Professor Aluko:

 

Overall, you capture the thinking of many. Even some well placed people, from African diplomats and congressional scribes, did not know what to make of OBJ's epistle. By the time the daughter joined in, normalcy was shattered. 

 

The allegations, coming from a former president, were too treacherous to ignore. I felt sorry for GEJ guy as my eyeballs got wider with each passing sentence penned by OBJ. How the pendulum swings for 2015 was unmistakably evident in OBJ's opening. The rest of what he wrote was merely to buttress this sore point of his: his erstwhile protege has ran independently amok, uncontrolled by Baba.

 

GEJ was compelled to respond. Certain matters may not render themselves to exact conciseness  and precision. GEJ can be "forgiven"  for going for going at length.

 

MsJoe

 

In a message dated 12/26/2013 4:11:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, alukome@gmail.com writes:

My People:

Political letters should be written with care,  if at all, and replied to with even greater care, if at all. They should be written precisely and concisely, and without innuendo and dragging in extraneous actors other than the main protagonists.  Most importantly,  there must be a compelling reason why YOU - and no one else - should be its author.

Obj roundly fails that "compelling" test, among others, just as his daughter Iyabo's letter to him does.

A letter need not be responded to (at least not right away, or in letter form) if all it questions is your politics;  after all, differences in tactics, strategies, policies and outcomes  are what politics is all about  and second-guessing is part of the terrain.  However if it touches on your personal morality on the issues of financial impropriety (eg theft), or murder (eg snipers afoot), or sexual allegations (none here), then the Lincolnian advice is to respond promptly and comprehensively. To that extent, Gej has passed the test of the need to respond because of the presence of two of the compelling reasons.  But conciseness and precision were  not his response's  strongest points:  I would have responded in one-fifth the number of eleven pages (just as Obj's letter could have been done in three double-spaced pages), and moved on with more important state affairs.  I even have drafts of a letter to Gej and of  a response to Obj's current letter in my head (eg cutting out any reference to Fela, etc.) - but there is no compelling reason to release my drafts! :-)

And should Obj respond to his daughter's letter?  No - blood is thicker than the politics in its contents:  honor your father and mother are unconditional Christian injunctions, and the first commandment with a promise.

Compliments of the season; it should not be all about letter-writing:  in 2014, we should strive  to "live well, laugh often, and love much."

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

  

On Thursday, December 26, 2013, Elombah Elsdan wrote:

Well…This is a good article, where I disagree is where he said GEJ should have ignored and refrained from replying Obasanjo. Obasanjo's reckless misrule of Nigeria notwithstanding, I agree that it was the right thing for Jonathan to reply the letter. 

Many Nigerians -prominent and not so prominent demanded he reply. Courtesy and democratic norms demanded that he reply "and failure to respond could have heightened the tension and created more serious political problems for the man who is running for reelection" 

Western leaders have been known to reply Op-eds attacking them.

Silence is not golden at all times, it could also imply consent/agreement/acquiescence.

On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 4:43 AM, E. Obi <bizon586@yahoo.com> wrote:

Home» Commentary» Articles

Jonathan Vs Obasanjo: Strategies At Play By Asuelimen Aisabokhale

Posted: Dec, 24 2013, 2:12PM

By Asuelimen Aisabokhale

Nigerians are rightfully horrified by former President Olusegun Obasanjo's and President Goodluck Jonathan's naked dance in the market.  Everyone already knows that Obasanjo likes to unleash pent-up rage at political enemies. Ask former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. But we are just now learning that Jonathan, though gentle and genial, is not a timid guy. Jonathan's letter to his pen pal, Obasanjo, shows that when faced with a threat to his political life, he can as well spew out venom. But the strategic intents of both individuals and their letters' probable ramifications are beyond mere political survival, which is why Nigerians should be alarmed.

Obasanjo's motivation can be found in the second paragraph of his letter, which is that he has been progressively marginalized by the Jonathan government. He stated that "… none of the four or more letters that I have written to you in the past two years or so has elicited an acknowledgement or any response." For Baba, that's an insult, coming from a so-called political son. He repeatedly hammered Jonathan's inner circle of "selfish and self-centered aides" who have inserted the President into a bubble and insulated him from Big Brother's prying eyes. Subtly but clearly, Obasanjo expressed frustrations with his waning influence in the South West, within PDP and, if Jonathan decides to run in the next election, in who becomes probably the next President of Nigeria.
 
To jolt Jonathan out of slumber, the former army general who helped end the Nigerian civil war needed to rally his troops on the crest of unsavoury popular sentiments about the country's state of affairs. Clearly, the overarching goal is to take the oxygen out of Jonathan's second term (or third term?) ambition. Obasanjo's tactical contours and the timing of his letter are a masterstroke. Consider the implosion within the PDP, the APC's new lease of life, heightening insecurity in the country, incessant allegations of corruption - all reinforcing the perception of a rudderless ship of state.
 
Consequently, Obasanjo sprinkled salt in Jonathan's open wound in order to further stoke public anger against the administration. Yet Obasanjo audaciously said it was his patriotic duty to do so. Jonathan calls him Baba and, as Chinue Achebe reminds, when a child calls you father, have no hand in his death.
 
There is no argument that Obasanjo played to Northerners' sentiments that the presidency returns to that region. By positioning himself as a nationalist, a great apostle of Northern interest, one who handed over power to both Shehu Shagari and Umaru Yar'Adua at different times, Obasanjo's level of ingratiation becomes odious. Just so we refresh memories, his third term agenda didn't actually advance Northern interest.
 
Nevertheless, from a strategic political perspective, his letter must be a net positive. It instantly provides him with a constituency among the rebel governors, emirs, even Northern grassroots population, who have suddenly found one with a big mouth and a loud megaphone to champion their interest. Already, delegations are queuing to pay homage in Otta.
 
In the manner of the late Obafemi Awolowo who wrote an 18-page letter to Shehu Shagari in 1981, Obasanjo also wants to play the prophet. Awo

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FUNNY AIN'T IT? The same International Financial Institutions that gave Soludo "The African banker of the year and the Global banker of the year" for developing Nigerian banks to enviable heights ALSO turned round to give Sanusi Lamido Sanusi the same award for destroying all that Soludo laboured for!

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