December 20th 2013
His Excellency,
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR
Agbe L’Oba House, Quarry Road,
Ibara, Abeokuta.

RE: BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

I wish to formally acknowledge your letter dated December 2, 2013 and other previous correspondence similar to it.

You will recall that all the letters were brought to me by hand. Although both of us discussed some of the issues in those letters, I had not, before now, seen the need for any formal reply since, to me, they contained advice from a former President to a serving President. Obviously, you felt differently because in your last letter, you complained about my not acknowledging or replying your previous letters.


It is with the greatest possible reluctance that I now write this reply. I am most uneasy about embarking on this unprecedented and unconventional form of open communication between me and a former leader of our country because I know that there are more acceptable and dignified means of doing so.

But I feel obliged to reply your letter for a number of reasons: one, you formally requested for a reply and not sending you one will be interpreted as ignoring a former President.

Secondly, Nigerians know the role you have played in my political life and given the unfortunate tone of your letter, clearly, the grapes have gone sour. Therefore, my side of the story also needs to be told.

The third reason why I must reply you in writing is that your letter is clearly a threat to national security as it may deliberately or inadvertently set the stage for subversion.

The fourth reason for this reply is that you raised very weighty issues, and since the letter has been made public, Nigerians are expressing legitimate concerns. A response from me therefore, becomes very necessary.

The fifth reason is that this letter may appear in biographies and other books which political commentators on Nigeria’s contemporary politics may write. It is only proper for such publications to include my comments on the issues raised in your letter.

Sixthly, you are very unique in terms of the governance of this country. You were a military Head of State for three years and eight months, and an elected President for eight years. That means you have been the Head of Government of Nigeria for about twelve years. This must have, presumably, exposed you to a lot of information. Thus when you make a statement, there is the tendency for people to take it seriously.

The seventh reason is that the timing of your letter coincided with other vicious releases. The Speaker of the House of Representatives spoke of my “body language” encouraging corruption. A letter written to me by the CBN Governor alleging that NNPC, within a period of 19 months did not remit the sum of USD49.8 billion to the federation account, was also deliberately leaked to the public.

The eighth reason is that it appears that your letter was designed to incite Nigerians from other geopolitical zones against me and also calculated to promote ethnic disharmony. Worse still, your letter was designed to instigate members of our Party, the PDP, against me.

The ninth reason is that your letter conveys to me the feeling that landmines have been laid for me. Therefore, Nigerians need to have my response to the issues raised before the mines explode.

The tenth and final reason why my reply is inevitable is that you have written similar letters and made public comments in reference to all former Presidents and Heads of Government starting from Alhaji Shehu Shagari and these have instigated different actions and reactions. The purpose and direction of your letter is distinctly ominous, and before it is too late, my clarifications on the issues need to be placed on record.

Let me now comment on the issues you raised. In commenting I wish to crave your indulgence to compare what is happening now to what took place before. This, I believe, will enable Nigerians see things in better perspective because we must know where we are coming from so as to appreciate where we now are, and to allow us clearly map out where we are going.

You raised concerns about the security situation in the country. I assure you that I am fully aware of the responsibility of government for ensuring the security of the lives and property of citizens. My Administration is working assiduously to overcome current national security challenges, the seeds of which were sown under previous administrations. There have been some setbacks; but certainly there have also been great successes in our efforts to overcome terrorism and insurgency.

Those who continue to down-play our successes in this regard, amongst whom you must now be numbered, appear to have conveniently forgotten the depths to which security in our country had plunged before now.

At a stage, almost the entire North-East of Nigeria was under siege by insurgents. Bombings of churches and public buildings in the North and the federal capital became an almost weekly occurrence. Our entire national security apparatus seemed nonplussed and unable to come to grips with the new threat posed by the berthing of terrorism on our shores.

But my administration has since brought that very unacceptable situation under significant control. We have overhauled our entire national security architecture, improved intelligence gathering, training, funding, logistical support to our armed forces and security agencies, and security collaboration with friendly countries with very visible and positive results.

The scope and impact of terrorist operations have been significantly reduced and efforts are underway to restore full normalcy to the most affected North Eastern region and initiate a post-crisis development agenda, including a special intervention programme to boost the region’s socio-economic progress.

In doing all this, we have kept our doors open for dialogue with the insurgents and their supporters through efforts such as the work of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and the Peaceful Resolution of the Security Challenges in the North-East. You also know that the Governor of Borno State provided the items you mentioned to me as carrots. Having done all this and more, it is interesting that you still accuse me of not acting on your hardly original recommendation that the carrot and stick option be deployed to solve the Boko Haram problem.

Your suggestion that we are pursuing a “war against violence without understanding the root causes of the violence and applying solutions to deal with all the underlying factors” is definitely misplaced because from the onset of this administration, we have been implementing a multifaceted strategy against militancy, insurgency and terrorism that includes poverty alleviation, economic development, education and social reforms.

Even though basic education is the constitutional responsibility of States, my administration has, as part of its efforts to address ignorance and poor education which have been identified as two of the factors responsible for making some of our youth easily available for use as cannon fodder by insurgents and terrorists, committed huge funds to the provision of modern basic education schools for the Almajiri in several Northern States. The Federal Government under my leadership has also set up nine additional universities in the Northern States and three in the Southern States in keeping with my belief that proper education is the surest way of emancipating and empowering our people.

More uncharitable persons may even see a touch of sanctimoniousness in your new belief in the carrot and stick approach to overcoming militancy and insurgency. You have always referred to how you hit Odi in Bayelsa State to curb militancy in the Niger Delta. If the invasion of Odi by the Army was the stick, I did not see the corresponding carrot. I was the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State then, and as I have always told you, the invasion of Odi did not solve any militancy problem but, to some extent, escalated it. If it had solved it, late President Yar’Adua would not have had to come up with the amnesty program. And while some elements of the problem may still be there, in general, the situation is reasonably better.

In terms of general insecurity in the country and particularly the crisis in the Niger Delta, 2007 was one of the worst periods in our history. You will recall three incidents that happened in 2007 which seemed to have been orchestrated to achieve sinister objectives. Here in Abuja, a petrol tanker loaded with explosives was to be rammed into the INEC building. But luckily for the country, an electric pole stopped the tanker from hitting the INEC building. It is clear that this incident was meant to exploit the general sense of insecurity in the nation at the time to achieve the aim of stopping the 2007 elections. It is instructive that you, on a number of occasions, alluded to this fact.

When that incident failed, an armed group invaded Yenagoa one evening with the intent to assassinate me. Luckily for me, they could not. They again attacked and bombed my country home on a night when I was expected in the village. Fortunately, as God would have it, I did not make the trip.

I recall that immediately after both incidents, I got calls expressing the concern of Abuja. But Baba, you know that despite the apparent concern of Abuja, no single arrest was ever made. I was then the Governor of Bayelsa State and the PDP Vice-Presidential candidate. The security people ordinarily should have unraveled the assassination attempt on me.

You also raised the issues of kidnapping, piracy and armed robbery. These are issues all Nigerians, including me are very concerned about. While we will continue to do our utmost best to reduce all forms of criminality to the barest minimum in our country, it is just as well to remind you that the first major case of kidnapping for ransom took place around 2006. And the Boko Haram crisis dates back to 2002. Goodluck Jonathan was not the President of the country then. Also, armed robbery started in this country immediately after the civil war and since then, it has been a problem to all succeeding governments. For a former Head of Government, who should know better, to present these problems as if they were creations of the Jonathan Administration is most uncharitable.

Having said that, let me remind you of some of the things we have done to curb violent crime in the country. We have reorganized the Nigerian Police Force and appointed a more dynamic leadership to oversee its affairs. We have also improved its manpower levels as well as funding, training and logistical support.

We have also increased the surveillance capabilities of the Police and provided its air-wing with thrice the number of helicopters it had before the inception of the present administration. The National Civil Defence and Security Corps has been armed to make it a much more effective ally of the police and other security agencies in the war against violent crime. At both domestic and international levels, we are doing everything possible to curb the proliferation of the small arms and light weapons with which armed robberies, kidnappings and piracy are perpetrated. We have also enhanced security at our borders to curb cross-border crimes.

We are aggressively addressing the challenge of crude oil theft in collaboration with the state Governors. In addition, the Federal Government has engaged the British and US governments for their support in the tracking of the proceeds from the purchase of stolen crude. Similarly, a regional Gulf of Guinea security strategy has been initiated to curb crude oil theft and piracy.

Perhaps the most invidious accusation in your letter is the allegation that I have placed over one thousand Nigerians on a political watch list, and that I am training snipers and other militia to assassinate people. Baba, I don’t know where you got that from but you do me grave injustice in not only lending credence to such baseless rumours, but also publicizing it. You mentioned God seventeen times in your letter. Can you as a Christian hold the Bible and say that you truly believe this allegation?

Sincere 9gerian: The HYPOCRISY of APC hoodlums cant get worse than this. What are supposed to do with the pictures of a governor and white men?

ROSSIKE: Not mad.... Just amused that in 2013 we still have slaves like you who feel ten feet tall when a white man visits them.

ROSSIKE: That's a surprise..... You've not posted him surrounded by white foreigners this time. Kudos to your newfound Pan-Africanism.

theoctopus:

Why do you actually care about PDP? Oh, I remember. Your leaders are actually poaching the same "devil party" members!

OBJ, IBB and Atiku are now progressives! Clap! Clap! Clap!

Sincere 9gerian:
The stakes are higher in this instance and there's every likelihood that the case can receive speedy hearing in the courts. In the Anambra elections, the pre-election matters that rocked the PDP, from high court through to appeal and supreme court, was determined in less in than 3 months.

theoctopus:

If it is a dead end, you shouldnt even bother with the thread. You should be celebrating with a bottle of wine. But, interestingly, you are here putting in so much effort to dispel it. Speaks volumes, if you ask me

theoctopus:

Nobody is threathening anyone. The case is in court and there is a precedence. Asking for redress from a court of law is not a threat. 2 ACN governors became govs through the courts. Amaechi became governor through a court. Your position is pure sentiments not fact. Let the courts do their job. I am only reminding Nigerians of that process.

Prof Corruption:

I am not here to debate who wins in 2015. You can open a new thread for that. I am here to show the futility, perhaps stupidity is a better word, of threatening legislators who defected to APC with legal action. It's a mere academic exercise.

Sincere 9gerian:
Any attempt to use threats of "break down of law and order" to intimidate the courts will not work. The courts are different arm of govt and should be allowed to discharge their responsibilities without fear or favour.

Anyway, the govt already knows the antics of APC and will quench any attempt to to cause breakdown of law and order with brute force. State of emergency and 24hrs curfew is another tool available to deal with any state where things go out of control. Civil war or peaceful disintegration will not be a bad option if some desperate opposition elements will not allow the courts perform its constitutional duties.

Rad1cal:

You are a child, leave this place quickly.

theoctopus:

You just displayed to everyone on this thread that you are probably a teenager. You should go read your books. This debate is too much for you. Thank you

ndu_chucks: The very court case which some people are citing to show that there was no 'faction' within PDP, is the same court case which proves that there was division within the same PDP.

I forgot to mention that nPDP took PDP to court to swear under oath that there is solidarity among PDP members and to show the world that there is no division within PDP.

nwanne m, odikwa risky

www.nairaland.com/attachments/229503_ROFLMAODog_gif3fa44b12f55ba64fc785c3a5794ba92e

Sincere 9gerian:
That too is in court. The court will have the final say. Just accept that all parties must accept the judgement in good fate when it is delivered. Propaganda and conspiracy theories will not fly after court pronouncement.

Sincere 9gerian:
The electoral act stipulates the definition of a faction. You cannot simply pull away from a party and claim you've formed a faction.

Anyway, the court will have the final say on both the issue of faction and defection.

Obiagu1: I can't wait for the sacking to begin.
2014 will indeed be an interesting year.

jmaine: When the times comes , the dance steps at the court house won't be influenced by the baseless lies and propaganda that there is division in the PDP . . .

I dey laff ooo !!

Shine It: @agbamental & Kairoseki77.

Bros, any news on how much Tinubu is making on this deal?

He said: “All these things that are happening now some of us predicted them long time ago, especially before the ranks of the PDP governors split just before the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF’s) election because we saw it all coming and we warned against some actions, but some of us were taken as enemies who wanted someone out of office either as chairman or whatever.

He said: “All these things that are happening now some of us predicted them long time ago, especially before the ranks of the PDP governors split just before the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF’s) election because we saw it all coming and we warned against some actions, but some of us were taken as enemies who wanted someone out of office either as chairman or whatever.

slimthugchimee: Why is it i only hear fashola is to ......... Fashola is to........... And i have never heard fashola unveils the......... Mtchwwww
owk God i beg yuo let this not reach fp cause e.fights will begin soon

Agu nnewi: ^^^^

Statement like yours makes me want to vomit my innards. You reek of hypocrisy.

BluIvy:

Mr do not spew your dreams trash based rubbish. The fact remains they are welfare states and Nigeria is not. They feed their poor whether in your dreams they will bomb out. Please Nigeria has been coming for the better half of the 21st century, they are still not there. You all continue to pour out like sickness induced vomit to get to other countries to make better life. So lets talk when they are bombed out for now, SA cannot be be more impoverished than Nigeria.

You must learn to answer to the question and not go on a tangent. You will be a certified failure in life if you continue
with answering what you jave not be asked! Olodo
By the way resiliance my azz, no investor choose a country to invest in based on resiliance but on how the government takes care of its citizen. No one wants starving workers who going turn and steal from his company to survive.

gsalvatore: So if someone does something wrong you then condone the person because he is your father... Obasanjo maltreated her mother even in the presence of the children, So iyabo should close her mouth just to be called a good girl? Hypocrites.

DerideGull: @OP

The “A” in APC should be replaced with “N” so they can finally and truthfully arrive at NPC, Northern Peoples Congress. The true colors of Muslims and northern regional elites are emerging finally.