 |
| Iyabo vs. Aremu |
“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.
“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.
No comments:
Post a Comment