Obasanjo’s letter, attack on Niger Delta — Ijaw groups

The Ijaw Republican Assembly has condemned the letter sent to President Goodluck Jonathan by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, describing it as an attack on the oil-producing South-South geopolitical zone.

The spokesperson of the Ijaw group, Annkio Briggs, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH said by writing the letter, Obasanjo sought to throw Nigeria into  turmoil and turn around to blame Jonathan for it.

Briggs said the letter was born out of Obasanjo’s frustration due to Jonathan’s refusal to allow him rule the country indirectly.

She said, “It is really sad for Obasanjo to have written such a letter to Jonathan. I find it such a pity that a man like Obasanjo can at this particular time want to throw Nigeria into turmoil, because his letter was not just an attack on Jonathan as a person but an attack on the South-South, and our right to produce a President. This is the way we are looking at it from the Niger Delta.”

The group accused Obasanjo of throwing the PDP into disarray, adding that the former President was not in a position to accuse Jonathan of corruption.

The group also warned that if Jonathan was not allowed to contest for a second term in 2015, the people of the Niger Delta would ensure that other regions of the country do not get the proceeds of the oil and gas in the region.

Also, on Friday, the Niger Delta Youth Administrative Council flayed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for allegedly writing a derogatory letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, describing the letter as a distraction to the Federal Government.

A member of the council, Marvin Yobana, who spoke on behalf of the council in Abuja  on Friday stated that Obasanjo had no moral justification to ask Jonathan not to contest for re-election in 2015.

Yobana, who is the African representative in World Association of Youths, stated that Obasanjo should tread the path of reconciliation and statesmanship like the late South African President, Nelson Mandela, instead of writing letters capable of over-heating the polity.

The youth leader admitted that the former president had the right to advise Jonathan, but noted that his letter should not be sensational or derogatory. He stressed that he should rather support the current administration to actualise its goals of generating employment and reforming the power sector, among others.

The National Coordinator, North Central/South-East of the Niger Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force, Emmanuel Amakiri, who also reacted to Obasanjo’s letter to President  Jonathan, pleaded with the former leader not to overheat the polity with politically hostile words, noting that the decision to seek re-election belonged to Jonathan and the Nigerian electorate.

He said, “Obasanjo was instrumental to Jonathan’s emergence as president and he is therefore expected to interface with those pressuring Jonathan not to contest, instead of trying to stop the President from contesting for re-election. We plead with Obasanjo to look at the issue with equity and fairness and stop overheating the polity with provocative letters.”

In an eight-page letter to Jonathan, Obasanjo criticised the present administration, accusing the President of being ineffective in governance and fighting corruption, and also allowing himself to be possessed by some people of the Ijaw nationality.