Iyabo Obasanjo letter to her father OBJ

Iyabo’s 11-page letter to her father,Gen. Obasanjo
“It brings me no joy to have to write this but since you
started this trend of open letters I thought I would
follow suit since you don’t listen to anyone anyway. The
only way to reach you may be to make the public aware
of some things. As a child well brought up by my long-
suffering mother in Yoruba tradition, I have been
reluctant to tell the truth about you but as it seems you
still continue to delude yourself about the kind of person
you are and I think for posterity’s sake it is time to set
the records straight.
“I will return to the issue of my long-suffering mother
later in this letter.
“Like most Nigerians, I believe there are very enormous
issues currently plaguing the country but I was surely
surprised that you will be the one to publish such a
treatise. I remember clearly as if it was yesterday the
day I came over to Abuja from Abeokuta when I was
Commissioner of Health in OgunState, specifically to
ask you not to continue to pursue the third term issue.
“I had tried to bring it up when your sycophantic aides
were present and they brushed my comments aside and
as usual you listened to their self-serving counsel. For
you to accuse someone else of what you so obviously
practiced yourself tells of your narcissistic
megalomaniac personality.
Everyone around for even a few minutes knows that
the only thing you respond to is praise and worship of
you. People have learnt how to manipulate you by giving
you what you crave. The only ones that can’t and will
not stroke your ego are family members who you
universally treat like shit (sic) apart from the few
who have learned to manipulate you like others.
“Before I continue, Nigerians are people who see
conspiracy and self-service in everything because I
think they believe everyone is like them. This letter is
not in support of President Jonathan or APC or any
other group or person, but an outpouring from my soul
to God. I don’t blame you for the many atrocities you
have been able to get away with, Nigerians were your
enablers every step of the way. People ultimately get
leaders that reflect them.
“Getting back to the story, I made sure your aides
were not around and brought up the issue, trying to
deliver the presentation of the issue as I had practiced
it in my head. I started with the fact that we copied the
US constitution which has term limits of two terms for
a President. As is your usual manner, you didn’t allow
me to finish my thought process and listen to my point
of view. Once I broached the subject you sat up and
said that the US had no term limits in the past but that
it had been introduced in the 1940s after the death of
President Roosevelt, which is true.
I wanted to say to you: when you copy something you
also copy the modifications based on the learning from
the original; only a fool starts from scratch and does
not base his decisions on the learning of others. In
science, we use the modifications found by others long
ago to the most recent, as the basis of new findings; not
going back to discover and learn what others have
learnt. Human knowledge and development and
civilization will not have progressed if each new
generation and society did not build on the knowledge
of others before them.
The American constitution itself is based on several
theories and philosophies of governance available in the
18th century. Democracy itself is a governance
method started by the ancient Greeks. America’s
founding fathers used it with modifications based on
what hadn’t worked well for the ancient Greeks and on
new theories since then.
“As usual in our conversations, I kept quiet because I
know you well. You weren’t going to change your
mind based on my intervention as you had already made
up your mind on the persuasion of the minions working
for you who were ripping the country blind. When I
spoke to you, your outward attitude to the people of the
country was that you were not interested in the third
term and that it was others pushing it. Your statement
to me that day proved to me that you were the brain
behind the third term debacle. It is therefore
outrageous that you accuse the current President of a
similar two-facedness that you yourself used against the
people of the country.
“I was on a plane trip between Abuja and Lagos around
the time of the third term issue and I sat next to one of
your sycophants on the plane. He told me: “Only
Obasanjo can rule Nigeria”. I replied: “God has not
created a country where only one person can rule. If
only one person can rule Nigeria then the whole
Nigeria project is not a viable one, as it will be a non-
sustainable project”
“I don’t know how you came about Yar’Adua as the
candidate for your party as it was not my priority or
job. Unlike you, I focus on the issues I have been given
responsibility over and not on the jobs of others. It was
the day of the PDP Presidential Campaign in Abeokuta
during the state-by-state tour of 2007 that Yar’Adua
got sick and had to be flown abroad. The MKO
Abiola Stadium was already filled with people by 9am
when I drove by (and) we had told people based on
the campaign schedule that the rally would start at
noon.
At 11 am I headed for the stadium on foot; it was a
short walk as there were so many cars already parked
in and out. As I walked on with two other people, we
saw crowds of people leaving the stadium. I recognized
some of them as politicians and I asked them why
people were leaving. They said the Presidential
candidate had died. I was alarmed and shocked. I
walked back home and received a call from a friend in
Lagos who said the same and added that he had died in
the plane carrying him abroad for treatment and that
the plane was on its way to Katsina to bury him.
I called you, and told you the information and that the
stadium was already half-empty. You told me to go to
the stadium and tell the people on the podium to
announce that the Presidential candidate had taken ill
that morning but the rest of the team, including you and
the Vice-Presidential candidate would arrive shortly. I
did as I was told, but even the people on the podium at
first didn’t make the announcement because they
thought it was true that Yar’Adua had died. I had to
take the microphone and make the announcement
myself. It did little good. People kept trooping out of
the stadium. Your team didn’t arrive until 4pm and by
this time we had just a sprinkling of people left.
That evening after the disaster of a rally, you said you
had insisted that the Presidential candidate fly to
Germany for a check-up although you said he only had
a cold. I asked why would anyone fly to Germany to
treat a cold? And you said “I would rather die than
have the man die at this time.”  I thought of this
profound statement as things later unfolded against me.
Then I thought it a stupid statement but as usual I kept
quiet, little did I know how your machinations for a
person would be used against me. When Yar’Adua
eventually died, you stayed alive, I would have expected
you to jump into his grave.
I left Nigeria in 1989 right after youth service to study
in the US and I visited in 1994 for a week and didn’t
visit again until your inauguration in 1999. In between,
you had been arrested by Abacha and jailed. We,
your children, had no one who stood with us. Stella
famously went around collecting money on your behalf
but we had no one. We survived. I was the only one
of the children working then as a post-doctoral fellow
when I got the call from a friend informing me of your
arrest.
A week before your arrest, you had called me from
Denmark and I had told you that you should be careful
that the government was very offended by some of your
statements and actions and may be planning to arrest
or kill you as was occurring to many at the time. The
source of my information was my mother who, agitated,
had called me, saying I should warn you as this was the
rumour in the country. As usual you brushed aside my
comments, shouting on the phone that they cannot try
anything and you will do and say as you please. The
consequence of your bravado is history.
We, your family, have borne the brunt of your direct
cruelty and also suffered the consequences of your
stupidity but got none of the benefits of your successes.
Of course, anyone around you knows how little respect
you have for your children.
You think our existence on earth is about you. By the
way, how many are we? 19, 20, 21? Do you even
know? In the last five years, how many of these
children have you spoken to? How many grandchildren
do you have and when did you last see each of them?
As President you would listen to advice of people that
never finished high school who would say anything to
keep having access to you so as to make money over
your children who loved you and genuinely wished you
well.
“At your first inauguration in 1999, I and my brothers
and sisters told you we were coming from the US. As
is usual with you, you made no arrangements for our
trip, instead our mom organized to meet each of us and
provided accommodation. At the actual swearing-in at
Eagle Square, the others decided to watch it on TV.
Instead I went to the square and I was pushed and
tossed by the crowd.
I managed to get in front of the crowd where I waved
and shouted at you as you and General Abdulsalam
Abubakar  walked past to go back to the VIP seating
area. I saw you mouth ‘my daughter’ to General
Abdullahi who was the one who pulled me out of the
crowd and gave me a seat. As I looked around I saw
Stella and Stella’s family prominently seated but none
of your children. I am sure General Abdullahi would
remember this incident and I am eternally grateful to
him.
Getting back to my mother, I still remember your
beating her up continually when we were kids. What
kids can forget that kind of violence against their
mother? Your maltreatment of women is legendary.
Many of your women have come out to denounce you
in public but since your madness is also part of the
madness of the society, it is the women that are usually
ignored and mistreated. Of course, you are the great
pretender, making people believe you have a good
family life and a good relationship with your children
but once in a while your pretence gets cracked.
When Gbenga gave a ride to help someone he didn’t
know but saw was in need and the person betrayed his
trust by tapping his candid response on the issues
going on between you and your then vice-president,
Atiku Abubakar, you had your aides go on air and
denounce the boy before you even spoke to him to find
out what happened. What kind of father does that?
Your atrocities to some of my other siblings I will let
them tell in their own due time or never if they choose.
Some of the details of our life are public but the people
choose to ignore it and pretended we enjoyed some
largesse when you were President.
This punishing the innocent is part of Nigeria’s
continuing sins against God. While you were military
head of state and lived in Dodan Barracks, we stayed
either with our mum in the two-bedroom apartment
provided for her by General Murtala Mohammed or
with your relatives, Bose, Yemisi and your sisters’ kids
in the Boys Quarters of Dodan Barracks. At
QueensCollege, I remember being too ashamed to tell
my wealthy classmates from Queen’s College, Lagos we
lived in the two room Boys Quarters or in the two
room flat on Lawrence Street.
No, we did not have privileged upbringing but our
mother emphasized education and that has been our
salvation. Of my mother’s 6 children 4 have PhDs.
Of the two without PhD, one has a Master’s and the
other is an engineer. They are no slouches. Education
provided a way to make our way in the world.
You are one of those petty people who think the
progress and success of another takes from you. You
try to overshadow everyone around you, before you
and after you. You are the prototypical “Mr. Know
it all”. You’ve never said “I don’t know” on any topic,
ever. Of course this means you surround yourself
with idiots who will agree with you on anything and
need you for financial gain and you need them for your
insatiable ego. This your attitude is a reflection of the
country. It is not certain which came first, your attitude
seeping into the country’s psyche or the country
accepting your irresponsible behavior for so long.
Like you and your minions, it’s a symbiotic relationship.
Nigeria has descended into a hellish reality where
smart, capable people to “survive” and have their daily
bread prostrate to imbeciles. Everybody trying to pull
everybody else down with greed and selfishness — the
only traits that gets you anywhere. Money must be
had and money and power is king. Even the supposed
down-trodden agree with this.
Nigeria accused me of fraud with the Ministry of
Health. As you yourself know, both in Abeokuta and
Abuja I lived in your houses as a Senator. In Lagos, I
stayed in my mum’s bungalow which she succeeded in
getting from you when you abandoned her with six
children to live in Abeokuta with Stella.
I borrowed against my four-year Senate salary to build
the only house I have anywhere in the world in Lagos. I
rent out the house for income. I don’t have much in
terms of money but I am extremely happy. I tried to
contribute my part to the development of my country
but the country decided it didn’t need me. Like many
educated Nigerians my age, there are countries that
actually value people doing their best to contribute to
society and as many of them have scattered all over the
world so have many of your children.
I can speak for myself and many of them; what they are
running away from is that they can’t even contribute
effectively at the same time as they have to deal with
constant threats to their lives by miscreants the society
failed to educate; deal with lack of electricity and air
pollution resulting from each household generating its
own electricity, and the lack of quality healthcare or
education and a total lack of sense of responsibility of
almost every person you meet. Your contribution to
this scenario cannot be overestimated.
You and your cronies mentioned in your letter have
left the country worse than you met it at your births in
the 1930’s and 1940’s. Nigeria is not the creation of
any of you, and although you feel you own it and are
“Mr Nigeria” deciding whether the country stays
together or not, and who rules it; you don’t. Nigeria is
solely the creation of the British. My dear gone
Grandmother whose burial you told people not to
attend, was not born a Nigerian but a proud Ijebu-
Yoruba woman. Togetherness is a choice and it must
serve a purpose.
As for Nigerians thinking I have their money, when it
was obvious I was part of the Yar’Adua
(government’s) anti-Obasanjo phenomenon that was
going on at the time. The Ministry of Health and
international NGOs paid for a retreat for the Senate
Committee on Health. The House Committee on
Health was treated exactly the same way. The monies
were given to members as estacode and the rest used
for accommodation, flights and feeding. While the
Senate was on the retreat in Ghana, the EFCC
asked the House Committee to return the monies they
received for their retreat and asked us in the Senate
to return ours on our return which I refused, as it was
already used for the purpose it was earmarked for in
the budget that year which was to work on the National
Health Bill.
The House Committee had not gone on their retreat. I
did nothing wrong and my colleagues and I on the
retreat did our work conscientiously. I asked the
EFCC not to drag my colleagues into it and I am
proud I suffered alone. As is usual in a society where
people who are not progressive but take pleasure in the
pain of others, most Nigerians were happy, not looking
at the facts of the matter, just the suffering of an
Obasanjo.
As the people that stole their millions are hailed by
them the innocent is punished. When the court case
was thrown out because it lacked merit even against the
Minister, no newspaper carried the news. The
wrongful malicious prosecution of an Obasanjo was not
something they wanted to report; just her downfall.
But it really wasn’t about me, it was about right and
wrong in society and every society gets the fruit of the
seeds it sows.
How do you think God will provide good leaders to
such a people? God helps those who help themselves.
I have realized that as an Obasanjo I am not entitled to
work in Nigeria in any capacity. I am not entitled to
work in health which is my training, or in any field or
anywhere in the country or participate in any business.
I have learnt this lesson well and there are societies that
actually think capable, well-educated people are
important to their society’s progress. Apparently,
unless I am eating from the dustbin, Nigerians and
possibly you will not be satisfied. I thank God it has
not come to that based on God-given brains and
brawn.
When I left Nigeria in 1989 for graduate studies in
America, you promised to pay my school fees and no
living expenses. This you did and I am grateful for
because, working in the kitchen and then the library at
University of California, Davis and later, working on
the IT desk and later as a Teaching Assistant at Cornell
gave me valuable work ethics for life. I wouldn’t have it
any other way. As a black woman in the early 21st
century, I have achieved much and done more than
most. My wish is that black girls all over the world will
have the capacity to create their lives, make mistakes,
learn from it and move ahead.
Moving back to Nigeria, thinking I wanted to serve
was obviously a grave mistake but one brought about by
the tragic incident of April 20, 2003. This was the
day five people were shot dead in my car. The mother
of the children was an acquaintance I had met only one
day before the incident.
We had attended the same high school and university
but she was there ten years earlier than I. She had
also studied public health in the UK as I had in the
US. It was these coincidences that made us connect on
our first meeting and then she decided to visit on the
Saturday of the election of 2003 when the incident
occurred. I am scarred for life by that incident and I
know the mother was too as we both looked back to see
two men on each side of my car shooting.
I understand her trauma and her behaviour since then
can be judged from that. Nigeria is a nasty place that
pushes people to lose their compass. I participated in
the campaigns leading to the elections that day, more
because this was my first experience of electoral
process in Nigeria. Growing up there were no
elections and I was too young in the 1979 and 1983
elections. It was interesting to see democracy at work.
When Gbenga Daniel who I campaigned for offered
me a job, I probably would have declined it, if not for
the memory of the dead.
I felt I had to engage in making the country progress
and to avoid such incidences in the future. I don’t need
to tell you or anyone what kind of governor and person
Gbenga Daniel is. As usual when I found out, you
would not listen to my opinion but found out for
yourself. I also campaigned for Amosun for the Senate
in 2003. I have had some wonderful Nigerians do
good to me, I will never forget the then Minister of
Women Affairs, who saw me talking in the crowd at a
campaign event and was alarmed and said “bad things
can happen to you out there, I will give you one of the
orderlies assigned to my office to follow you”. This was
the police man that died in my car that day. I never
really thought bad things would happen to me, I moved
around freely in society until that shooting scarred me
and I accepted a police detail. I was constantly scared
for my life after that.
You called me after your vengeful letter as usual,
looking out for yourself and thinking you will bribe me
by saying the APC will use me for the Senate. Do
you really know me and what I want out of life?
Anyone that knows me knows I am done with anything
political or otherwise in Nigeria. I have so much to do
and think to make this world a better place than to
waste it on fighting with idiots over a political post that
does no good to society. That letter you wrote to the
President, would you have tolerated such a letter as a
sitting President? Don’t do to others what you will not
allow to be done to you. The only thing I was using that
was yours was the house in Abuja where I left my things
when I left the country. I eventually rented it out so that
the place would not fall apart but as usual you want to
take that as well. You can’t have it without explaining
to Nigerians how you came about the house?
As I said earlier, this is not about politics but my
frustration with you as a father and a human being. I
am not involved with what is currently going on in
Nigeria, I don’t talk to any Nigerian other than friends
on social basis. I am not involved with any political
groups or affiliation. You mentioned Governor
Osoba when you spoke to me, yes I was walking down
the street of Cambridge, Massachussets a few months
ago, when I looked up and saw him reading a map
trying to cross the street.
I greeted him warmly and offered to give him a ride to
where he was going. This I did not do because I wanted
anything from him politically but because that is how I
was raised by my mother to treat an adult who I really
had no ill-will towards. Some said he was part of the
people that manipulated the elections for me to lose in
2011. I don’t have any ill-will to him for that because I
think they did me a favour and someone has to win and
lose.
I had told you I wasn’t going to run in 2011 but you
manipulated me to run; that was my mistake. Losing was
a blessing. As usual you wanted me to run for your
self-serving purpose to perpetuate your name in the
political realm and as the liar that you are, you later
denied that it was you who wanted me to run in 2011.
In 2003 I ran because I wanted to and I thought getting
to the central government I will be able to contribute
more to improving lives and working on legislation that
impacts the country. I found that nothing gets done;
every public official in Nigeria is working for himself
and no one really is serving the public or the country.
The whole system, including the public themselves want
oppressors, not people working for their collective
progress. When no one is planning the future of a
country, such a country can have no future. I won’t be
your legacy, let your legacy be Nigeria in the fractured
state you created because, it was always your way or
the highway.
This is the end of my communication with you for life. I
pray Nigeria survives your continual intervention in its
affairs.
Sincerely,
Iyabo Obasanjo, DVM, PhD
Massachusetts,
USA.

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