An apparently angry and frustrated ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has written what clearly competes as one of the most acerbic letters in modern history to President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of ineptitude and of taking actions calculated at destroying Nigeria.
“Nigeria is bleeding and the hemorrhage must be stopped,” Mr. Obasanjo said in the 18-page letter dated December 2, 2013 and exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday.
He said Mr. Jonathan has failed to deliver on his promises to the Nigerian people, stem corruption, promote national unity and strengthen national security.

He said in the letter titled “Before it is too late” that rather than take steps to advance Nigeria’s interest and up the standards of living of Nigerians, Mr. Jonathan had betrayed God and the Nigerian people that brought him to power, and has been pursuing selfish personal and political interests based on advice he receives from “self-centred aides”.
In the detailed letter, dripping of anger , frustration and what appears a genuine concern to rescue a nation on the brink, Mr. Obasanjo lamented that Mr. Jonathan had become terribly divisive and clannish, destroying his own party, polarizing the country along regional and religious lines and ridiculing Nigeria in the comity of nations.

Without mincing words, Mr. Obasanjo blamed Mr. Jonathan for the crises tearing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, apart.
He said apart from using party chairman Bamanga Tukur to cause multiple crises and divide the ranks of the party, the president’s failure to keep a promise he made not to seek a second term is also generating tension within the ruling party.
“It would be unfair to continue to level full blames on the Chairman (Tukur) for all that goes wrong with the party,” Mr. Obasanjo said. “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.
“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.”
The former President said Mr. Jonathan told him before the 2011 election he would not seek a second term, and made the same promise to governors, party stakeholders and Nigerians.
The president’s refusal to keep that promise cast him as a man without honour, Mr. Obasanjo said.
Saying it would be “fatally morally flawed” for Mr. Jonathan to contest in 2015, Mr. Obasanjo added, “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.”
Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr. Jonathan of anti-party conducts – supporting opposition parties’ candidates in governorship elections in Lagos, Ondo, Edo and Anambra states at the detriment of PDP’s own candidates –, and of pitting party members against one another.
Saying the President had failed to address the underlying causes of the Boko Haram menace, Mr. Obasanjo urged Mr. Jonathan to adopt a carrot and stick approach in dealing with the insurgency explaining that “conventional military actions based on standard phases of military operations alone will not permanently and effectively deal with the issue of Boko Haram”.
Mr. Obasanjo also tackled Mr. Jonathan for allegedly being clannish. “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 naturalized 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 your not openly quieting them is even more unfortunate.
Two Ijaw men, ex-militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and a former federal commissioner for information, Edwin Clark, who carries himself around as the political godfather of the president, are known to talk down on people opposed to the president.
Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr. Jonathan of placing over 1000 Nigerians on political 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 killers”.
He wondered why the Presidency was providing assistance for a murderer to evade justice.
“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,” Mr. Obasanjo said. “Assisting criminals to evade justice cannot be part of the job of the presidency. Or, as it is viwed 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.”
Mr. Obasanjo did not mention the name of the murderer he accused the President of protecting but he seems to be referring to Hamza Al-Mustapha, a former security aide to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who is facing trial for allegedly masterminding the killing of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of Moshood Abiola, the winner of the annulled 1993 presidential election.
Mr. Al-Mustapha was freed by the appeal court in July but the Lagos state government has since appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court.
The former President also called on the National Assembly to rise up and take decisive action over the recent allegation in the country that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failed to remit billions of dollars in proceeds of crude oil sales to the federation account.
“This allegation will not fly away by non-action, cover-up, denial or bribing possible investigators,” Mr. Obasanjo told the President. “Please deal with this allegation transparently and let the truth be known.
“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.”
Mr. Obasanjo said he wrote the letter in the national interest, saying nothing, at this stage of his life, would prevent him from standing up for whatever he considers to be in the best interest of Nigeria, Africa and the world.
He said he was ready for whatever backlash his letter would provoke from the presidency.
“Knowing what happens around you most of which you know of and condone or deny, this letter will proke 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…,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
“I have passed the stage of being flattered, intimidated, threatened, frightened, induced or bought… Death is the end of all human beings and may it come when God wills it to come.”


http://amazingstoriesaroundtheworld..co.uk/2013/12/raw-copy-obasanjos-historic-letter-to.html
http://saharareporters.com/news-page/former-president-obasanjo-writes-president-jonathan-accuses-him-lying-destroying-nigeria-a

Ive seen the way forward.................well wait why im the person to commment!!!

l

i'll be back later to save a copy

GEJ is clearly clueless about tackling corruption and does not deserve to be leading Nigeria.

However GEJ is far less corrupt than Thief Obasanjo.

OBJ the ONLY crook that calls crook crooks. The only butterfly that thinkest itself as bird

The man is correct but I don't expect. OBJ to bee the one talking

I read the 18 page write-up by Obasanjo. I saw this coming. I have said it many times that Obasanjo would strike and it won't be nice when strikes. Ebora Owu is a monster! grin grin grin

This is the beginning of the end of Jonathan in Nigerian politics.

Lol... See the letterhead.... Anybody that believes this crap is........

..

I find those calling OBj a crook annoying. That is just a way of diverting from the real issues. That he voices his concerns is a plus no matter whom he is or what he has done. The righteous who sit and watch as things go down are not better than him.


What should matter are questions like,
Are his concerns genuine?

Should we share the concerns and try to figure ways out of it?

And the presidency should not be quick to make rejoinders either. They should think deep and retrace their steps and/ find solutions where needed.

Obasanjo,Jonathan they all have one thing in common and that is looting the treasury while they are in power,what he said is not far from the truth but he should also understand that he had all the opportunity to build strong institutions,stamp out corruption and push for stronger laws that would have forestalled further looting of the treasury by subsequent rulers after his exit but he failed on his part and has contributed largely to what we have today. A father who fails to build a strong institution of family ritual that will guide the generation of his children yet unborn cannot blame his children when they begin to set a standard far from his dream. Well,the crux of the matter is up to Nigerians,to decide for themselves or continue in this abysmal state.

baba Ota dey vex

[size=14pt][b]Obasanjo is a self serving criminal. The worst part of his nature is to try to cover his crimes with the garb of "i am working for the best interest of Nigeria". For him to even mention that GEJ will be the last President from the Ijaw totally underscores the fact that this animal farm called Nigeria needs to break up to allow people live free and not as second class slaves in a country they call their own.Obasanjo is only worried that the Governors he encouraged to rebel against the party may very well have shot themselves in the leg. In time,Obasanjo will understand that he is not the lord and master of Nigeria he has arrogantly arrogated to himself.

GEJ should ignore Obasanjo because his aim of leaking this letter to the media before giving it to GEJ is totally to ridicule GEJ and make himself appear as the true patriotic Nigerian. In spite of the name callings and unfair tackling of GEJ, he has not orchestrated an Odi like levelling of any community in Nigeria. He has not murdered opponents like Pa Rewane or Bola Ige.He has not frustrated development efforts to any part of Nigeria, if not Obasanjo would know and have mentioned it. Nigerians know who the real brute is. GEJ should take his security very very seriously. Obasanjo has already made a veiled threat that his life may not be secured as he might know people who think the best way to grab power in Nigeria will be to kill the President.

Obasanjo that almost killed foreign investment in our oil sector through his clueless handling of the Niger Delta crisis is now an apostle of foreign investment because he is no longer the President.While foreign investment is important for our economy, Foreign investors can wait. It is only those who are truly free that can enjoy a good life. Nigeria is undergoing growing pains and sorting that out without resort to blood shed is better use of our time than any silly foreign investment.However, the time to discuss how this country should continue to exist has come. We must either be prepared to treat ourselves as full citizens with equal rights, or we should go our separate ways for the sake of peace and development of Africa.[/b][/size]

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All i can say is General Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken

He also copied Danjuma,IBB and Abdusalami Abubakar.

Dont see how Goodluck can stand these guys.

Obasanjo and his cohorts have been rocking naija since the civil war

Who the hell is Goodluck Jonathan ?

He is gonna be disgraced out of office.

It is time to reflect on the direction we are heading to. Achange of heart is necessary.

It is true ,things did not go bad in one day. It is also true that people aspire to with an intention to change.

It is the message that matters, forget the messenger. Today and tomorrow should be our major concern.

What is historic about the letter?
The topic should have read, 'Obj's STUP1D letter to Jonathan'

.

I hate the messenger but the message is fact. The fact that he had erred in the past doesn't mean he should not speak when things are going wrong. Most of today were once drug addicts in past but today they have changed and are changing lives. Most people don't know OBJ, he is the sort that speak even after eating your foood and among all our past leaders, he seems to be the only one that can bear the bring and speak.
About making this public, he said in the first page that he had written 4 different letters without GEJ acknowledging nor replying any.

He didnt say GEj will be the last from Ijaw to lead the nation,read 1st paragraph of page 17 again.

I think what we should dwell on is whether all or any of what he raised in the letter is true.
Most people belief OBJ should not criticize GEJ because he himself is a crook. Does that mean we should just leave GEJ to continue his atrocities because those that preceded him are unworthy to criticize him. It started with Sanusi, followed by Tambuwal and now OBJ. After reading from them and most Nigerians, I think 80% belief GEJ is not bad but the people surrounding him are the ones misleading him but as the leader he should know when to caution them. That's one thing OBJ was known for in his time, he doesn't wait for aid to respond on his behalf before responding to any issue and when they did, he is quick to reprimand the aid and give his own version of the issue.

The bottom line, should we throw away the baby and the bath water, OBJ may be bad but the message can hardly be faulted