Chinese proverb by Mencius which states: “The great
man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.”
“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
Credit: Vanguard
