One of the daughters of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, has backed her father on his recent open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari wherein the ex-President advised the incumbent leader against seeking re-election in 2019.
This was contained in a four-paragraph letter she personally signed and released in Abeokuta on Saturday night through the media aide of his father.
In his open letter released last Tuesday, Obasanjo had listed the areas where the Buhari administration had failed. These, he stated, included poor management of the economy, lopsidedness in appointments, nepotism, inability to tackle corruption in his cabinet and killings by rampaging herdsmen, especially in Benue and other states.
The ex-President’s daughter advised the Bahari administration to address the issues raised by her father and stop using her past relationship with her father, which had been overtaken by events, to score cheap political point.
Obasanjo-Bello expressed surprise over the letter she wrote to her father in 2013, currently trending on the social media.
She said, “I agree with the contents of the open letter and like all people that wish Africa well, hope that Nigeria someday comes out of its death spiral to become a leading nation in the world.
“I am surprised that the agents of the current administration who should benefit from the advice and admonishment of one of the most brilliant leaders to ever emerge in modern Africa have resorted to a cheap tactic that further reiterates the message that they found abhorrent enough to start looking for unconnected issues to put together to make their point.
“To say that Nigeria has problems is to make an understatement. The wise should listen, wherever help and advice come from.
“Those who republished the old letter should have spent time to respond to the content of the said letter, which among other things, called on President Buhari to join the rank of retired elder statesmen in 2019.
“I would think this was appropriate and even unnecessary advice, given the serious medical problems he (Buhari) has had over the last few years.”
Further expressing her disgust at those who posted the 2013 letter online, she described their action as shameful, arguing that since she left the Senate in 2011, she had not been part of any administration.
Obasanjo-Bello, however, concluded that “it is tiring to continue to be part of the Nigerian conversation when there is no positive impact to it.”
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