Iyabo Obasanjo Dismisses Social Media Canvassers Discrediting Her Letter
A few days after the controversial letter reportedly written by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo to her father, former President, General Olusegun Obasanjo, was made public by the Vanguard Newspapers, the media publication has also reported that the Senator is standing by her authorship 
of the letter despite rebuttal by the aides of the former President.
The 11-page letter -which was a reply to the former president’s letter to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, belittling his administration and accusing it of being riddled with corruption- has been called “fake” by the former president’s aides and had been said to be denounced by the former Senator.
The Vanguard however claim that The former senator whom is enrolled in the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative in Boston spoke to it’s editors yesterday and stated that all claims of her denying authorship of the letter were false. Vanguard reports:
““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.
“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 said.
Giving reasons on why she cut ties with her father, Senator Iyabo said that 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.”
It will be recalled that a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, whom former President Olusegun Obasanjo made reference to in his letter to President Goodluck Jonathan as a man wanted in the United States for drug related offences, had made references to his closeness to the former president’s daughter in his own reply to Obasanjo, a statement titled: “We are Partners’.
Kashamu while disclosing how he spent N3billion in helping Obasanjo oust former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel out of the PDP said,”Can he (Obasanjo) deny that we wined and dined together in the past? Can he deny knowledge of my closeness to his daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, especially during the events leading to the 2011 general elections? Can he deny that he introduced me to some leaders of the PDP in the South West, such as the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade; his Agric counterpart, Dr. Adesina Akinwunmi; and Mr. Segun Oni, among others, as his political son in whom he is well pleased?
“Can he deny that he did not introduce me to the former acting Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje and other officials of the PDP-led federal government during the events leading to the 2011 general elections, especially as it relates to Ogun State and my role in the whole scenario? Can he deny that he openly praised me to high heavens at various public fora and rallies, including during the reception I organised for the former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye (JMK)? Why is it that it is now that he is calling me names and blaming the Presidency for condoning me? What offence have I committed?”
“I am not ashamed to say ex-President Obasanjo was my adopted political father and I was also his adopted political godson. We were partners. We planned and executed many things together. When it was convenient for him, I was his right hand.”
There is Speculation that the chieftain’s friendship with Senator Iyabo Obasanjo could be part of the reasons she decided to turn the heat on her father in the much Publicised letter. NigerianEcho checks show that Kashamu and Iyabo are very close and maintain cordial relationship despite what the former President wrote about the Kashamu.
