Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, the eldest daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has told President Muhammadu Buhari to heed the advice of her father by retiring from politics in 2019.
Obasanjo-Bello said this in reaction to the re-publication of a note she wrote to her father based on a letter the former president made public in 2013.
Most of those who re-published the 2013 note, made it look like it was in response to Obasanjo’s latest letter to Buhari.
Obasanjo-Bello said in reaction to the re-publication of the letter: “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.”
Speaking to the letter her father wrote to President Buhari, Obasanjo-Bello said there is no doubt that the position of Obasanjo was right.
She said the advice Obasanjo gave to Buhari to retire from politics was right, adding that she was tired of the situation in Nigeria.
She wrote: “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.”
