Obasanjo and His Unending War With His "Godson"

               

by Gbenga Adeboye

Things have fallen apart between former president Olusegun Obasanjo and his political godson, President Goodluck Jonathan. The rift, down-played by both parties, for a large part of two years since 2011, exploded into public domain on December 22, 2013, when Obasanjo sent an open letter to Jonathan.

In the letter titled, ‘Before it is too Late’, and widely reported by the media, Obasanjo alleged among other things, the existence of a killer squad to eliminate opponents by agents of state and endemic corruption. Continue after the cut...

The epistle also contained veiled indictment of Jonathan’s incompetence as President...
Jonathan’s reply was no less pungent. He reminded Obasanjo that his government respects Rule of Law, which he suggested is a strange concept to the former president's administration.

Since then, relation between the duo has strained beyond redemption.

The former president in between time had written to the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that, though he would not dump the party, he would like to restrict his activities to his ward.

As if Obasanjo was waiting for a date in the ember months to stoke the embers again, on Friday November 21, eleven months after his letter to Jonathan, he fired another cannon.

Obasanjo chose a gathering for celebration of intellect, Ake Book Festival, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, as his launch pad for the latest attack on Jonathan. He declared Jonathan as a below average performer, in another breath, exonerated himself for orchestrating a plan that ultimately threw Jonathan up as the president after the death of President Musa Yar’Adua.

“His performance is below average. I will not accept responsibility for his performance. There is nobody that gets such a position without being helped.

“Yar’Adua told me he was well. He showed me his medical report and I even consulted experts,” Obasanjo told the media.

But Jonathan’s men have been busy replying the old man, especially Dr Doyin Okupe, the senior special assistant on Public Communication. He had held a similar position under Obasanjo in the early days of the 4th Republic before he was fired.

Okupe listed many achievements of Jonathan and came out with one verdict: his current boss has outshone his former boss.

He especially indicted Obasanjo in the area of power, economy and job creation.

- but in the overall interest of Nigeria, these leaders should bury the hatchet and work together for good.