Obasanjo tells Jonathan to forget 2015

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has written a harshly-worded letter to President Jonathan, accusing him of condoning high-level corruption, promoting ethnic schism and deceiving Nigerians.Obasanjo also alleged that an Abacha-style assassination squad was being trained and weapons being amassed to target 1,000 Nigerians whose names were on a political watch list, ahead of 2015 general elections.He […]

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has written a harshly-worded letter to President Jonathan, accusing him of condoning high-level corruption, promoting ethnic schism and deceiving Nigerians.
Obasanjo also alleged that an Abacha-style assassination squad was being trained and weapons being amassed to target 1,000 Nigerians whose names were on a political watch list, ahead of 2015 general elections.
He said Jonathan had promised to him and other Nigerians before the 2011 elections that he was going for one term only, and therefore advised him to keep to his words.
An apparently frustrated Obasanjo also lamented that President Jonathan had discredited himself by polarising the country along religious and regional lines, undermining his political party, becoming clannish and scaring away foreign investors.
The 18-page letter, titled ‘Before it is too late’, was dated December 2, 2013, and leaked on the Internet yesterday, sparking a furious debate online.
Later yesterday, the Presidency issued a statement confirming receipt of the letter from Obasanjo, and describing it as baseless, mischievous and indecorous.
The leak of the letter brought to limelight the simmering cold war between the two leaders.
Obasanjo gave 10 reasons why he decided to write the “open” letter, including that he had written at least four other letters to the president which were never acknowledged.
‘An honourable path’
On 2015 elections, Obasanjo said, “Up till two months ago, Mr. President, you told me that you have not told anybody that you would contest in 2015. I quickly pointed out to you that the signs and the measures on the ground do not tally with your statement.
“You said the same to one other person who shared his observation with me. And only a fool would believe that statement you made to me judging by what is going on. I must say it is not ingenious. You may wish to pursue a more credible and more honorable path.”
He said it would be “fatally morally flawed” for Jonathan to seek re-election in 2015, having promised Nigerians that he was going to be a single-term president.
“As a leader, two things you must cherish and hold dear among others are trust and honour both of which are important ingredients of character. I will want to see anyone in the Office of the Presidency of Nigeria as a man or woman who can be trusted, a person of honour in his words and character,” Obasanjo said.
He alleged that 1000 Nigerians have been placed on a political watch list and that an assassination squad was being trained to silence Jonathan’s opponents.
He said, “Allegation of keeping over 1000 people on political watch list rather than criminal or security watch list and training snipers and other armed personnel secretly and clandestinely acquiring weapons to match for political purposes like Abacha and training them where Abacha trained his own killers, if it is true, it cannot augur well for the initiator, the government and the people of Nigeria. Here again there is a lesson of history to learn from for anybody who cares to learn from history.”
He said the Presidency was providing assistance for a murderer to evade justice. Obasanjo did not name names, but he appeared to be referring to the late General Sani Abacha’s chief security officer Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, who was discharged by the Appeal Court in July over the murder of Kudirat Abiola.
“Presidential assistance for a murderer to evade justice and presidential delegation to welcome him home can only be in bad taste generally but particularly to the family of his victim,” he said.
“Assisting criminals to evade justice cannot be part of the job of the presidency. Or, as it is viewed in some quarters, is he being recruited to do for you what he had done for Abacha in the past? Hopefully, he should have learned his lesson. Let us continue to watch.”
Obasanjo blamed Jonathan for the squabble in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), accusing him also of anti-party activities by supporting opposition parties in Lagos, Edo, Ondo and Anambra governorship elections.
He said PDP national chairman Bamanga Tukur was not fully to blame for the crisis, as he is only “playing the tune dictated by the paymaster.”
“The chairman is playing the tune dictated by the paymaster (Jonathan). But the paymaster is acting for a definitive purpose for which deceit and deception seem to be the major ingredients,” he said.
Obasanjo also accused Jonathan of incompetence in the handling of the Boko Haram crisis by not addressing the underlying causes.
He said “conventional military actions based on standard phases of military operations alone will not permanently and effectively deal with the issue of Boko Haram.”
Obasanjo said Jonathan was being rustic. “For you to allow yourself to be ‘possessed’, so to say, to the exclusion of most of the rest of Nigerians as an ‘Ijaw man’ is a mistake that should never have been allowed to happen. Yes, you have to be born in one part of Nigeria to be Nigerian if not naturalised but the Nigerian President must be above ethnic factionalism. And those who prop you up as of, and for ‘Ijaw nation’ are not your friends genuinely, not friends of Nigeria nor friends of ‘Ijaw nation’ they tout about.
“To allow or tacitly encourage people of ‘Ijaw nation’ to throw insults on other Nigerians from other parts of the country and threaten fire and brimstone to protect your interest as an Ijaw man is myopic and you’re not openly quieting them is even more unfortunate.”
Obasanjo also referred to a letter written by Central Bank governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to Jonathan on the discrepancy between crude oil sold and revenues remitted to government coffers.
“This allegation will not fly away by non-action, cover-up, denial or bribing possible investigators. Please deal with this allegation transparently and let the truth be known,” he said.
“The dramatis personae in this allegation and who they are working for will one day be public knowledge. Those who know are watching if the National Assembly will not be accomplice in the heinous crime and naked grand corruption. May God grant you the grace for at least one effective corrective action against high corruption which seems to stink all around you in your government.”
He questioned Jonathan’s sincerity on the proposed national conference, saying “your later-day conversion into national conference is fraught with danger of disunity, confusion and chaos if not well handled. I believe in debate and dialogue but it must be purposeful, directed and managed well without ulterior motives. The ovation has not died down yet and there is always life after a decent descent.”
Obasanjo said he wrote the letter in the interest of national unity, democracy and good governance, adding that he knew he could be attacked by Jonathan’s men.
“Knowing what happens around you most of which you know of and condone or deny, this letter will provoke cacophony from hired and unhired attackers but I will maintain my serenity because by this letter, I have done my duty to you as I have always done, to your government, to the party, PDP, and to our country, Nigeria,” he said.
“I have passed the stage of being flattered, intimidated, threatened, frightened, induced or bought. I am never afraid to agree or disagree but it will always be on principles, and if on politics, in the national interest.… Death is the end of all human beings and may it come when God wills it to come.”
‘Baseless, indecorous’
In a reaction last night, the Presidency confirmed receipt of the letter from Obasanjo, but said his allegations were baseless and indecorous.
“We have noted the publication on several websites today of a letter recently written by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The Presidency acknowledges that it has indeed received the said letter from Chief Obasanjo,” a statement by Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said.
“We however find it highly unbecoming, mischievous and provocative that a letter written by a former Head of State and respected elder statesman to President Jonathan  has been deliberately leaked to the mass media in a deplorable effort to impugn the integrity of the President and denigrate his commitment to giving Nigeria the best possible leadership.
“While many patriotic, objective and well-meaning Nigerians have already condemned the leaked letter as self-serving, hypocritical, malicious, indecent, and very disrespectful of the highest office in the land, President Jonathan has directed that none of his aides or any government official should join issues with Chief Obasanjo over it.
“The President himself will, at the appropriate time, offer a full personal response to the most reckless, baseless, unjustifiable and indecorous charges levied against him and his administration by the former Head of State.”