Jonathan replies Obasanjo

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?
The allegation of training snipers to assassinate
political opponents is particularly
incomprehensible to me. Since I started my
political career as a Deputy Governor, I have
never been associated with any form of political
violence. I have been a President for over three
years now, with a lot of challenges and opposition
mainly from the high and mighty. There have
certainly been cases of political assassination
since the advent of our Fourth Republic, but as
you well know, none of them occurred under my
leadership.
Regarding the over one thousand people you say
are on a political watch list, I urge you to kindly
tell Nigerians who they are and what agencies of
government are “watching” them. Your
allegation that I am using security operatives to
harass people is also baseless. Nigerians are
waiting for your evidence of proof. That was an
accusation made against previous administrations,
including yours, but it is certainly not my style
and will never be. Again, if you insist on the
spurious claim that some of your relatives and
friends are being harassed, I urge you to name
them and tell Nigerians what agencies of my
administration are harassing them.
I also find it difficult to believe that you will
accuse me of assisting murderers, or assigning a
presidential delegation to welcome a murderer.
This is a most unconscionable and untrue
allegation. It is incumbent on me to remind you
that I am fully conscious of the dictates of my
responsibilities to God and our dear nation. It is
my hope that devious elements will not take
advantage of your baseless allegation to engage in
brazen and wanton assassination of high profile
politicians as before, hiding under the alibi your
“open letter” has provided for them.
Nevertheless, I have directed the security
agencies and requested the National Human
Rights Commission to carry out a thorough
investigation of these criminal allegations and
make their findings public.
That corruption is an issue in Nigeria is
indisputable. It has been with us for many years.
You will recall that your kinsman, the renowned
afro-beat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti famously
sang about it during your first stint as Head of
State. Sonny Okosun also sang about
corruption. And as you may recall, a number of
Army Generals were to be retired because of
corruption before the Dimka coup. Also, the
late General Murtala Mohammed himself
wanted to retire some top people in his cabinet
on corruption-related issues before he was
assassinated. Even in this Fourth Republic, the
Siemens and Halliburton scandals are well
known.
The seed of corruption in this country was
planted a long time ago, but we are doing all that
we can to drastically reduce its debilitating
effects on national development and progress. I
have been strengthening the institutions
established to fight corruption. I will not shield
any government official or private individual
involved in corruption, but I must follow due
process in all that I do. And whenever clear
cases of corruption or fraud have been
established, my administration has always taken
prompt action in keeping with the dictates of
extant laws and procedures. You cannot claim to
be unaware of the fact that several highly placed
persons in our country, including sons of some of
our party leaders are currently facing trial for
their involvement in the celebrated subsidy scam
affair. I can hardly be blamed if the wheels of
justice still grind very slowly in our country, but
we are doing our best to support and encourage
the judiciary to quicken the pace of adjudication
in cases of corruption.
Baba, I am amazed that with all the knowledge
garnered from your many years at the highest
level of governance in our country, you could still
believe the spurious allegation contained in a
letter written to me by the Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and
surreptitiously obtained by you, alleging that
USD49.8 billion, a sum equal to our entire
national budget for two years, is “unaccounted
for” by the NNPC. Since, as President, you also
served for many years as Minister of Petroleum
Resources, you very well know the workings of
the corporation. It is therefore intriguing that
you have made such an assertion. You made a
lot of insinuations about oil theft, shady dealings
at the NNPC and the NNPC not remitting the
full proceeds of oil sales to the of CBN. Now
that the main source of the allegations which you
rehashed has publicly stated that he was
“misconstrued”, perhaps you will find it in your
heart to apologize for misleading unwary
Nigerians and impugning the integrity of my
administration on that score.
Your claim of “Atlantic Oil loading about 130,
000 barrels sold by Shell and managed on
behalf of NPDC with no sale proceeds paid into
the NPDC account” is also disjointed and
baseless because no such arrangement as you
described exists between Atlantic Oil and the
Nigeria Petroleum Development Company.
NPDC currently produces about 138, 000
barrels of oil per day from over 7 producing
assets. The Crude Oil Marketing Division
(COMD) of the NNPC markets all of this
production on behalf of NPDC with proceeds
paid into NPDC account.
I am really shocked that with all avenues open to
you as a former Head of State for the
verification of any information you have received
about state affairs, you chose to go public with
allegations of “high corruption” without offering
a shred of supporting evidence. One of your
political “sons” similarly alleged recently that he
told me of a minister who received a bribe of
$250 Million from an oil company and I did
nothing about it. He may have been playing from
a shared script, but we have not heard from him
again since he was challenged to name the
minister involved and provide the evidence to
back his claim. I urge you, in the same vein, to
furnish me with the names, facts and figures of a
single verifiable case of the “high corruption”
which you say stinks all around my administration
and see whether the corrective action you
advocate does not follow promptly. And while
you are at it, you may also wish to tell Nigerians
the true story of questionable waivers of
signature bonuses between 2000 and 2007.
While, by the Grace of God Almighty, I am the
first President from a minority group, I am never
unmindful of the fact that I was elected leader of
the whole of Nigeria and I have always acted in
the best interest of all Nigerians. You referred
to the divisive actions and inflammatory
utterances of some individuals from the South-
South and asserted that I have done nothing to
call them to order or distance myself from their
ethnic chauvinism. Again that is very untrue. I
am as committed to the unity of this country as
any patriot can be and I have publicly declared on
many occasions that no person who threatens
other Nigerians or parts of the country is acting
on my behalf.
It is very regrettable that in your letter, you seem
to place sole responsibility for the ongoing
intrigues and tensions in the PDP at my doorstep,
and going on from that position, you direct all
your appeals for a resolution at me. Baba, let us
all be truthful to ourselves, God and posterity.
At the heart of all the current troubles in our
party and the larger polity is the unbridled
jostling and positioning for personal or group
advantage ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The “bitterness, anger, mistrust, fear and deep
suspicion” you wrote about all flow from this
singular factor.
It is indeed very unfortunate that the seeming
crisis in the party was instigated by a few senior
members of the party, including you. But, as
leader of the party, I will continue to do my best
to unite it so that we can move forward with
strength and unity of purpose. The PDP has
always recovered from previous crises with
renewed vigour and vitality. I am very optimistic
that that will be the case again this time. The PDP
will overcome any temporary setback, remain a
strong party and even grow stronger.
Instigating people to cause problems and
disaffection within the party is something that you
are certainly familiar with. You will recall that
founding fathers of the Party were frustrated out
of the Party at a time. Late Chief Sunday
Awoniyi was pushed out, Late Chief Solomon
Lar left and later came back, Chief Audu Ogbeh
and Chief Tom Ikimi also left. Chief
Okwesilieze Nwodo left and later came back. In
2005/2006, link-men were sent to take over
party structures from PDP Governors in an
unveiled attempt to undermine the state
governors. In spite of that, the Governors did
not leave the Party because nobody instigated and
encouraged them to do so.
The charge that I was involved in anti-party
activities in governorship elections in Edo,
Ondo, Lagos, and Anambra States is also very
unfortunate. I relate with all Governors
irrespective of political party affiliation but I have
not worked against the interest of the PDP.
What I have not done is to influence the electoral
process to favour our Party. You were definitely
never so inclined, since you openly boasted in
your letter of how you supported Alhaji Shehu
Shagari against Chief Obafemi Awolowo,
Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe and others in the 1979
presidential elections while serving as a military
Head of State. You and I clearly differ in this
regard, because as the President of Nigeria, I
believe it is my duty and responsibility to create a
level playing field for all parties and all
candidates.
Recalling how the PDP lost in states where we
were very strong in 2003 and 2007 such as
Edo, Ondo, Imo, Bauchi, Anambra, and Borno,
longstanding members of our great party with
good memory will also consider the charge of
anti-party activities you made against me as
misdirected and hugely hypocritical. It certainly
was not Goodluck Jonathan’s “personal
ambition or selfish interest” that caused the PDP
to lose the governorship of Ogun State and all
its senatorial seats in the last general elections.
You quoted me as saying that I have not told
anybody that I will seek another term in office in
2015. You and your ambitious acolytes within
the party have clearly decided to act on your
conclusion that “only a fool will believe that
statement” and embark on a virulent campaign to
harass me out of an undeclared candidature for
the 2015 presidential elections so as to pave the
way for a successor anointed by you.
You will recall that you serially advised me that
we should refrain from discussing the 2015
general elections for now so as not to distract
elected public officials from urgent task of
governance. While you have apparently moved
away from that position, I am still of the
considered opinion that it would have been best
for us to do all that is necessary to refrain from
heating up the polity at this time. Accordingly, I
have already informed Nigerians that I will only
speak on whether or not I will seek a second term
when it is time for such declarations. Your
claims about discussions I had with you,
Governor Gabriel Suswam and others are
wrong, but in keeping with my declared stance, I
will reserve further comments until the
appropriate time.
Your allegation that I asked half a dozen African
Presidents to speak to you about my alleged
ambition for 2015, is also untrue. I have never
requested any African President to discuss with
you on my behalf. In our discussion, I mentioned
to you that four Presidents told me that they were
concerned about the political situation in Nigeria
and intended to talk to you about it. So far, only
three of them have confirmed to me that they
have had any discussion with you. If I made such
a request, why would I deny it?
The issue of Buruji Kashamu is one of those lies
that should not be associated with a former
President. The allegation that I am imposing
Kashamu on the South-West is most unfortunate
and regrettable. I do not even impose Party
officials in my home state of Bayelsa and there is
no zone in this country where I have imposed
officials. So why would I do so in the South
West? Baba, in the light of Buruji’s detailed
public response to your “open letter”, it will be
charitable for you to render an apology to
Nigerians and I.
On the issue of investors being scared to come
to Nigeria, economic dormancy, and stagnation, I
will just refer you to FDI statistics from 2000 to
2013. Within the last three years, Nigeria has
emerged as the preferred destination for
investments in Africa, driven by successful
government policies to attract foreign investors.
For the second year running, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Investments
(UNCTAD) has ranked Nigeria as the
number one destination for investments in Africa,
and as having the fourth highest returns in the
world.
Today, Nigeria is holding 18 percent of all foreign
investments in Africa and 60 percent of all
foreign investments in the ECOWAS Sub-
Region. Kindly note also that in the seven years
between 2000 and 2007 when you were
President, Nigeria attracted a total of $24.9
Billion in FDI. As a result of our efforts which
you disparage, the country has seen an FDI
inflow of $25.7 Billion in just three years which
is more than double the FDI that has gone to the
second highest African destination. We have
also maintained an annual national economic
growth rate of close to seven per cent since the
inception of this administration. What then, is
the justification for your allegation of scared
investors and economic dormancy?
Although it was not emphasized in your letter of
December 2, 2013, you also conveyed, in
previous correspondence, the impression that
you were ignorant of the very notable
achievements of my administration in the area of
foreign relations. It is on record that under my
leadership, Nigeria has played a key role in
resolving the conflicts in Niger, Cote d’Ivoire,
Mali, Guinea Bissau and others.
The unproductive rivalry that existed between
Nigeria and some ECOWAS countries has
also been ended under my watch and Nigeria now
has better relations with all the ECOWAS
countries. At the African Union, we now have a
Commissioner at the AU Commission after
being without one for so long. We were in the
United Nations Security Council for the
2010/2011 Session and we have been voted in
again for the 2014/2015 Session. From
independence to 2010, we were in the U.N.
Security Council only three times but from
2010 to 2015, we will be there two times.
This did not happen by chance. My
Administration worked hard for it and we
continue to maintain the best possible relations
with all centres of global political and economic
power. I find it hard therefore, to believe your
assertions of untoward concern in the
international community over the state of
governance in Nigeria
With respect to the Brass and Olokola LNG
projects, you may have forgotten that though you
started these projects, Final Investment Decisions
were never reached. For your information,
NNPC has not withdrawn from either the
Olokola or the Brass LNG projects.
On the Rivers State Water Project, you were
misled by your informant. The Federal
Government under my watch has never directed
or instructed the Africa Development Bank to
put on hold any project to be executed in Rivers
state or any other State within the Federation.
The Rivers Water Project was not originally in
the borrowing plan but it was included in April
2013 and appraised in May. Negotiations are
ongoing with the AfDB. I have no doubt that
you are familiar with the entire process that
prefaces the signing of a Subsidiary Loan
Agreement as in this instance.
Let me assure you and all Nigerians that I do not
engage in negative political actions and will
never, as President, oppress the people of a
State or deprive them of much needed public
services as a result of political disagreement
I have noted your comments on the proposed
National Conference. Contrary to the
insinuation in your letter, the proposed
conference is aimed at bringing Nigerians
together to resolve contentious national issues in
a formal setting. This is a sure way of promoting
greater national consensus and unity, and not a
recipe for “disunity, confusion and chaos” as you
alleged in your letter.
Having twice held the high office of President,
Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I trust that you
will understand that I cannot possibly find the
time to offer a line-by-line response to all the
accusations and allegations made in your letter
while dealing with other pressing demands of
office and more urgent affairs of state.
I have tried, however, to respond to only the most
serious of the charges which question my
sincerity, personal honour, and commitment to
the oath which I have sworn, to always uphold and
protect the interests of all Nigerians, and
promote their well-being.
In closing, let me state that you have done me
grave injustice with your public letter in which
you wrongfully accused me of deceit, deception,
dishonesty, incompetence, clannishness,
divisiveness and insincerity, amongst other ills.
I have not, myself, ever claimed to be all-knowing
or infallible, but I have never taken Nigeria or
Nigerians for granted as you implied, and I will
continue to do my utmost to steer our ship of
state towards the brighter future to which we all
aspire.
Please accept the assurances of my highest
consideration and warm regards.
GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN

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