A LETTER OF APPEAL TO PRESIDENT
GOODLUCK JONATHAN
December 2, 2013
His Excellency,
Dr. Goodluck E. Jonathan, GCFR,
President and Commander-in-Chief
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Presidential Villa,
Asokoro, Abuja.
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
I am constrained to make this an open letter to you for a number of
reasons. One, the current situation
and consequent possible outcome
dictate that I should, before the
door closes on reason and promotion of
national interest, alert you to the
danger that may be lurking in the
corner. Two, none of the four or more
letters that I have written to you
in the past two years or so has
elicited an acknowledgment nor any
response. Three, people close to you,
if not yourself, have been
asking, what does Obasanjo want?
Four, I could sense a semblance
between the situation that we are
gradually getting into and the situation
we fell into as a nation during the
Abacha era. Five, everything must be
done to guard, protect and defend our
fledgling democracy, nourish it
and prevent bloodshed. Six, we must
move away from advertently or
inadvertently dividing the country
along weak seams of North-South and
Christian-Moslem. Seven, nothing
should be done to allow the country
to degenerate into economic dormancy,
stagnation or retrogression.
Eight, some of our international
friends and development partners are
genuinely worried about signs and
signals that are coming out of
Nigeria. Nine, Nigeria should be in a
position to take advantage of the
present favourable international
interest to invest in Africa - an
opportunity that will not be open for
too long. Ten, I am concerned
about your legacy and your climb-down
which you alone can best be the
manager of, whenever you so decide.
Mr. President, you have on a number of
occasions acknowledged
the role God enabled me to play in
your ascension to power. You put
me third after God and your parents
among those that have impacted
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most on your life. I have always
retorted that God only put you where
you are and those that could be
regarded as having played a role were
only instruments of God to achieve
God’s purpose in your life. For me, I
believe that politically, it was in
the best interest of Nigeria that you, a
Nigerian from minority group in the
South could rise to the highest
pinnacle of political leadership. If
Obasanjo could get there, Yar’Adua
could get there and Jonathan can get
there, any Nigerian can. It is now
not a matter of the turn of any
section or geographical area but the best
interest of Nigeria and all
Nigerians. It has been proved that no group -
ethnic, linguistic, religious or
geographical location - has monopoly of
materials for leadership of our
country. And no group solely by itself
can crown any of its members the
Nigerian CEO. It is good for Nigeria.
I have also always told you that God
has graciously been kind,
generous, merciful and compassionate
to me and He has done more
than I could have ever hoped for. I
want nothing from you personally
except that you should run the
affairs of Nigeria not only to make Nigeria
good, but to make Nigeria great for
which I have always pleaded with
you and I will always do so. And it
is yet to be done for most Nigerians
to see.
For five capacities in which you find yourself, you must hold yourself
most significantly responsible for
what happens or fails to happen in Nigeria
and in any case most others will hold
you responsible and God who put you
there will surely hold you
responsible and accountable. I have had
opportunity, in recent times, to
interact closely with you and I have come to
the conclusion painfully or happily that
if you can shun yourself to a great
extent of personal and political
interests and dwell more on the national
interest and also draw the line
between advice from selfish and
self-centered aides and advice from
those who in the interest of the nation
may not tell you what you will want
to hear, it will be well. The five
positions which you share with nobody
except with God and which place
great and grave responsibility on you
are leadership of the ruling party,
headship of the Federal Government or
national government,
Commander-in-Chief of the Military,
Chief Security Officer of the nation,
and the political leader of the
country. Those positions go with being the
President of our country and while
depending on your disposition you can
delegate or devolve responsibility,
but the buck must stop on your table
whether you like it or not.
Let me start with the leadership of the ruling
party. Many of us were
puzzled over what was going on in the
party. Most party members blamed
the National Chairman. I understand
that some in the presidency tried to
create the impression that some of us
were to blame. The situation became
clear only when the National Chairman
spoke out that he never did
anything or acted in any way without
the approval or concurrence of the
Party Leader and that where the Party
Leader disapproved, he made
correction or amendment, that we
realised most actions were those of the
Chairman but the motivation and
direction were those of the Leader. It
would be unfair to continue to level
full blames on the Chairman for all that
goes wrong with the Party. The
Chairman is playing the tune dictated by
the Paymaster. But the Paymaster is
acting for a definitive purpose for
which deceit and deception seem to be
the major ingredients. Up till two
months ago, Mr. President, you told
me that you have not told anybody that
you would contest in 2015. I quickly
pointed out to you that the signs and
the measures on the ground do not tally
with your statement. You said the
same to one other person who shared
his observation with me. And only
a fool would believe that statement
you made to me judging by what is
going on. I must say that it is not
ingenious. You may wish to pursue a
more credible and more honourable
path. Although you have not formally
informed me one way or the other, it
will be necessary to refresh your
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memory of what transpired in 2011. I
had gone to Benue State for the
marriage of one of my staff, Vitalis
Ortese, in the State. Governor
Suswam was my hospitable host. He
told me that you had accepted a
one-term presidency to allow for ease
of getting support across the board
in the North. I decided to
cross-check with you. You did not hesitate to
confirm to me that you are a strong
believer in a one-term of six years for
the President and that by the time
you have used the unexpired time of
your predecessor and the four years
of your first term, you would have
almost used up to six years and you
would not need any more term or time.
Later, I heard from other sources
including sources close to you that you
made the same commitment elsewhere,
hence, my inclusion of it in my
Address at the finale of your
campaign in 2011 as follows:
“...PDP should be praised for being
the only party that enshrines federal
character, zoning and rotation in its
Constitution and practises it. PDP has
brought stability and substantial
predictability to the polity and to the system. I
do not know who will be President of
Nigeria after Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. That
is in the hand of God. But with PDP
policy and practice, I can reasonably guess
from where, in term of section of the
country, the successor to President
Jonathan will come. And no internal
democracy or competition will thereby be
destroyed. The recent resort to
sentiments and emotions of religion and
regionalism is self-serving,
unpatriotic and mischievous, to say the least. It is
also preying on dangerous emotive
issues that can ignite uncontrollable passion
and can distabilise if not destroy
our country. This is being oblivious of the
sacrifices others have made in the
past for unity, stability and democracy in
Nigeria in giving up their lives,
shedding their blood, and in going to prison. I
personally have done two out of those
three sacrifices and I am ready to do the
third if it will serve the best
interest of Nigerian dream. Let me appeal to those
who have embarked on this dangerous
road to reflect and desist from taking us
on a perishable journey. With common
identity as Nigerians, there is more that
binds us than separates us. I am a
Nigerian, born a Yoruba man, and I am
proud of both identities as they are
for me complementary. Our duties,
responsibilities and obligations to
our country as citizens and, indeed, as leaders
must go side by side with our rights
and demands. There must be certain
values and virtues that must go
concomitantly with our dream. Thomas Paine
said “my country is the world”; for
me, my country I hold dear.
On two occasions, I have had
opportunity to work for my successors to the
government of Nigeria. On both
occasions, I never took the easy and
distabilising route of ethnic,
regional or religious consideration rather I took the
enduring route of national, uniting
and stabilising route. I worked for both
President Shagari and President
Yar’Adua to succeed me not just because they
are Moslems, Northerners or
Hausa-Fulani, but because they could strengthen
the unity, stability and democracy in
Nigeria. We incurred the displeasure of
ethnic chauvinists for doing what was
right for the country. That is in the nature
of burden of leadership. A leader
must lead, no matter whose ox is gored.
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In the present circumstance, let me
reiterate what I have said on a number of
occasions. Electing Dr. Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan, in his own right and on his
own merit, as the President of
Nigeria will enhance and strengthen our unity,
stability and democracy. And it will
lead us towards the achievement of our
Nigerian dream.
There is press report that Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan has already taken a unique and
unprecedented step of declaring that
he would only want to be a one-term
President. If so, whether we know it
or not, that is a sacrifice and it is
statesmanly. Rather than vilify him
and pull him down, we, as a Party, should
applaud and commend him and Nigerians
should reward and venerate him. He
has taken the first good step.
Let us encourage him to take more
good steps by voting him in with landslide
victory as the fourth elected
President of Nigeria on the basis of our common
Nigerian identity and for the purpose
of actualising Nigerian dream...”
When you won the election, one of the issues
you very early pursued
was that of one term of six years.
That convinced me that you meant what
you told me before my Speech at the
campaign. Mr. President, whatever
may be your intention or plan, I
cannot comment much on the constitutional
aspect of your second term or what
some people call third term. That is
for both legal and judicial
attention. But if constitutionally you are on a
strong wicket if you so decide, it
will be fatally morally flawed. As a leader,
two things you must cherish and hold
dear among others are trust and
honour both of which are important
ingredients of character. I will want to
see anyone in the Office of the
Presidency of Nigeria as a man or woman
who can be trusted, a person of
honour in his words and character. I will
respect you for upholding these
attributes and for dignifying that Office.
Chinua Achebe said, “One of the
truest test of integrity is its blunt refusal to
be compromised.” It is a lesson for
all leaders including you and me.
However, Mr. President, let me hope
that as you claimed that you have not
told anybody that you are contesting
and that what we see and hear is a
rumbling of overzealous aides, you
will remain a leader that can be
believed and trusted without unduly
passing the buck or engaging in game
of denials.
Maybe you also need to know that many party
members feel
disappointed in the double game you
were alleged to play in support of
party gubernatorial candidates in
some States where you surreptitiously
supported non-PDP candidates against
PDP candidates in exchange for
promise or act of those non-PDP
Governors supporting you for your
election in the past or for the one
that you are yet to formally declare. It
6
happened in Lagos in 2011 when Bola
Tinubu was nocturnally brought to
Abuja to strike a deal for support
for your personal election at great price
materially and in the fortune of PDP
gubernatorial candidate. As
Chairman of BOT, I spoke to you at
that time. It happened in Ondo State
where there was in addition evidence
of cover-up and non-prosecution of
fraud of fake security report against
the non-PDP candidate and his
collaborators for the purpose of
extracting personal electoral advantage for
you. In fact, I have raised with you
the story of those in other States in the
South-West where some disgruntled PDP
members were going around to
recruit people into the Labour Party
for you, because, for electoral purpose
at the national level, Labour Party
will have no candidate but you. It also
happened in Edo State and those who
know the detail never stopped
talking about it. And you know it.
Ditto in Anambra State with the fiasco
coming from undue interference. If
you as leader of the Party cannot be
seen to be loyal to the PDP in
support of the candidates of the Party and
the interests of such Party
candidates have to be sacrificed on the altar of
your personal and political interest,
then good luck to the Party and I will
also say as I have had occasions to
say in the past, good luck to Goodluck.
If on the altar of the Party you go
for broke, the Party may be broken
beyond repairs. And when in a dispute
between two sides, they both
stubbornly decide to fight to the
last drop of blood, no one knows whose
blood would be the last to drop. In
such a situation, Nigeria as a nation
may also be adversely affected, not
just the PDP. I wish to see no more
bloodshed occasioned by politics in
Nigeria. Please, Mr. President, be
mindful of that. You were exemplary
in words when during the campaign
and the 2011 elections, you said, “My
election is not worth spilling the blood
of any Nigerian.” From you, it should
not be if it has to be, let it be. It
should be from you, let peace,
security, harmony, good governance,
development and progress be for
Nigeria. That is also your responsibility
and mandate. You can do it and I
plead that you do it. We all have to be
mindful of not securing pyrrhic
victory on the ashes of great values,
attributes and issues that matter as
it would amount to hollow victory
without honour and integrity.
Whatever may be the feud in PDP and no matter
what you or your
aides may feel, you, as the Party
Leader, have the responsibility to find
solution, resolve and fix it. Your
legacy is involved. If PDP as a ruling
Party collapses, it will be the first
time in an independent Nigeria that a
ruling political party would collapse
not as a result of a military coup. It is
food for thought. At the prompting of
Governors on both sides of the
7
divide, and on encouragement from
you, I spent two nights to intervene in
the dispute of the PDP Governors. I
kept you fully briefed at every stage.
I deliberately chose Banquet Hall at
the Villa to ensure transparency. Your
aides studied all the recordings of
the two nights. But I told you at the end
of the exercise that I observed five
reactions among the Governors that
required your immediate attention as
you are the only one from the vantage
point of your five positions that
could deal effectively with the five reactions
which were bitterness, anger,
mistrust, fear and deep suspicion. I could
only hope that you made efforts to
deal with these unpleasant reactions.
The feud leading to the
factionalisation of the Party made me to invite some
select elders of the Party to mediate
again. Since I was engaged in
assignment outside the country, I was
not able to join the three members of
the elders group that presented the
report of our mediation to you. I was
briefed that you agreed to work on
the report. It would appear that for
now, the ball is in your court as the
Leader of the Party. I can only wish
you every success in your handling of
the issue. But time is not your
friend nor that of the Party in this
respect. With leadership come not just
power and authority to do and to
undo, but also responsibility and
accountability to do and to undo
rightly, well and justly. Time and
opportunity are treasure that must be
appreciated and shared to enhance
their value and utilitarianism.
It is instructive that after half a dozen
African Presidents have spoken
to me to help you with unifying the
Party based on your request to them
and I came in company of Senator
Amadu Ali to discuss the whole issue
with you again, strangely, you denied
ever requesting or authorising any
President to talk to me. I was not
surprised because I am used to such a
situation of denial coming from you.
Of course, I was not deterred. I have
done and I will continue to do and
say what is first, in the best interest of
Nigeria and second, what is in the
best interest of the Party. I stand for the
aims, objectives, mission and vision
of the founding fathers of the Party, to
use it as a wholesome instrument of
unity, good governance, development,
prosperity and progress of Nigeria
and all Nigerians. I have contributed to
this goal in the past and no one who
has been raised to position on the
platform of the Party should shy away
from further contribution to avoid
division and destruction of the Party
on any altar whatsoever.
Debates and dialogues are necessary to promote
the interest and
work for the progress of any human
institution or organisation. In such a
situation, agreements and
disagreements will occur but in the final analysis,
8
leadership will pursue the course of
action that benefit the majority and
serve the purpose of the organisation,
not the purpose of an individual or a
minority. In that process, unity is
sustained and everybody becomes a
winner. The so-called crisis in the
PDP can be turned to an opportunity of
unity, mutual understanding and
respect with the Party emerging with
enhanced strength and victory. It
will be a win-win for all members of the
Party and for the country. By that,
PDP would have proved that it could
have internal disagreement and emerge
stronger. The calamity of failure
can still be avoided. Please, move
away from fringes or the extremes and
move to the centre and carry ALL
along. Time is running out.
I will only state that as far as your
responsibility as Chief Security
Officer of the nation is concerned
for Nigerians, a lot more needs to be
done to enhance the feeling of
security amongst them. Whether one talks
of the issue of militancy in the
Niger Delta, the underlying causes of which
have not been adequately addressed,
if addressed at all, kidnapping,
piracy, abductions and armed robberies
which rather than abate are on the
increase and Boko Haram which
requires carrot and stick approach to lay
its ghost to rest, the general
security situation cannot be described as
comforting. Knowing the genesis of
Boko Haram and the reasons for
escalation of violence from that
sector with the widespread and ramification
of the menace of Boko Haram within
and outside the Nigerian borders,
conventional military actions based
on standard phases of military
operations alone will not permanently
and effectively deal with the issue of
Boko Haram. There are many strands or
layers of causes that require
different solutions, approaches or
antidotes. Drug, indoctrination,
fundamentalism, gun trafficking, hate
culture, human trafficking, money
laundering, religion, poverty,
unemployment, poor education, revenge and
international terrorism are among
factors that have effect on Boko Haram.
One single prescription cannot cure
all these ailments that combine in Boko
Haram. Should we pursue war against
violence without understanding the
root causes of the violence and
applying solutions to deal with all
underlying factors - root, stem and
branches? Nigeria is bleeding and the
hemorrhage must be stopped. I am
convinced that you can initiate
measures that will bring all hands on
deck to deal effectively with this great
menace.
Mr. President, the most important
qualification for your present
position is your being a Nigerian.
Whatever else you may be besides
being a Nigerian is only secondary
for this purpose. And if majority of
Nigerians who voted had not cast
their votes for you, you could not have
9
been there. For you to allow yourself
to be “possessed”, so to say, to the
exclusion of most of the rest of
Nigerians as an ‘Ijaw man’ is a mistake that
should never have been allowed to
happen. Yes, you have to be born in
one part of Nigeria to be a Nigerian
if not naturalised but the Nigerian
President must be above ethnic
factionalism. And those who prop you up
as of, and for ‘Ijaw nation’ are not
your friends genuinely, not friends of
Nigeria nor friends of ‘Ijaw nation’,
they tout about. To allow or tacitly
encourage people of ‘Ijaw nation’ to
throw insults on other Nigerians from
other parts of the country and
threaten fire and brimstone to protect your
interest as an Ijaw man is myopic and
your not openly quieting them is
even more unfortunate. You know that
I have expressed my views and
feelings to you on this issue in the
past but I have come to realise that
many others feel the way I have
earlier expressed to you. It is not the best
way of making friendship among all
sections of Nigeria. You don’t have
shared and wholesome society without
inclusive political, economic and
social sustainable development and
good governance. Also declaring
that one section of the country voted
for you as if you got no votes from
other sections can only be an
unnecessary talk, to put it mildly. After all
and at the end of the day, democracy
is a game of number. Even, if you
would not need people’s vote across
the country again, your political Party
will.
Allegation of keeping over 1000 people on
political watch list rather
than criminal or security watch list
and training snipers and other armed
personnel secretly and clandestinely
acquiring weapons to match for
political purposes like Abacha and
training them where Abacha trained his
own killers, if it is true, it cannot
augur well for the initiator, the government
and the people of Nigeria. Here
again, there is the lesson of history to
learn from for anybody who cares to
learn from history. Mr. President
would always remember that he was
elected to maintain security for all
Nigerians and protect them. And no
one should prepare to kill or maim
Nigerians for personal or political
ambition or interest of anyone. The
Yoruba adage says, “The man with
whose head coconut is broken may not
live to savour the taste of the
succulent fruit.” Those who advise you to go
hard on those who oppose you are your
worst enemies. Democratic
politics admits and is permissive of
supporters and opponents. When the
consequences come, those who have
wrongly advised you will not be there
to help carry the can. Egypt must
teach some lesson.
Presidential assistance for a murderer to
evade justice and
10
presidential delegation to welcome
him home can only be in bad taste
generally but particularly to the
family of his victim. Assisting criminals to
evade justice cannot be part of the
job of the presidency. Or, as it is
viewed in some quarters, is he being
recruited to do for you what he had
done for Abacha in the past?
Hopefully, he should have learned his
lesson. Let us continue to watch.
As Head of Government, the buck of the
performance and
non-performance stops on your table
and let nobody tell you anything to
the contrary. Most of our friends and
development partners are worried
and they see what we pretend to cover
up. They are worried about issue
of security internally and on our
coastal waters including heavy oil theft,
alias bunkering and piracy. They are
worried about corruption and what
we are doing or not doing about it.
Corruption has reached the level of
impunity. It is also necessary to be
mindful that corruption and injustice
are fertile breeding ground for
terrorism and political instability. And if you
are not ready to name, shame,
prosecute and stoutly fight against
corruption, whatever you do will be
hollow. It will be a laughing matter.
They are worried about how we play
our role in our region and indeed in
the world. In a way, I share some of
their concerns because there are
notable areas we can do more or do
better than we are doing. Some of
our development partners were
politically frustrated to withdraw from
Olokola LNG project, which happily
was not yet the same with Brass. I
initiated them both. They were viable
and would have taken us close to
Qatar as LNG producing country.
Please do not frustrate Brass LNG and
in the interest of what is best for
Nigerian economy, bring back OK LNG
into active implementation. The major
international oil companies have
withheld investment in projects in
Nigeria. If they have not completely
moved out, they are disinvesting.
Nigeria which is the Saudi of Africa in oil
and gas terms is being overtaken by
Angola only because necessary
decisions are not made timely and
appropriately. Mr. President, let me
again plead with you to be decisive on
the oil and gas sector so that Nigeria
may not lag behind. Oil with gas is
being discovered all over Africa. New
technology is producing oil from
shale elsewhere. We should make hay
while the sun shines. I hope we can
still save OK and Brass LNG projects.
Three things are imperative in the
oil and gas sector - stop oil stealing,
encourage investment especially by
the IOC’s and improve the present
poor management of the industry. On
the economy generally, it suffices to
say that we could do better than we
are doing. The signs are there and
the expectations are high. The most
dangerous ticking bomb is youth
11
unemployment particularly in the face
of unbridled corruption and obscene
rulers’ opulence.
Let me repeat that as far as the issue of corruption,
security and oil
stealing is concerned, it is only apt
to say that when the guard becomes the
thief, nothing is safe, secure nor
protected in the house. We must all
remember that corruption, inequity
and injustice breed poverty,
unemployment, conflict, violence and
wittingly or unwittingly create
terrorists because the opulence of
the governor can only lead to the
leanness of the governed. But God
never sleeps, He is watching, waiting
and bidding His time to dispense
justice.
The serious and strong allegation of
non-remitting of about $7 billion
from NNPC to Central Bank occurring
from export of some 300,000 barrels
per day, amounting to $900 million a
month, to be refined and with refined
products of only $400 million returned
and Atlantic Oil loading about
130,000 barrels sold by Shell and
managed on behalf of NPDC with no
sale proceeds paid into NPDC account
is incredible. The allegation was
buttressed by the letter of Governor
of Central Bank of Nigeria to you on
non-remittance to Central Bank. This
allegation will not fly away by
non-action, cover-up, denial or
bribing possible investigators. Please deal
with this allegation transparently
and let the truth be known.
The dramatis personae in this allegation and who
they are working for
will one day be public-knowledge.
Those who know are watching if the
National Assembly will not be
accomplice in the heinous crime and naked
grand corruption. May God grant you
the grace for at least one effective
corrective action against high
corruption which seems to stink all around
you in your government.
The international community knows us as we are
and maybe more
than we claim to know ourselves. And
a good friend will tell you the truth
no matter how bitter. Denials and
cover-up of what is obvious, true and
factual can detract from honour,
dignity and respect. Truth and
transparency dignify and earn
respect. And life without passion for
something can only achieve little. I
was taken aback when an African
Development Bank Director informed me
that the water project for
Port-Harcourt, originally initiated
by the Federal Government to be financed
by the bank, is being put in the
cooler by the Federal Government since the
Amaechi-Jonathan face-off. Amaechi,
whether he likes it or not, will cease
12
to be Governor over Rivers State
which Port-Harcourt is part by the end of
May 2015 but residents of
Port-Harcourt will continue to need improvement
of their water supply. President
Jonathan should rise above such
pettiness and unpresidential act, if
it is coming from him. But if not, and it
is the action of overzealous
officials reading the situation, he should give
appropriate instruction for the
project to be pursued. And if there are other
projects anywhere suffering the same
coolness as a result of similar
situation, let national interest
supercede personal or political feud and the
machinations of satanic officials.
Mr. President, let me plead with you for a few
things that will stand
you in good stead for the rest of
your life. Don’t always consider critics on
national issues as enemies. Some of
them may be as patriotic and
nationalistic as you and I who had
been in government. Some of them
have as much passion for Nigeria as
we have. I saw that among
Nigerians living abroad, hence, I
initiated Nigerians in Diaspora
Organisation, NIDO. You must also
differentiate between malevolent,
mischievous and objective criticism.
Analyses, criticisms and
commentaries on government actions
and policies are sinew of democracy.
Please, Mr. President, be very wary
of assistants, aides and collaborators
who look for enemies for you. I have
seen them with you and some were
around me when I was in your
position. I knew how not to allow them
create enemies for me. If you allow
them, everybody except them will be
your enemy. They are more dangerous
than identified adversaries. May
God save leaders from sycophants.
They know what you want to hear
and they feed you with it essentially
for their own selfish interest. As far as
you and Nigeria are concerned, they
are wreckers. Where were they
when God used others to achieve God’s
will in your life. They possess
you now for their interest. No
interest should be higher or more important
than Nigerian interest to you. You
have already made history and please
do nothing to mar history. I
supported you as I supported Yar’Adua. For
me, there is neither North-South divide
nor Christian-Moslem divide but one
Nigeria.
Let me put it, that talks, loose and serious,
abound about possible
abuse and misuse of the military and
the legitimate security apparatus for
unwholesome personal and political
interest to the detriment of the honour,
dignity, oath and professionalism of
these honourable and patriotic forces.
Let me urge the authorities not to
embark on such destructive path for an
important element of our national
make-up. The roles of the military and
13
the security agencies should be held
sacrosanct in the best interest of the
nation. Again, let not history repeat
itself here.
I believe that with what Nigeria has gone
through in the past, the
worst should have already happened.
It must be your responsibility as the
captain of the ship to prevent the
ship from going aground or from a
shipwreck. For anybody close to you
saying that if the worst happens, he
or she would not be involved is an
idle and loose talk. If we leave God to
do His will and we don’t rely only on
our own efforts, plans and wisdom,
God will always do His best. And the
power of money and belief in it is
satanically tempting. As I go around
Nigeria and the world, I always come
across Nigerians who are first-class
citizens of the world and who are doing
well where they are and who are
passionate to do well for Nigeria. My
hope for our country lies in these
people. They abound and I hope that all
of us will realise that they are the
jewels of Nigeria wherever they may be
and not those who arrogate to
themselves eternal for ephemeral.
Also to my embarrassment at times, I learned
more about what is
going on in the public and private
sectors of Nigeria from our development
partners, international institutions
and those transacting business in Nigeria
most times I was abroad. On returning
home to verify the veracity of these
stories, I found some of them not
only to be true but more horrifying than
they were presented abroad. Other
countries look up to Nigeria for
regional leadership. Failure on the
part of Nigeria will create a schism that
will be bad for the region.
Knowing what happens around you most of which
you know of and
condone or deny, this letter will
provoke cacophony from hired and unhired
attackers but I will maintain my
serenity because by this letter, I have done
my duty to you as I have always done,
to your government, to the Party,
PDP, and to our country, Nigeria. If
I stuck out my neck and God used me
and others as instrument to work hard
for you to reach where you are today
in what I considered the best
political interest of Nigeria, tagging me as
your enemy or the enemy of your
administration by you, your kin or your
aides can only be regarded as
ridiculous to extreme. If I see any danger
to your life, I will point it out to
you or ward it off as I have done in the past.
But I will not support what I believe
is not in the best interest of Nigeria, no
matter who is putting it forward or
who is behind it. Mr. President, I have
passed the stage of being flattered,
intimidated, threatened, frightened,
induced or bought. I am never afraid
to agree or disagree but it will always
14
be on principles, and if on politics,
in the national interest. After my prison
experience in the close proximity of
and sharing facilities with an asylum in
Yola, there is nothing worse for
anyone alive and well. And that was for a
military dictator to perpetuate
himself in power. Death is the end of all
human beings and may it come when God
wills it to come. The
harassment of my relations and
friends and innuendo that are coming from
the Government security apparatus on
whether they belong to new PDP or
supporters of defected Governors and
which are possibly authorised or are
the work of overzealous aides and
those reading your lips to act in your
interest will be counter-productive.
It is abuse of security apparatus. Such
abuse took place last in the time of
Abacha. Lies and untruths about me
emanating from the presidency is too
absurd to contemplate. Saying that I
recommended a wanted criminal by UK
and USA authorities to you or your
aides to supplant legitimately
elected PDP leader in South-West is not only
unwise and crude but also
disingenuous. Nobody in his or her right
senses will believe such a story and
surely nobody in Ogun State or
South-West zone will believe such
nonsense. It is a clear indication of how
unscrupulous and unethical the
presidency can go to pursue your personal
and political interest. Nothing else
matters. What a pity! Nothing at this
stage of my life would prevent me
from standing for whatever I consider to
be in the best interest of Nigeria -
all Nigeria, Africa and the world in that
order. I believe strongly that a united
and strong PDP at all costs is in the
best interest of Nigeria. In these
respects, if our interests and views
coincide, together we will march.
Putting a certified unashamed criminal
wanted abroad to face justice and who
has greatly contributed to corruption
within the judiciary on a high
profile of politics as you and your aides have
done with the man you enthrone as PDP
Zonal leader in the South-West is
the height of disservice to this country
politically and height of insult to the
people of South-West in general and
members of PDP in that zone in
particular. For me, my politics goes
with principles and morality and I will
not be a party to highly profiling
criminals in politics, not to say one would
be my zonal leader. It destroys what
PDP stands for from its inception.
By the government not acting
positively and promptly in the case of
Kashamu wanted in the US for drug
trafficking and money laundering
crimes, it is only confirming the
persistent reports of complicity or
involvement of high-level political
figures in drug trafficking and
condonation of the crime for
political benefit. Whichever way, it is a very
dangerous development for Nigeria.
Sooner than later, drug barons will be
in control of large real estates,
banks and other seemingly legitimate
businesses; in elections, they will
buy candidates, parties and eventually
15
buy power or be in power themselves.
It may be instructive if I quote fairly
extensively from Lansana Gberie’s
recent paper titled, ‘State Officials and
Their Involvement in Drug Trafficking
in West Africa’:
“...The controversial and puzzling
case of Buruji Kashamu, a powerful figure in
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
suggests that a successful and
wealthy politician’s association with
drug trafficking is hardly disabling.
Kashamu was indicted by a grand jury
in the Northern District of Illinois in 1998
for conspiracy to import and
distribute heroin to the United States. The
indictment named him under his own
name as well as two supposed aliases:
‘Alaji’ and ‘Kasmal’. His whereabouts
were unknown at the time, however, and
his co-accused were tried and
convicted. Later that year, he was found living
comfortably in England, and, on
receipt of an extradition request from the US, the
UK authorities arrested Kashamu.
After a very protracted proceeding lasting
until 2003, however, an English Judge
refused to extradite Kashamu on grounds
of uncertainty about his true
identity. Kashamu triumphantly returned to Nigeria
and soon after became a key political
figure. He is now believed to be very
close to President Goodluck Jonathan,
because of his ability to mobilise votes in
key States in Western Nigeria. The US
government reviewed Kashamu’s case,
with the famous Judge Richard Posner
presiding. Posner concluded that while
Kashamu’s identity remains murky,
there is little doubt that the figure now
exercising authority in Nigeria’s PDP
is the same as Kashamu the ‘Alaji’ who was
indicted for conspiracy to smuggle
illicit drugs into the United States. Despite
this, the Nigerian government has
persistently ignored calls by civil society
groups to investigate Kashamu and
extradite him to the US. On 2 July 2013, the
Federal Court in Lagos determined
that Kashamu should be extradited to the US.
Kashamu immediately appealed against
this decision, yet in November 2013, a
new Panel of Judges constituted by
the President of the Court of Appeal
unanimously held that his appeal
lacked merit, and that Kashamu should be
extradited. His extradition to the
United States will certainly set an important
precedent... unless, of course, he
uses his political skills and contacts to continue
avoiding it...”
God is never a supporter of evil and will
surely save PDP and Nigeria
from the hands of destroyers. If
everything fails and the Party cannot be
retrieved from the hands of criminals
and commercial jobbers and
discredited touts, men and women of
honour, principles, morality and
integrity must step aside to rethink.
Let me also appeal to and urge defected,
dissatisfied, disgruntled and
in any way displeased PDP Governors,
legislators, party officials and party
members to respond positively if the
President seriously takes the initiative
to find mutually agreeable solution
to the current problems for which he
alone has the key and the initiative.
I have heard it said particularly within
the presidency circle that the
disaffected Governors and members of PDP
are my children. I begin to wonder
if, from top to bottom, any PDP
16
member in elective office today is
not directly or indirectly a beneficiary
and, so to say, my political child.
Anyone who may claim otherwise will be
like a river that has forgotten its
source. But like a good father, all I seek is
peaceful and amicable solution that
will re-unite the family for victory and
progress of the family and the nation
and nothing else.
In a democracy, leaders are elected to lighten
the burden of the
people, give them freedom, choice and
equity and ensure good
governance and not to deceive them,
burden them, oppress them, render
them hopeless and helpless. Nothing
should be done to undermine the
tenets, and values of democratic
principles and practice. Tyranny in all its
manifestation may be appealing to a
leader in trying times of political feud
or disagreement. Democracy must,
however, prevail and be held as
sacrosanct. Today, you are the
President of Nigeria, I acknowledge you
and respect you as such.
The act of an individual has a way of rubbing
off on the generality.
May it never be the wish of majority
of Nigerians that Goodluck Jonathan,
by his acts of omission or
commission, would be the first and the last
Nigerian President ever to come from
Ijaw tribe. The idea and the
possibility must give all of us food
for thought. That was never what I
worked for and that would never be
what I will work for. But legacy is
made of such or the opposite.
My last piece of advice, Mr. President, is
that you should learn the
lesson of history and please do not
take Nigeria and Nigerians for granted.
Move away from culture of denials,
cover-ups and proxies and deal
honesty, sincerely and transparently
with Nigerians to regain their trust and
confidence. Nigerians are no fools,
they can see, they can hear, they can
talk among themselves, they can
think, they can compare and they can act
in the interest of their country and
in their own self-interest. They keenly
watch all actions and deeds that are
associated with you if they cannot
believe your words. I know you have
the power to save PDP and the
country. I beg you to have the
courage and the will with patriotism to use
the power for the good of the
country. Please uphold some form of
national core values. I will appeal
to all Nigerians particularly all members
of PDP to respect and dignify the
Office of the President. We must all
know that individuals will come and
go but the Office will remain.
Once again, time is of the essence. Investors
are already retreating
17
from Nigeria, adopting ‘wait and see
attitude’ and knowing what we are
deficient of, it will take time to
reverse the trend and we may miss some
golden opportunities.
Finally, your later-day conversion into
National Conference is fraught
with danger of disunity, confusion
and chaos if not well handled. I believe
in debate and dialogue but it must be
purposeful, directed and managed
well without ulterior motives. The
ovation has not died out yet and there is
always life after a decent descent.
Accept, Dear Mr. President, the assurances of
my highest
consideration.
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
PS
I crave your indulgence to share the contents
of this letter, in the first
instance, with General Ibrahim
Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar,
who, on a number of occasions in
recent times, have shared with me their
agonising thoughts, concerns and
expressions on most of the issues I have
raised in this letter concerning the
situation and future of our country. I also
crave your indulgence to share the
contents with General Yakubu Danjuma and
Dr. Alex Ekwueme, whose concerns for
and commitments to the good of Nigeria
have been known to be strong. The
limit of sharing of the contents may be
extended as time goes on.
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
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