I saw this on facebook, and I thought it worth sharing on nairaland.Dec. 15, 2013; EkeKeee
Fellow Nigerians,
This letter of mine is going to contain a lot
of apologies. I have sinned against God and against you all. I have transgressed. I
apologize. I apologize for pissing down the
many opportunities you gave me to be the
greatest Nigerian ever. I apologize for a lot
of things. I apologize.
I apologize because I had some of the rarest opportunities in public service anybody
could get anywhere, which in other climes
should have been a stepping stone to greater
things if I was a man with an iota of
humanity or decency. For you my
countrymen allowed me a total of eleven years as the head of state and President of
Nigeria.
I apologize for being a disappointment. I
apologize for being a tyrant masquerading
as a democrat. I apologize for being self-
centred, obnoxious, vindictive and a crude man. I apologize for all the times I sought
at all cost to always impose my will on the
nation, even where it was detrimental to
the laws of morality, decency, common
sense and of national interest.
I apologize for the killing of Nigerian university students in cold blood and the
invasion and razing of the home and
business premises of Fela Kuti who was my
number one critic as military head of state.
I know now that he was never my enemy
even though I treated him as my enemy and an enemy of the Nigerian state.
I apologize for supporting the annulment of
the election of a democratically elected
president, Chief MKO Abiola and colluding
with my military colleagues and setting up
all sorts of anti-democratic political contraptions to negate the mandate of the
people in an election widely acclaimed to be
free and fair.
I apologize to Jesus Christ for claiming to be
born again when I came out of jail and to
you my countrymen and women for playing on your intelligence that I had seen some
light when my soul was still much engulfed
in the spirit of darkness.
I apologize for asking my soldiers to burn
Odi to the ground and kill everyone in sight.
I know I am a murderer and a war criminal. I apologize for asking my army to
massacre more people in Choba, Igwuruta,
Biogbolo and other places in the Niger-
Delta. I apologize for being evil, heartless
and tyrannical. I apologize to the families
of the people my army massacred. I apologize to the orphans whose parents my
army killed, to the widows whose husbands
were killed. I apologize for everything. I
apologize.
I apologize for sowing the seeds that led to
the Niger-Delta crisis. That transformed a non-violent struggle for justice, equity and
fairness in the Niger-Delta into a full-blown
war. I take responsibility for causing the
crisis in the Niger-Delta today that has
made heroes out of oil thieves and cultists
like Asari Dokubo and other militants that the Nigerian government has to pay billions
of naira to every month to keep from going
back to the creeks.
I apologize for sending my soldiers to kill
and burn down the communities of Zaki
Biam, Vaase, Agbayin, Gbeji, Sankara and several others towns…. I apologize to the
families of the people my army massacred. I
apologize to the orphans whose parents my
army killed, to the widows whose husbands
were killed. I apologize for everything. I
apologize. I weep and apologize. I apologize for the murder of my attorney-
general and minister of justice, Chief Bola
Ige. I apologize for rewarding the man
suspected of his assassination with political
power. I apologize for my failure to nab,
prosecute and jail the perpetrators of his assassination. I apologize for being
insensitive and sadistic.
I apologize for the many backdoor deals I
oversaw as president. I apologize for
spending $2.2 billion on power without due
process or any favourable end result. I apologize for the part I played in the
Transcorp shares saga, the Obasanjo
Library Fund, the COJA contracts, the PTDF
scandal, the Siemens bribe scandal, the oil
contracts and oil wells allocation which I
singlehandedly allocated to myself, my women(oh, and I have a lot of them) and
my cronies. I apologize for running the
petroleum ministry during my tenure as my
private estate. For shrouding my activities
in the petroleum industry in utmost secrecy,
for never rendering proper accounts of the oil revenue to relevant agencies, the Federal
Executive Council or the National Assembly
I apologize for using the EFCC as my
personal bulldog to intimidate and bend the
will of my political opponents and those
who went against my will. I apologize to Nuhu Ribadu for using him for my own
selfish interest.
I apologize for victimizing those who
criticized me or who attempted to criticize
me. I apologize to Audu Ogbeh for forcing
him at gunpoint to sign his resignation, to Eedris Abdulkareem for victimizing him
and forcing his promoters to do away with
him because of the ‘’jaga jaga’’ song that
depicted the true picture of Nigeria under
me at that time. Look, Nigeria was indeed
“Jaga Jaga” and is still “jaga jaga”. I apologize to Rotimi Amaechi for striking
his (Amaechi’s) name off the list of PDP’s
governorship candidate list for the election
just because I could. I apologize for
withholding Federal allocation to Lagos
under Bola Tinubu for three and a half years–an act of tyranny and dictatorship
that I have come to realize.
I apologize to the people of Anambra state
for turning a blind eye as the then sitting
Governor, Chris Ngige, was kidnapped and
forced to a shrine to swear an oath in broad daylight by one of my apologists Chris
Uba who I made sure was above the law. I
apologize for withdrawing his security just
so to spite him and all the people of
Anambra and show validation to the actions
of Chris and Andy Uba. I apologize for attempting to alter the
constitution of the federal republic of
Nigeria just for the single selfish purpose of
getting a third term. I apologize to you my
fellow Nigerians for using your tax money
to bribe lawmakers in an attempt to make my selfish interest come to fulfilment. I
apologize for heating up the polity, I
apologize profusely for being a self-
righteous, self-centred crook and a
vindictive so and so.
I apologize to everyone I victimized when the will of you the Nigerian people
prevailed over my third term attempt. I
apologize for imposing on you a sick
president. I apologize because I knew he
was sick and didn’t have very much to live
for, but I still made him President to spite you all. I wanted to punish the Nigerian
people for not letting me have my third
term so I imposed him on you, went back to
my farm and watched in amusement. I look
back at it all now and I admit that I am a
terrible man. I apologize for the evils my actions have caused you. I apologize for my
actions. I apologize even more for making
an unexposed tribal bigot his Vice President.
I apologize for giving you the Nigerian
people, Goodluck Jonathan–a man who had
no antecedent in leadership. I apologize for making a man who was under investigation
for false declaration of his assets, President.
I apologize for making a man whose wife
was then being investigated by the EFCC for
money laundering, President of the Federal
Republic. I apologize. I apologize for everything you the Nigerian
people are going through right now. Your
present travails with poor leadership are
the products of my machinations. I am
Goodluck Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan
is me. I am the kettle that produced the blackened coffee. I’m the architect of your
misfortunes. I’m the captain of the gang of
pirates that are currently milking your
motherland dry. I am the evil one.
Goodluck Johnathan is a product of my evil
mind. I apologize. I am sorry for all I have cost you. My head is deep in shame, my
body is clothed in sack-clothes and my hair
is filled with ashes.
I appeal to you the Nigerian people today,
flee from me and every of my many
descendants. If Jonathan wants to contest in 2015, by all means he should. But I appeal
to you the Nigerian to vote him out. For he
has dwarfed everything I and the
grandfather of corruption in Nigeria and
my good friend General Babangida ever
thought of stealing. Under him, the impunity under me is a child’s play. Under
him, the Presidency has turned into a
laughing stock and the presidential jet has
turn into a taxi for tribal warriors and
ethnic jingoists who look for an opportunity
to beat the drums of war. Ask Asari Dokubo.
And in conclusion, I apologize to my son
Gbenga for sleeping with his wife and for
embarrassing the office of the president of
the federal republic of Nigeria and myself
and my family. I am very, very sorry fellow Nigerians.
Forgive me, for I have erred. Forgive me
because without your forgiveness, I will
forever be miserable. Without your
forgiveness, I will never have peace.
NB: Let me crave your indulgence to share this with your neighbours, friends and
fellow countrymen who can’t have first
hand access to this letter. Let my story be a
lesson for whoever wants to lead this
country in the future. I am a mess and I
messed up. Signed:
Olusegun Obasanjo
Architect of Nigeria’s misfortune(s)