A former president of the Senate in the Third Republic, Senator Ameh Ebute, has written an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in which he accused the latter of hypocrisy and insincerity over his recent reaction to the aftermath of series of visits by chieftains of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in an attempt to resolve the crisis bedevilling the South West zonal chapter of the party.
Ebute, who is now the pro-chancellor/chairman of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), said he was constrained to employ the medium of an open letter since most of the issues he intended to raise were already in the public domain.
He added that Obasanjo’s subjects of anger against the ruling party as contained in the ex-president’s press statement appeared to be the “biggest self-indictment” ever written by a Nigerian leader.
Obasanjo had last week made a veiled reference, among other issues, to the chairman of the PDP Mobilisation Committee in the South West, Buruji Kashamu, as an indicted drug baron wanted in the United States, saying that as such, he could not accept him (Kashamu) as a leader of the party in the zone where he hails from.
Ebute in his reaction said, “With due respect baba, this assertion of yours smacks of great hypocrisy and apparent insincerity. Even though you never mentioned the fellow you were referring to by name, it is common knowledge that the alleged drug baron is no other person than Prince Buruji Kashamu, a man with whom you had a very robust personal and political relationship up till 2011”.
“I wish to recall sir that when the former Governor of Ogun state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel seized the PDP structure from you in 2008/2009, it was this same “drug baron” whom you aligned with to create parallel party structure and institute legal action against the party. It was this same man who secured the court judgment that eventually got your faction of the PDP recognized by the National leadership ahead of the 2011 General elections,” Ebute said.
He further revealed that the daughter of the ex-president, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, had worked closely with Kashamu to protect and defend her father’s “sagging and diminishing political interest and relevance” in his “local turf” in the state, adding that, that was the period when Buruji’s frequent visit to Obasanjo’s Hilltop residence in Abeokuta was always greeted with celebrative feasting. Ebute consequently asked Obasanjo what he was telling his “foreign friends” about Kashamu then.
“While agreeing with you that these are indeed problems that ought to be firmly addressed by the leaders of our country, it is rather unfortunate that you had an unusual opportunity of making impacts in these areas for three years as a Military ruler and then eight years as a civilian President but you either forgot that posterity would call you to account as the longest serving leader this country has ever had or you simply neglected to “do the needful” as you now advise others to do,” he said. (Leadership)
