Jonathan Under Pressure From Kinsmen To Tame Obasanjo, Others
Indications have emerged that President Goodluck Jonathan was under pressure by his Ijaw kinsmen in the Niger Delta to compel the anti-graft agencies to initiate corruption charges against former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
It was learnt that the Ijaw leaders were of the opinion that the former president was becoming over-bearing and asked President Jonathan to tame him and other leaders of the opposition groups ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Findings showed that Jonathan was being prompted to probe the Obasanjo administration from 1999 to 2007 in order to whittle down the influence of the former head of state.
It was learnt that President Jonathan was asked to refrain from engaging in any verbal war with Obasanjo, but should direct the antigraft agencies to dust up some reports on his administration and initiate his trial for corrupt practices while in office.
The action, according to Jonathan’s kinsmen, should be designed o discredit the former president and dissuade him from galvanising the opposition towards Jonathan’s re-election.
Investigation further revealed that Jonathan was also advised to devise means of taming the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), especially former Head of State, Gen. Mohammed Buhari (rtd.) and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Already, it was learnt yesterday that this position had been communicated to the President by a prominent Ijaw leader (name withheld).
It was also learnt that the position of Jonathan’s kinsmen stemmed from the interim review of the 18-page letter written to him by the former president, in which the former head of state reviewed the state of the nation.
Investigations revealed that Jonathan’s kinsmen were not comfortable with the content of the letter, which they considered as “damaging.”
To this end, it was learnt that series of meetings of the various Ijaw groups had been slated for this week to formally dissect the letter and respond appropriately. Other Ijaw groups, especially Izon-Ikemi and Oporoza House, founded and funded by two prominent ex-militant commanders, Chief Tom Ateke and Chief Government Ekpemukpolo, alias Tompolo, respectively, are scheduled to meet this week to deliberate on the content of Obasanjo’s letter.
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