A psychoanalysis of OBJ letter bomb
Most analysis have come down hard on one side or the other. That means taking sides. So you love President Jonathan, and all you can do is rain abuses on Obasanjo, and unearth his dalliances with his son’s wife, or his many acts of thievery. Or you love Obasanjo, and you ignore the fact that […]
Most analysis have come down hard on one side or the other. That means taking sides. So you love President Jonathan, and all you can do is rain abuses on Obasanjo, and unearth his dalliances with his son’s wife, or his many acts of thievery. Or you love Obasanjo, and you ignore the fact that he is an unlikely messenger and ask Jonathan to respond immediately. If one takes either of those positions, he will miss the underlying points that the letter sought to bring attention to. I take this opportunity to quickly dispatch the letter purportedly written by Iyabo Obasanjo. By every means, the letter circulating now, based on my psychoanalysis and some sort of forensics, is a fake. I don’t believe Iyabo is so stupid, with a Phd in her bag, to write such a lowly letter at that auspicious occasion – a letter that revealed that she was every bit the monster she accused her father of being. Or even worse.
The Iyabo letter revealed that she also was what Obasanjo accused Jonathan of being; an ingrate. No matter what Obasanjo may have done to Iyabo, she rode on his wings and became a Commissioner for Health in Ogun State, and later a Senator of the Federal Republic. What else again, does she want from her father. There are millions of men who have left their children high and dry. The Iyabo letter shows that she still expects to be benefiting from her Dad, years after serving as a senator! If she wrote that letter, then it is she who has a problem, not her dad. Someone who knows Iyabo’s issues with her Dad, who knows them very well, wrote the letter. Iyabo is far smarter than that. Having accepted favours from her dad, being trained abroad, become Commissioner and Senator, Iyabo would be a grand fool, and someone worthy of being ignored if she now chooses to openly disgrace the same father and swear NEVER to speak with him again. Inside a newspaper!
More importantly, Baba’s letter reveals a lot about all the personalities involved, about our institutions, and about Nigerians in general. Let us look at the first paragraph, wherein Obasanjo stated that “None of the four or more letters I have written to you in the past two years has elicited any acknowledgement or response”. Let us think again, because this is a serious issue. What kind of Aso Villa does President Jonathan run, that cannot have a standard process in place for answering such letters? What does Ogiadhome, his Chief of Staff, and Abati, do? Are they all too busy making money? What advice do they give the president? Or perhaps, letters get written to President Jonathan and he never sees them. Or did Jonathan see the letters and decide to ignore them? If he did, that would be tactless and he would have indeed deserved the letter bomb which came. Because, just like for a woman, one should learn never to scorn an old person. The letter written by Obasanjo is almost treasonable in part, but as I write, no one has the guts to pick him up and draw international opprobrium. No one wants to be seen as another Abacha. Obasanjo is globally connected, so it is sheer stupidity to ignore such a man! Answer him nicely, so that he leaves you alone.
The second broad that is so disturbing is the choice of Baba’s language. A lover of President Jonathan will tell us just how much the office of the president of the Federal Republic has been decimated. But this is just icing on the cake. We are a devalued people, like it or not. Nigerians are the most undervalued, distrusted, disrespected, disdained people on earth. Check it. Where else? Afghanistan? Iran? Iraq? Colombia? All these countries have issues, ranging from drugs to terrorism, but even their people look down on Nigerians. Nigeria is today the highest global supplier of economic refugees, criminals, and generally misdirected or directionless people in the world. Thousands of our people still manage to escape abroad even as our economic managers tell us all is well. Nothing shows better than anything else, that the country is deeply troubled than the permanent efflux of our young and old, peasants and professionals. When your citizens show up in their thousands, daily begging immigration officers in every innocuous country to be let in, it doesn’t matter if you flew in in a gold-plated megajet or you came with the boat. So already, the office of the Nigerian president, has a value tending towards ZERO!
So it is mere insult upon injury for Baba to use words like; “…if you can shun yourself of personal and political interests and dwell more on national interest… (you are) acting for a definitive purpose for which deceit and deception seems to be the major ingredients… You may wish to pursue a more credible and more honourable path… as a leader two things you must hold dear is trust and honour both of which are ingredients of character… You denied ever requesting any president to talk to me. I was not surprised because I am used to such position of denial coming from you. Please move away from the extremes … and carry ALL along…. Declaring that one section of the country voted for you as if you got no votes from other sections can only be unnecessary talk… (You are) assisting criminals to evade justice… unbridled corruption and obscene rulers’ opulence… when the guard becomes the thief nothing is safe… May God grant you the grace for at least one effective correction against high corruption which seems to stink all around you in your government… (you) should rise above pettiness and unpresidential acts… clear indication of how unscrupulous and unethical the presidency can go to pursue your personal and political interests… persistent reports of involvement of high-level political figures in drug trafficking and (your) condonation (sic) of the crimes for political gains… your latter-day conversion to National Conference is fraught with dangers of disunity, confusion and chaos…”
Now, these are not funny words. I’ve never heard any president spoken to in this manner. The letter ended with a salvo, threatening that the letter’s audience will be expanded as time went on. Was the letter ignored AGAIN, as it was written on the 2nd and only became public like ten days later.
More is revealed about the two characters. Obasanjo is the proper old man who wants to control everything. He is selfish and lacks integrity himself, accusing someone else of doing exactly what he did so well in his time. For me though, given my personal experiences, I cannot stomach those who repay good with evil. I remember Obasanjo moving against a Yar’adua, even on his death bed, in favour of Jonathan (who actually appreciates being Nigeria’s president, if not for himself, but for his people). Obasanjo put the nail in Yar’adua’s coffin when he asked him to “toe the path of honour”, the exact same words he has repeated this time. Yar’adua equally resisted Obasanjo but things never descended this low. Today, their great PDP seems to be surely falling apart. Someone who assists one in achieving one’s lifelong goals should NEVER be treated with levity, no matter how crazy that person is. Merry xmas in arrears!! And happy new year in advance!!