By As former President Olusegun Obasanjo clocks 84 years of age, he would be remembered for his history of letter-writing and controversial musings on the state of the nation.
For his scathing criticisms of the government of the day, Obasanjo is always in the spotlight of the political space.
Since he left office in 2007, he has written a number of letters to his successors — most of which are interventions on the weakness of the political leadership.
Obasanjo, in an eighteen-page letter entitled “Before it is too late”, dated December 2, 2013, had detailed the numerous failures of the then-President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him decimating the Peoples Democratic Party through his determination for a second term against earlier promises of serving one term.
The former president said Jonathan was driving the country to the precipice and allowing deceit, corruption and mutual distrust to tear at the fabric of the nation, adding that his — Jonathan’s — administration served as a support base of ethnic militants, corrupt politicians and armed militia, all for the personal agenda of political survivial.
Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is another recipient of Obasanjo’s epistolary interventions.
In January 2018, he had written to the Daura-born retired military general, urging him to forget his re-election bid following his underperformance, seeming failures and clannishness. The piece was titled “The Way Out: A Clarion Call For Coalition For Nigerian Movement”.
“I only appeal to brother Buhari to consider a deserved rest at this point in time and at this age. I continue to wish him robust health to enjoy his retirement from active public service. President Buhari does not necessarily need to heed my advice. But whether or not he heeds it, Nigeria needs to move on and move forward,” Obasanjo said in the letter.
Though, Buhari eventually got reelected in 2019, defeating former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.
On the deteriorating security situation of the country, the former President wrote again to Buhari in July 2019. The letter, reminiscent of his 2013 missive to Jonathan, focuses on the Boko Haram insurgency and the “herdsmen/farmers crises,” referencing the killing of Funke Olakurin, the daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti — a leader of the Afenifere — by suspected herdmen.
More recently, Obasanjo wrote yet another letter to President Muhammadu Buhari over the #EndSARS protests — a demonstration led by young Nigerians following the inhumane and uncivil activities of a rogue police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
The ex-president, while urging Buhari to act before it’s too late, said most of the demands of the protesters “are not unreasonable and can be met without anyone’s political interest or ambition being threatened”.
