What Obasanjo’s letter says:

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo last Tuesday stirred the hornet nest when in a strongly worded 13-page statement, he called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek re-election in 2019.

Obasanjo, in the letter, which was given very wide publicity and was entitled, “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement,” said President Buhari had performed far below expectation and should honourably “dismount from the horse” to join the league of the country’s former leaders whose “experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of the country.”

Obasanjo, a two-term president on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he felt disappointed by Buhari, whom he supported during the 2015 election over then incumbent and candidate of his former party, Goodluck Jonathan.

Obasanjo argued that his decision to go against Mr Jonathan at the time was the right one, as events in the last three years have since proved, was for the good of the nation and nothing personal.

While thanking Buhari for the effort of his administration in rolling back the Boko Haram insurgency and his fight against corruption, Obasanjo said Buhari has ultimately failed in other areas where he had thought he would be efficient.

The former President admitted he knew that Buhari was weak in handling the economy. He said he however went ahead and voted for him because at the time “it was a matter of ‘any option but Jonathan’” and because he thought Buhari would appoint qualified Nigerians to help out in that area.

He slammed Buhari for turning a blind eye to corruption within his government saying it amounted to condonation and cover-up, saying whoever is “going to justice must be with clean hands.”

Obasanjo berated Buhari for allowing the clashes between herdsmen and farmers to go “sour” and messy saying the endorsement of the President by some governors to seek re-election barely 24 hours after 73 people who were killed by herdsmen in Benue State were given mass burial was “a sad symptom of insensitivity and callousness.”

Obasanjo delivered his harshest words for the President when he spoke of Buhari’s clannishness, lack of understanding of the dynamics of politics, and his tendencies to pass the buck of his government’s inadequacies to the immediate past administration.

“But there are three other areas where President Buhari has come out more glaringly than most of us thought we knew about him.  One is nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court.  This has grave consequences on performance of his government to the detriment of the nation.  It would appear that national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest.  What does one make of a case like that of Maina: collusion, condonation, ineptitude, incompetence, dereliction of responsibility or kinship and friendship on the part of those who should have taken visible and deterrent disciplinary action?  How many similar cases are buried, ignored or covered up and not yet in the glare of the media and the public?

“The second is his poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics.  This has led to wittingly or unwittingly making the nation more divided and inequality has widened and become more pronounced.  It also has effect on general national security.

“The third is passing the buck.  For instance, blaming the Governor of the Central Bank for devaluation of the naira by 70% or so and blaming past governments for it, is to say the least, not accepting one’s own responsibility.  Let nobody deceive us, economy feeds on politics and because our politics is depressing, our economy is even more depressing today.  If things were good, President Buhari would not need to come in.  He was voted to fix things that were bad and not engage in the blame game.”

Since former President Obasanjo’s letter, a lot of Nigerians have been speaking on it, with many supporting that President Buhari should just complete his first term and step aside.

Obasanjo’s Timely, Says IYC President

Barrister Roland Pereotubo Oweilaemi, President, Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), Worldwide, has said that former President Obasanjo’s advice to President Buhari to retire from politics in 2019 was timely and an affirmation of the wishes of the majority of Nigerians.

The IYC president said that in critical analysis of the style of governance by the present government, hardly could any Nigerian accept Buhari coming back for second tenure.

Oweilaemi said: “Buhari’s Presidency represents different things to different Nigerians on the negative note. The entire country is wailing and we cannot afford to have a continuation of this political attrition. The call for regime change at this critical time of our very existence is a clarion call that all lovers of democracy must endorse. The suffering in the land is getting to a head and things must not be allowed to continue the way it is.

“To us in the Niger Delta region, the call for a regime change means a socio-political harmony and national cohesion. As the former President has clearly stated that he was only advising the government, IYC also advises the President to rescind his ambition of contesting for second tenure.

“It will more honourable, especially for the sake of our peaceful coexistence if he does not contest. Let him be a statesman and maintain his integrity for the purpose of conducting hitch-free elections in 2019. IYC therefore endorses former President Obasanjo’s advice on President Buhari not to contest in 2019.”

Buhari Should Heed Obasanjo’s Advice – Onuesoke

Chief Sunny Onuesoke, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Delta State, has supported the call by former President Obasanjo that President Buhari should go and rest after the end of his first tenure.

Onuesoke, a former governorship aspirant in Delta State, in his reaction said the current security and economic logjam are enough indices for Buhari and his APC government to quit the stage before further damage is done to the country.

He added that Obasanjo, through his letter, had vindicated him. He said: “I said it on his (PMB) 75 years birthday on the 28th of December, 2017 that he should resign as president and go and rest. What Obasanjo said is not new to me. As for Buhari, he is overdue for retirement.”

There Is Nothing Wrong In Obasanjo’s Letter – Security Analyst

Mike Ejiofor, an Umuahia-based international security analyst, said there is nothing untoward in the letter written by the former President Obasanjo to President Buhari on the state of the nation and the way forward.

He said the letter was not the first time such a letter to a sitting President would emanate from the same source, noting that during the Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency, Nigerians read a similar letter which ostensibly set the tone for the 2015 general elections.

Ejiofor stressed that it would be wrong for anyone to assume that if Obasanjo wrote to one President, he would not write to those after him,  insisting that whether it was a letter of commendation or condemnation, Nigerians and sitting Presidents must continually look forward to it from that same source, unless he is no more.

He said: “I don’t think there should be any fuss concerning the letter from the former President.  And I don’t think anybody should view the letter from any other angle save from what the letter has expressed. It is a former President writing to a fellow, even though one is past and the other present.  I believe that this kind of thing is good for our democracy and also good for good governance.

“President Obasanjo will be doing this great country a disservice if he derelict in his position as a former President to lend his voice to issues affecting the economic and social well being of Nigeria and Nigerians.  Once he fails to recognise his worth and submit to primordial sentiment, then he will no longer be worth the oath of office he took as the President of Nigeria.

“As a former President he is an elder statesman and that has provided him grounds to speak out for and against issues affecting the nation, no matter whose ox is gored.  In the past, the former President had commended President Buhari and if he sees something else, should he keep quiet over the new development?

“And in any case, unlike the letter to President Jonathan, he commended President Buhari on the war on corruption, but only said the President should consider and see if Nigeria was moving in the direction he had hoped for while running for the office of President.  So, I don’t see anything wrong with him writing a letter to the sitting President.

“Nigerians will still expect the thing from President Buhari when he leaves office because, whether he leaves in 2019 or 2023, the bottom line is that there is a set time and when it comes, the posture is what Nigerians will expect from him.  He must rise above every sentiment and proffer ideas on how to make things easier for the people.

“Finally, I want to say that what he (Obasanjo) has advanced is an advice to the sitting President, which he (Buhari) is at liberty to accept or discard.  If President Buhari sees any merit in it, he, as an elder statesman, will act.  If he needs clarification, he will ask for it.  So, the first overall decision lies with President Buhari and I don’t want to believe that the action of President Buhari will be dictated by the letter, but from his own conviction that it is the right decision to take.

Obasanjo Can Only Advise Buhari To Retire  – NCP Chief

Abdullahi Salaudeen, the Niger State Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), maintained  that “Obasanjo can by way of advice and as a former colleague call of President Buhari to retire if, and of course if he (Obasanjo) I believe is joining other Nigerians because he sees that deliberately or not deliberately things are not working the way Nigerians had envisaged when they gathered their ‘Toro-toro’ and ‘Kobo-kobo’ to ensure that Buhari emerged President because of what they believed he could do.

“Agreed, Chief Obasanjo is an elder statesman. He is a two-time President of this country. As a Military Head of State and twice a civilian President, he has no prerogative powers constitutionally to tell President Buhari not to re-contest in 2019, but can only do that on the basis of Freedom of Speech and by way of advice for Buhari not to disgrace himself to avoid Nigerian masses who can as well stop him with the powers of their voters card.

“In essence, Buhari has the constitutional rights to seek re-election, Nigerians has the rights through their voter cards to decide if he (Buhari) can continue or not while the like of Obasanjo only has constitutional powers to advice him as a former colleague in the Nigerian Army not to disgrace himself but not to decide who contests 2019 Presidency as Buhari may be interested in.”

Obasanjo’s Letter Is The Best From A Statesman – PDP Legal Adviser

Barrister Emmanuel Enoidem, the National Legal Adviser,  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has deescribed former President Obasanjo’s open letter to President Buhari as the best that could come from a statesman.

The PDP chieftain said: “Having failed Nigerians woefully, it was only necessary for someone to boldly tell the Present Buhari-led administration the truth.”

He declared as ‘nonsensical’ any attempt by President Buhari to seek a second term in office, as such could only result from a satisfactory performance and not the level of failure recorded by the administration.

“Buhari’s government is the worst in the history of Nigeria. The administration has added nothing of value to Nigeria, because every indices for measuring success in any administration, especially in the areas of security and economy, have proven to be negative in the case of the present administration.

“Second term is not a reward for failure, it should be a reward for hardwork. Having failed in the first term, it would be most honourable for Buhari to just finish his first term and bow out. He should not even think of a second term please,” he said

Enoidem advised those who are eager to support the present administration for a second term to rather re-channel such energies to support the administration to fulfil at least few of its electioneering promises and lead Nigerians off the difficult situation it pushed the nation into.

‘Obasanjo Did The Right Thing’

Alfred Ihiogbe, a Benin-based lawyer and human rights activist, said; “The former President did the right thing by advising the President, as a close friend and former colleague in the military.

He stressed: “Obasanjo, if you may recall, supported Buhari openly during the 2015 election after writing a similar letter to then President Goodluck Jonathan.  Obasanjo is morally right to say all he said in his letter to the President because there is a saying in my community that it is only your close friend that can tell you that your mouth smells.

“I read the letter and l discovered that Chief Obasanjo was very civil in his language all through. We are all witnesses of what has been going on in the country, especially in the past few weeks. I have never seen a situation where a President of a country will be so silent that he could not make a statement after learning that 73 persons were killed by herdsmen, let alone visiting the state to console the Governor of that state.

“We are not saying that he should visit the scene of the incident, but the state capital. Instead, he summoned the governor and some leaders of the state to the Presidency, and these are people mourning.

“I was a witness to the Jesse fire incident of 1998 in Ethiope West Local Government area of Delta State. The then Head of State, General Abdusallam Abubakar, was less than three months old in office when that incident occurred.  He flew in a helicopter to the scene of the incident the same day it happened.

“The Jesse incident victims were people who went to scoop fuel in a ruptured pipeline which is an offence of its own. Yet, the Head of State didn’t look at that angle of the law against the state by the victims. He flew there to condole with the then Military Administrator of Delta State, who waited for him at the scene of the incident.

“Unlike the Benue incident where innocent people were murdered in cold blood in their homes, only for the President to summon the governor and some leaders of the state and asked them to be accommodative and be their brothers’ keepers.

“I am not saying that was what prompted Obasanjo’s letter. I am using that as an example and Obasanjo didn’t mention that Benue incident in his letter because he may have viewed it as a serious security issue that could degenerate to something else if he points it out.

“As for the letter, I believe it is a good advice to Mr. President, as his friend who he joined others to campaign for to be president. If he discovers that Buhari is not    meeting his expectations, Obasanjo has every right to advise him because to me the former president spoke the mind of the majority of Nigerians.

“For me, I must confess that it has never been so bad in this country. Is it in the area of the economy, security, roads, education, health, name it. Which area? We pray that God will salvage the country.”

Content Of Obasanjo’s Letter Is Right – Activist

Comrade Adegbenle Adebiyi, an activist, said the content of former President Obasanjo’s letter was right and personal. He said that Obasanjo should not be condemned for making the statement, which he said was germane to the growth and economic development of the country.

Adebiyi noted that some of the issues raised in the letter were necessary at this crucial period, stressing that the nation is drifting and should be brought back to right track.

According to him, “former President Obasanjo is a nationalist and his opinion is good for the success and growth of the country. That was why the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, said some of the issues raised in the letter were well taken and that the government would look and key into it.

“As a corrective measure, the issues raise will help the government to sit up and make some necessary adjustment. It tells the whole world that there are some appointments that were made that are done without consideration for unity and peace of the country.”

While advocating for immediate cabinet reshuffle by President Buhari, Adebiyi noted that the present cabinet is concentrated in a particular region or section, adding that President Buhari needs to work on that.

He stressed: “There is also the need for the Federal Government to inject professionals and economists into the cabinet to look into the future of the country on how to make the country to survive.”