman. Mrs. Ekaette again satisfied me with her explanation. I was advised to talk to President Yar\u2019Adua but I refused to do this, especially as I was told he was expecting me to. Instead, I advised Iyabo to hand the matter over to Chief Afe Babalola, a lawyer and friend, to deal with it through the court process. She was discharged and acquitted by the court. \u201cThe fact that my ordeal, and that of my daughter, occurred under the administration of President Yar\u2019Adua, who was brought into power by God through me, did not surprise me. I have always held to a belief that any person who expects commendation, praise, eulogy, or credit from any human being might die a frustrated wretch.\u201d He named some members of the \u201ccabal\u201d as Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi and Baba Kingibe \u201caided and supported by two governors \u2013 Bukola Saraki and James Ibori \u2013 for their own personal and selfish reasons\u201d<\/p>\n
Culled from thecable.ng<\/p>\n
Read more at: http:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/exclusive-obasanjo-finally-replies-iyabo-says-induced-dirty-job | TheCable<\/p>\n
Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly a year after his daughter, Iyabo, wrote a well-publicised open letter to him, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has replied her, alleging that she was induced by President Goodluck Jonathan\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n