Angry Jonathan replies Obasanjo, says
letter self-serving, provocative
President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed
as “most reckless” and “unjustifiable” a
fiercely scathing letter he received from
former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in
which Mr. Obasanjo accused him of lying,
condoning corruption, and leading Nigeria
to the brink of collapse.
A statement by the president’s aide, Reuben
Abati, said the allegations by the former
president were “baseless and indecorous.”
The statement said Mr. Jonathan has
directed his aides not to respond to the
barrage of attacks and allegations from Mr.
Obasanjo, listed in an 18-page letter
exclusively published by PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr. Jonathan will personally respond to the
charges at the “appropriate time”, the
statement said.
“While many patriotic, objective and well-
meaning Nigerians have already condemned
the leaked letter as self-serving,
hypocritical, malicious, indecent, and very
disrespectful of the highest office in the
land, President Jonathan has directed that
none of his aides or any government official
should join issues with Chief Obasanjo over
it,” Mr. Abati said.
“The president himself will, at the
appropriate time, offer a full personal
response to the most reckless, baseless,
unjustifiable and indecorous charges
levelled against him and his administration
by the former Head of State.”
In the highly acerbic letter, Mr. Obasanjo
laid out a series of allegations against Mr.
Jonathan, accusing him of corruption and
ineptitude.
Mr. Obasanjo lamented that Mr. Jonathan
had become terribly divisive and clannish,
destroying his own party, polarizing the
country along regional and religious lines
and ridiculing Nigeria in the comity of
nations.
He blamed Mr. Jonathan for the crises
tearing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, apart, and accused him of lacking in
personal integrity by consistently lying about
his ambition for a new term of office.
Mr. Obasanjo also tackled Mr. Jonathan for
allegedly being clannish. “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
Nigerian if not naturalized 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.”
The former president also accused Mr.
Jonathan of placing over 1000 Nigerians on
political 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
killers”.
The former President also called on the
National Assembly to rise up and take
decisive action over the allegation that the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
failed to remit billions of dollars in proceed
of crude oil sales to the federation account.
“This allegation will not fly away by non-
action, cover-up, denial or bribing possible
investigators,” Mr. Obasanjo told the
President. “Please deal with this allegation
transparently and let the truth be known.”
The Senate on Wednesday ordered an
investigation. The senate committee on
finance is to probe the allegation and make
its findings known in seven days.
The presidency did not respond to any of
the issues specifically beyond dismissing
them as “provocative and unjustifiable.”
Mr. Abati said President Jonathan will
respond personally. But the statement
criticised the leakage of the letter to the
media.
“We however find it highly unbecoming,
mischievous and provocative that a letter
written by a former Head of State and
respected elder statesman to President
Jonathan has been deliberately leaked to
the mass media in a deplorable effort to
impugn the integrity of the president and
denigrate his commitment to giving Nigeria
the best possible leadership,” the statement
said.
Read the statement by the president’s
spokesperson, Reuben Abati, below.
OBASANJO’S LETTER UNBECOMING, SELF-
SERVING AND HIGHLY PROVOCATIVE
We have noted the publication on several
websites today of a letter recently written by
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
The Presidency acknowledges that it has
indeed received the said letter from Chief
Obasanjo.
We however find it highly unbecoming,
mischievous and provocative that a letter
written by a former Head of State and
respected elder statesman to President
Jonathan has been deliberately leaked to
the mass media in a deplorable effort to
impugn the integrity of the President and
denigrate his commitment to giving Nigeria
the best possible leadership.
While many patriotic, objective and well-
meaning Nigerians have already condemned
the leaked letter as self-serving,
hypocritical, malicious, indecent, and very
disrespectful of the highest office in the
land, President Jonathan has directed that
none of his aides or any government official
should join issues with Chief Obasanjo over
it.
The President himself will, at the
appropriate time, offer a full personal
response to the most reckless, baseless,
unjustifiable and indecorous charges levied
against him and his administration by the
former Head of State.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
December 11, 2013
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/151332-
angry-jonathan-replies-obasanjo-says-
letter-self-serving-provocative.html
letter self-serving, provocative
President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed
as “most reckless” and “unjustifiable” a
fiercely scathing letter he received from
former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in
which Mr. Obasanjo accused him of lying,
condoning corruption, and leading Nigeria
to the brink of collapse.
A statement by the president’s aide, Reuben
Abati, said the allegations by the former
president were “baseless and indecorous.”
The statement said Mr. Jonathan has
directed his aides not to respond to the
barrage of attacks and allegations from Mr.
Obasanjo, listed in an 18-page letter
exclusively published by PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr. Jonathan will personally respond to the
charges at the “appropriate time”, the
statement said.
“While many patriotic, objective and well-
meaning Nigerians have already condemned
the leaked letter as self-serving,
hypocritical, malicious, indecent, and very
disrespectful of the highest office in the
land, President Jonathan has directed that
none of his aides or any government official
should join issues with Chief Obasanjo over
it,” Mr. Abati said.
“The president himself will, at the
appropriate time, offer a full personal
response to the most reckless, baseless,
unjustifiable and indecorous charges
levelled against him and his administration
by the former Head of State.”
In the highly acerbic letter, Mr. Obasanjo
laid out a series of allegations against Mr.
Jonathan, accusing him of corruption and
ineptitude.
Mr. Obasanjo lamented that Mr. Jonathan
had become terribly divisive and clannish,
destroying his own party, polarizing the
country along regional and religious lines
and ridiculing Nigeria in the comity of
nations.
He blamed Mr. Jonathan for the crises
tearing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, apart, and accused him of lacking in
personal integrity by consistently lying about
his ambition for a new term of office.
Mr. Obasanjo also tackled Mr. Jonathan for
allegedly being clannish. “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
Nigerian if not naturalized 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.”
The former president also accused Mr.
Jonathan of placing over 1000 Nigerians on
political 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
killers”.
The former President also called on the
National Assembly to rise up and take
decisive action over the allegation that the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
failed to remit billions of dollars in proceed
of crude oil sales to the federation account.
“This allegation will not fly away by non-
action, cover-up, denial or bribing possible
investigators,” Mr. Obasanjo told the
President. “Please deal with this allegation
transparently and let the truth be known.”
The Senate on Wednesday ordered an
investigation. The senate committee on
finance is to probe the allegation and make
its findings known in seven days.
The presidency did not respond to any of
the issues specifically beyond dismissing
them as “provocative and unjustifiable.”
Mr. Abati said President Jonathan will
respond personally. But the statement
criticised the leakage of the letter to the
media.
“We however find it highly unbecoming,
mischievous and provocative that a letter
written by a former Head of State and
respected elder statesman to President
Jonathan has been deliberately leaked to
the mass media in a deplorable effort to
impugn the integrity of the president and
denigrate his commitment to giving Nigeria
the best possible leadership,” the statement
said.
Read the statement by the president’s
spokesperson, Reuben Abati, below.
OBASANJO’S LETTER UNBECOMING, SELF-
SERVING AND HIGHLY PROVOCATIVE
We have noted the publication on several
websites today of a letter recently written by
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
The Presidency acknowledges that it has
indeed received the said letter from Chief
Obasanjo.
We however find it highly unbecoming,
mischievous and provocative that a letter
written by a former Head of State and
respected elder statesman to President
Jonathan has been deliberately leaked to
the mass media in a deplorable effort to
impugn the integrity of the President and
denigrate his commitment to giving Nigeria
the best possible leadership.
While many patriotic, objective and well-
meaning Nigerians have already condemned
the leaked letter as self-serving,
hypocritical, malicious, indecent, and very
disrespectful of the highest office in the
land, President Jonathan has directed that
none of his aides or any government official
should join issues with Chief Obasanjo over
it.
The President himself will, at the
appropriate time, offer a full personal
response to the most reckless, baseless,
unjustifiable and indecorous charges levied
against him and his administration by the
former Head of State.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
December 11, 2013
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/151332-
angry-jonathan-replies-obasanjo-says-
letter-self-serving-provocative.html
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