Former President Olusegun Obasanjo's Daughters Lambastes His Father, Says "Dear Daddy, You Don't Own Nigeria"

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 death, describing him as a liar,
manipulator, two-faced hypocrite determined to foist on President Goodluck Jonathan what no one would contemplate with him as president.

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo in a letter to her father accused him of having an egoistic craving for power and living a life where only men of low esteem and
intellect thrive.

Olusegun Obasanjo and Iyabo Obasanjo In the 11-page letter dated December 16, 2013
exclusively obtained by Vanguard, Iyabo accused her
father of orchestrating a third term for himself as president, cruelty to family members, abandonment of
children and grandchildren, and also, a legendary
reputation of maltreatment of women.

Iyabo who forswore further political engagements in
Nigeria denied any political motive for her missive, and
described Nigeria as a country where her father and
his ilk have helped to create a situation where smart,
capable people bend down to imbeciles to survive. She
particularly noted her experience as chairman of the
Senate Committee on Health when she led the
committee on a retreat appropriated for in the budget
only for her to be prosecuted for it.

Iyabo, first child of the former president, started the
letter titled, Open Letter to my Father with a 4th
century Chinese proverb by Mencius which states:

“The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.”
Her letter:

“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.