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.
In the letter dated December 30, 2016 but obtained by JUST EVENTS on Wednesday, Mr. 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 Mr. Obasanjo of having used the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission 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.
Mr. 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.
Read the former President’s letter below.
Also posted below Mr. Obasanjo’s letter is the excerpt from the book which triggered the former president’s missive to the Oba.
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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.
The invitation to Mike to contribute to the building of the Library block of Bells University was issued to him by the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Julius Okogie, who never told me about inviting Mike to so contribute until Mike pulled out. And that I have not and I will not talk to Mike about it should convince you that I know nothing about its genesis.
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.
Mike did not need to send anything to me to satisfy me, he needed to satisfy EFCC and so your sending any documents to me was insinuating that I am the one to be satisfied rather than the EFCC. So, such documents were not paid any attention by me. You, as the cousin and part beneficiary from Mike as you have told me in the past, w
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