Obasanjo/Iyabo feud: Why we
won’t intervene— Yoruba elders
on december 20, 2013 at 12:31 am in news
Iyabo Obasanjo and Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo
BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, OLA AJAYI, DAYO
JOHNSON, GBENGA OLARINOYE & DAPO
AKINREFON
Suggestions that Yoruba elders will
intervene in the feud between former
President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and
his daughter, Iyabo, were yesterday ruled
out as prominent leaders from the South-
West said they would not mediate.
In ruling themselves out from brokering an
end to the face-off between father and
daughter, the elders affirmed that it was a
family feud which was best left to insiders.
However, Second Republic Senator and
Yoruba leader, Senator Ayo Fasanmi called
on the National Assembly to probe the
issues raised against Obasanjo by his
daughter.
Among other Yoruba leaders who
commented on the feud yesterday were
Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti;
Afenifere stalwart, Chief Ayo Adebanjo;
Second Republic Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General, Chief Richard Akinjide
(SAN), and one time leader of the Alliance
for Democracy, Senator Mojisoluwa
Akinfenwa.
Group supports Iyabo
Also yesterday, support came the way of
Senator Iyabo Obasanjo from a group,
Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria,
FEHN, which said that the former senator
and first daughter should not be
castigated based on the fact that she
knows her father more than many other
commentators.
The feud between father and daughter
came to public knowledge upon an open
letter to Obasanjo from Iyabo exclusively
published by Vanguard last Wednesday.
In the letter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo
described her father as a liar, wife beater,
manipulator, two-faced hypocrite, who
orchestrated a third term plot in office
despite denials to the contrary.
It’s their problem— Fasoranti
Speaking on the squabble, leader of the
Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere,
Chief Fasoranti, yesterday, said the group
has no business in the family matter that is
tearing Obasanjo’s family apart.
He said: “I do not think we will like to
intervene in it because it is between the
father and the daughter. They know
themselves.
“If it was done in bad taste, that is their
problem. It shows how they relate with
themselves at home. We have no business
mediating in their private matter.
“Let them settle their quarrel themselves.
No Yoruba leader would interfere in the
Obasanjo/daughter quarrel. It is their
family matter and it has nothing to do with
Nigeria.
“There are other pressing national matters
to attend to than the Obasanjo/daughter
crisis. So, there is nothing we as elders can
say or do.”
It’s for NASS—Fasanmi
Another Yoruba elder, Senator Ayo Fasanmi
who described the rift between the former
President and his daughter as a very
sensitive issue, said he would not support
Yoruba elders dabbling into the matter.
Speaking on telephone in Osogbo
yesterday, Fasanmi said Senator Iyabo
Obasanjo’s letter to her father was very
indicting.
He said the cross fire between the father
and his daughter was a matter that cannot
be swept under the carpet, but should be
thoroughly investigated by prominent
leaders in the country, including members
of the National Assembly.
He said: “The National Assembly should as
a matter of urgency set up a panel
comprising prominent members of the
assembly to investigate all the weighty
allegations made by Iyabo Obasanjo in the
interest of the nation.
“There must not be a cover up in the
matter. It bothers on morality and integrity
of Obasanjo and Nigerians deserve the
right to know the truth of the matter as a
leader in his (Obasanjo) own right.”
Fasanmi also urged Nigerians not to blame
Iyabo Obasanjo, saying “Obasanjo wrote
an open letter to President Goodluck
Jonathan recently.
“If he has the right to do so, I believe Iyabo
also has the right to write to her father and
advise him on the right thing to do.”
However, he stated that he would not
support Yoruba elders intervening in the
current impasse between Obasanjo and his
daughter, saying that it was strictly a
family and an internal affair, which needs
to be handled at the family level.
A family matter— Adebanjo
Also, Afenifere stalwart, Chief Ayo
Adebanjo, who spoke with Vanguard on the
telephone, said it was a family matter
which needs no outsider intervention.
Adebanjo said: “What are you intervening
in a family matter for? The girl is saying
what she is experiencing with her father,
what do you want to dispute there?
“I believe it is purely a family matter.
Another thing is that, as far as I am
concerned, it shows how unfortunate
Nigeria has been to have had the type of
person that has ruled us for 10 years.”
Olu Falae, Akinjide, Akinfenwa
On his part, former Minister of Finance,
Chief Olu Falae said: “Well, it is a family
matter between a father and daughter.
“As far as I am aware, there is no room for
anyone getting involved in a family matter.
It is a pure family matter which we know
nothing about.”
When Vanguard called Chief Richard
Akinjide (SAN), and asked if Yoruba elders
should intervene, the former Minister of
Justice said emphatic ‘No’ without giving
further explanation.
Also, Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, another
respected Yoruba leader simply said it is a
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, affair and
would not want to say anything about it.
He said: “It is the internal crisis of PDP. Let
them settle it as a family problem.”
However, a chieftain of the PDP, Senator
Lekan Balogun said although he and Chief
Obasanjo were not best of friends, he felt
the crisis between father and daughter
should not be allowed to aggravate.
He said: “We will do our best. I will try and
talk to Iyabo first and then her father. We
cannot sit down and watch the issue to
degenerate. “It is only Chief Obasanjo and I
who are not best of friends but I will call
Iyabo.”
‘Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan worse’
Meanwhile, as reactions continued to trail
Senator Iyabo Obasanjo’s letter to her
father, Chairman of the Foundation for
Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria, FEHN, Mr. Allen
Onyema, said Iyabo should not be
castigated because “she knows her father
more than anyone else.”
Onyema, who said that Obasanjo’s 18-
page letter to President Goodluck Jonathan
last week was capable of whipping up
sentiments that can lead to civil war, added
that Nigerians do not need Iyabo’s letter to
know that Obasanjo “has nothing to offer
Nigeria now than instability.”
Onyema said: “The man was playing with
treason. Imagine an old man trying to whip
up sentiments that can lead to war.
“Obasanjo’s public letter to President
Jonathan is absurd because he did worse
things when he was President.”

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.. So she actual wrote the letter? wonder shall never cease...like father like daughter smh

scantee: .. So she actual wrote the letter? wonder shall never cease...like father like daughter smh

our people say when u point ur finger, remember 4 more pointing back at u. OBJ got what he deserved cos u don´t go putting fire out of anoda man´s house when ur house is burning with an even bigger fire

If she wrote it, it serves her father right!

Yet, its truly a family and private affair since both are civilians NOT in government! Aside from the scandal value, its meaningless and outside the purveiw of the public!

Still, God will continue to humiliate all those who have been destroying Nigeria! I wish God ups it and has them sent to jail or worse

God is at work, one day, a son of one of the boko haram sponsor will come out publicly to expose his father,

A gooD HOME is better than the finest HOUSE on earth...do everything within your pOWER to build your HOME...by so doing,you will be far from DOOM...Anyways,Obasanjo's family rift is none of our business jere..all we anticipate right now is Nigeria's progress..

Who say make den intervene bfor? Den call dem? Den no go go sort dia own house issues too b4 sukin dia falling off eyes into anoda person's domestic issue

What amazed me most is that my Yoruba e-friends said they (Yoruba pple) are very respectful, that the letter was written by Reuben Abati or Doyin Okupe. But i thank God that there hypocrisy had been constantly exposed both in the Nigeria society and here on nairaland.

Iyabo Obasanjo is a God-sent at this time in Nigeria when the father is trying to ignite a fire that he will never be able to put out as soon as it starts 'blazing'. If only all Yorubas can have this gut and courage like Iyabo, this country wil be a better place.

We should not allow this old men that have put this country into this mess and underdelopment, to keep manipulating our future and destiny. In 5 to 10 year time they will all be gone (IBB, OBJ, Danjuma, Atiku, Clarke, madueke, etc.). They all have same thin in common, evil, destruction and wickedness. We should not allow them use their injury time on mother earth to injure we the youth of this country.

Where are the APC e-rats that said its Abati dat wrote the letter? Yeye dey smell.

if she truly wrote d missive, den y taking a bite on d president, his pple and by extension, d whole of Niger-Delta?
It is now obvious dat Uncle GEJ is not hated by some Nigerians because of "incompetence" like dey claim.
If any part of d country feels NigerDeltans are too minor to produce a leader for Nigeria (evendoh their son remains d best President to ever come out Nigeria), why cann't dey be human enof to let dem go in peace?
Shud Nigeria remain intact till 2015 and beyond, den dat FRESH AIR from GEJ's quaters will refresh Nigeria till 2019.
pls hit "like" in solidarity.