Obasanjo blasts Awujale of Ijebuland

Obasanjo blasts Awujale of Ijebuland

- Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has written a letter to the Awujale of Ijebuland

- In the letter, the former president accused the king of lying and spreading rumours about him in a book written by the king

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has written to the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, describing the monarch as a serial liar and a manipulative rumour monger.

Obasanjo blasts Awujale of Ijebuland
Obasanjo blasts Awujale of Ijebuland

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In the letter dated December 30, 2016, but obtained by Premium Times on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, Obasanjo described the claims made about him by the Awujale in his autobiography as a tissue of lies and untruths.

In the book, entitled “Awujale: The Autobiography of Alaiyeluwa Oba S. K. Adetona, Ogbagba II”, the Ijebu monarch had accused Obasanjo of having used the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to blackmail and extort during his tenure as president.

The book was published by Mosuro Publishers in 2010, but the aspect about the former president was extracted by unknown persons and widely circulated in the past few weeks.

Obasanjo has now written to Oba Adetona, saying his claims in the book and the spreading of falsehood about him was unbecoming of a monarch of his standing.

In the letter, Obasanjo said: “Kabiyesi, I believe that I should set the record straight for posterity and to caution you from engaging in unedifying rumour-mongering and untruth.”

“Your assertion in the publication was a tissue of lies and untruths.”

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Meanwhile, the former president Olusegun Obasanjo, former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke and current minister of Steel and Solid Mineral Kayode Fayemi have been allegedly fingered in a shady deal associated with the August 1, 2016 modified reconcession agreement of Ajaokuta Steel Company of Nigeria (ASC).

You can read some parts of the letter below:

FORMER PRESIDENT OBASANJO’S LETTER

December 30, 2016

His Royal Highness,

Oba Alaiyeluwa S. K. Adetona,

The Awujale & Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland,

Oba Adetona Road,

P. O. Box 263, Ijebu Ode.

The extract from your Autobiography “Awujale: The Autobiography of Alaiyeluwa Oba S. K. Adetona, Ogbagba II”, published by Mosuro Publishers 2010, pp. 187-195, which I attach to this letter was presented to me for my attention.

Your assertion in the publication was a tissue of lies and untruths. Olopade is one of my best friends and yes, I would be at his birthday celebration but I would not have invited Mike, your cousin, to meet me anywhere other than my office or official residence as President of Nigeria. Kabiyesi, do you think I would set the press up to capture me and Mike in a photograph for the newspapers? That would be puerile of me as President. Of course, I could not say that Mike could not do that. That you think that I, as President of Nigeria, would descend to such depravity makes me think of you much less than I thought of you, until now.

Under my watch, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was free to do its job as it saw fit. Common sense would suggest that wild rumours should not be perpetrated by an Oba of your calibre. Kabiyesi, your cousin did not tell you that My Chief of Staff, Abdul Mohammed, put his reputation on line by assuring EFCC that Mike would go nowhere and they should trust him to give him his passport. I did not even know that Abdul had done that until the Chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, reported the case of my Chief of Staff seemingly colluding with Mike to run out of the country. But I had implicit confidence in my Chief of Staff and I was to resolve the issue. Should your cousin not have mentioned to Abdul who guaranteed the release of his passport his fears and intention to go on exile?

On several occasions, Nuhu Ribadu has asserted that, under my watch, he was a free agent to do his work as he deemed fit. Where it was necessary, he reported the outcome of his work to me and the subsequent or follow-up actions he intended to take. On no occasion did I guide, lead or direct him on what to do.

It is not only in the case of Obajana Cement that you were rumour-mongering about me. You have done that repeatedly on many occasions. The latest one you did in 2016 was you telling me that you heard that I had gone to Rasak Okoya to seek to marry her daughter, Abiola, when it was the girl that came to appeal to me to intervene to placate and appeal to her father to forgive her for all her misbehaviour to her father. I did and the father and daughter were reconciled. I told you even then that it was unbecoming of an Oba.

I owed nobody any apologies in the course of doing my work as I believe I should do it or in the course of defending the interest of Nigeria and defending my integrity. As I could not open the treasury for S. O. Bakare for your so-called political support to me, I did not regard that as an offence. To the extent that I believed and regarded as proper, I instructed Tony Anenih as Minister of Works to patronize S. O. Bakare as a Peugeot car dealer…

Kabiyesi, the type of hate propaganda you have tried to project in that section of your book against my person is grossly unbecoming of an Oba let alone an Oba of your status and stature.

However, I still accord you the respect which I believe an Oba should be accorded and one for that matter who I presume to be a friend. In spite of your unfortunate projection, my position remains the same – respect for you as an Oba and a friend.

Kabiyesi, I believe that I should set the record straight for posterity and to caution you from engaging in unedifying rumour-mongering and untruth. Accept the assurances of my highest consideration.

Watch a video of Obasanjo having fun with a young lady below:

Source: Legit.ng

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