Iyabo Obasanjo reacts to father’s statement on Buhari

Iyabo Obasanjo, first child of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has berated supporters of the Buhari administration for recycling a letter she wrote in 2013 in defence of the Jonathan government.

Senator Obasanjo, now a university professor based in Virginia, United States, said this in a statement issued on Saturday.

Iyabo backed her father’s statement on Buhari and accused the government of failing to adequately address the fundamental issues the ex-leader raised.

She lamented the cheap tactic of the Buhari apologists in drawing unconnected issues to run away from the “advice and admonishment of one of the most brilliant leaders to ever emerge in modern Africa.”

Her statement reads: “My attention has been drawn to the republishing (in social media) of a letter from 2013 that has since been overturned by events. I am surprised that agents of the current Nigerian 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 statement 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 has had over the last few years.

“I have had no connection with his administration or to the previous one after I left the Senate in 2011, and to try and use me and my name as some excuse is shameful. 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.

“It is tiring to continue to be part of the Nigerian conversation when there is no positive impact to it. I really do not want to be part of it, as I have found over and over again that speech and words are wasted on people who have no understanding of the responsibility on us as black people on this planet.”