₦airaland Forum

By Saharareporters, New York
SaharaReporters has learned that former
Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, the first daughter
of President Olusegun Obasanjo, has
refused to denounce or deny her authorship
of a blistering letter in which she
characterized her father, among other
unflattering epithets, as a liar, hypocrite,
manipulator and opportunist. A source close
to Mr. Obasanjo told our correspondent that
Ms. Obasanjo had so far defied pressures
from friends and family to state that she
was not the writer of the letter or that she
did not share the views expressed in it.
SaharaReporters also discovered that Ms.
Obasanjo, who currently resides in the State
of Massachusetts, has refused to take phone
calls from the press. Instead, she has only
accepted calls from a select few people
whose caller IDs she knows, according to a
friend knowledgeable about her movement
today.
The friend also disclosed that Ms. Obasanjo
had virtually stopped taking calls on her cell
phone, except from members of a small
inner circle. Part of her plan was to thwart
relatives and friends of her father who had
been sent on a mission to convince her to
dissociate herself from the content of the
explosive letter in order to save her father’s
image. Our source revealed that the former
senator’s cell phone rang incessantly all day
yesterday, but was hardly answered. Our
correspondent ascertained that Ms.
Obasanjo’s voice message box was full,
making it impossible for callers to leave her
any messages.
Since the letter was published yesterday,
several blogs have claimed that Ms. Obasanjo
had denied writing it, an assertion that
SaharaReporters determined to be
completely false.
Several sources at Vanguard newspaper told
SaharaReporters that former President
Obasanjo’s daughter spoke twice yesterday
with editors of the paper and stood by her
letter. One source added that the former
senator also agreed to let the paper release
a tape of her confirmation should the need
arise.
Late yesterday, SaharaReporters contacted
the Harvard University Advanced Leadership
Initiative where Ms. Obasanjo is a fellow.
Speaking to our reporter, John Kendzior, a
director of the program, confirmed that Ms.
Obasanjo was in Boston and enrolled in the
program. He asked our correspondent to
send an email to be forwarded to her for
response. However, Ms. Obasanjo did not
respond to an email we sent via the director.
Nor did she respond to several text
messages to her mobile phone.
The fallout between Mr. Obasanjo and his
daughter is the latest in a long-running feud
between the former president and several
members of his immediate family. Several
years ago, Gbenga, Mr. Obasanjo’s first son,
made shocking claims in a divorce filing to
the effect that his father slept with his
estranged wife. The former president’s first
wife, Oluremi Obasanjo, who is the mother
of both Iyabo and Gbenga, also wrote a
scathing tell-all memoir titled Bitter-Sweet:
My Life With Obasanjo. In the book, Mrs.
Obasanjo accused her former husband of
physical and emotional assaults as well as
philandering.
Former President Obasanjo has come under
sharp attacks from aides of President
Goodluck Jonathan after the former wrote
an open letter accused Mr. Jonathan of
deception, encouragement of corruption,
and the undermining of Nigeria’s
democracy.Source:
saharareporters.com/news-page/iyabo-obasanjo-refuses-deny-authorship-letter-her-father