Why I gave up on my dad – Iyabo Obasanjo

With echoes of the open letter to former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from his daughter, Iyabo, reverberating nationwide, the daughter yesterday gave reasons she gave up on her father ever changing.

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo spoke against the background of mixed reactions from Yoruba elders and politicians on the import of the letter which she said was the last communication with her father.

The former president himself was furious when approached by Vanguard, yesterday, as he hurled invectives at the newspaper. The exchange between Vanguard and the former president ran thus:

Vanguard: Sir, we tried reaching you all through yesterday, to no avail, over the letter written by your daughter, Iyabo, to you.
Chief Obasanjo: You are a bloody idiot, you have published the paper and you are now looking for me, you are an idiot, don’t call me again. When Iyabo finishes you in court…. (hangs up).

Senator Obasanjo nevertheless flayed the orchestrated attempt in the social media by a network of associates of her father to separate her from the letter.

Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun State, who was cited in the letter, confirmed the meeting between him and Iyabo in Massachusetts, United States but distanced himself from the plot allegedly cited by her father to empower her with the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC for the next round of elections.

Besides, Aremo Osoba, several prominent Yoruba elders spoke on the development among whom were Afenifere leader, Chief Rueben Fasoranti, Afenifere bigwig, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, Chief Ebenezer Babatope and Hon. Femi Kehinde, a former member of the House of Representatives.

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo had written an open letter to her father accusing him of being a liar, manipulator, wife-basher and hypocrite who was desperate for a third term despite his denials to the contrary.

Following the hoopla over her letter,Iyabo spoke severally to Vanguard, yesterday. Asked to respond to claims that she had denied the authorship of the letter written to her father, Iyabo, who holds a doctorate in epidemology and now resident in the United States, said:

“No, no, no, that is not true. How can you live by social media? That is part of the problem with Nigeria, people want to be flying rumours. I have not told anybody o! It is early morning here and I just woke up and if I were you I would just ignore them,” Senator Obasanjo said.

“People are calling me and telling me that they called Baba but if I say I am not talking to someone (her father), how can you say you called the person and the person will tell you what is on my mind?” she asked.

Giving reasons on why she broke off, she said that after a break from relating with Obasanjo, she found out days ago that her father would not change from the manipulative person she had known all along.

“The whole of last year I didn’t speak to him and I just started speaking to him recently, and the last time he was trying to manipulate me to say, this, say that. I can’t be saying no when you say no.

“The last time I spoke to him was three days ago and I decided that I was not going to speak to him again after that. That was the communication through which I realized that this man would never change from manipulations for himself.”

Dismissing her unsolicited canvassers on social media, she said:
“I was surprised that they would say that they called Baba, and I said to myself, are these people mad? How can you call the person that I said I am not talking to, to ask him whether I wrote a letter or not and he is going to speak for me?

“Nobody can say that I told him that I didn’t write it. I am not a liar. I will not back away from what I wrote and there is nothing that is there that is a lie. In the last four years how many of them have spoken to me? They are all mad people,” she said







Culled From Vanguard