By Tunde Odesola
On June 26, 2012, when the Ekiti governorship election was two years and four months away, Ebora Fayose, with the coals of ambition burning in his heart, set forth at dawn by writing a letter from his country home at No. 1, Odo-Ode Street, Afao-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Fayose sent the seven-paragraph letter to Agbe L’Oba House, Quarry Road, Ibara, P.O.Box 2286, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, the cave of the Balogun of Owu, Ebora Obasanjo, who keeps grudges and gunpowder warm.
Fayose’s letter read, “Dear Baba,
“There is no denying the fact that my relationship with you has gone sour as a result of my action and inaction, which have definitely caused you embarrassment in public, and this has marred our very good father-son relationship in the past.
“I take responsibility for my overreaction and disrespect to your person, which is most regretted. I am indeed sorry.
“I pray that God will give you the grace to let go of the past, knowing full well that I am human and therefore not infallible, especially considering the circumstances surrounding my removal from office.
“To further buttress my willingness to seek peace with you, I could recall that I had made several efforts to this effect by consulting your close allies in the persons of Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), Chief Omilani, and Pastor Oyedepo, among others.
“Lastly, kindly disregard all insinuations or political blackmail suggestive of my doing or saying anything contradicting my present disposition as contained in this letter.
“My reconciliation with your good self may not go down well with some of my political opponents, but you remain the father of all.
“My wife sends her greetings.”
With high regards.
Signed: Ayo Fayose.
In a four-paragraph letter, Obasanjo, on July 18, 2012, wrote to Fayose, saying, “Dear Ayo, I write to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated June 26, 2012, pleading with me to forgive you, as you put it, for your action and inaction which have caused me embarrassment in public.
“As for the embarrassment and personal insult to me, forgiveness is divine, and I will not withhold forgiveness since I believe that God will not withhold forgiveness for my inadequacies.
“However, for me, the personal aspect can be handled by me, but the party aspect has to be handled by the local, state and national levels of the Party.
“I wish you all the best and God’s blessing.
Yours sincerely,
Signed: Olusegun Obasanjo.
The exchange of letters between Afao-Ekiti and Ibara-Abeokuta in 2012 signalled the official cessation of hostilities after the two-time Ekiti governor and the three-time Nigerian ruler had clashed during the 60th birthday anniversary of a former Osun Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, held in Okuku, in February 2011.
But some scars do not disappear even after they heal. A governor, who was scurried out of the Ekiti State Government House, Ado-Ekiti, in the booth of a car like a bag of garri Ijebu, would never forget the ordeal. Neither would an elder publicly insulted by a younger fellow. So, both Obasanjo and Fayose seethed in controlled animosity against each other. Years after his controversial removal from power in the early morning of December 15, 2006, over alleged corruption in a state government-owned poultry business, Fayose contested his removal from office, and the Supreme Court, in April 2015, declared his impeachment illegal.
Fayose, who walked into the dining room of Oyinlola, where political giants like former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida; then-Oyo State Governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, etc, were being fêted, snubbed Obasanjo while greeting other leaders. The birthday boy, Oyinlola, noticed the insult and quickly went to Fayose and asked, “Did you not see Baba Obasanjo?”
“Obasan-who? I don’t know anyone by that name,” Fayose said flatly. “I hope you’re not blind,” Oyinlola countered with jocular seriousness, and added firmly, “Ayo, go and greet Baba before you sit down.” Obasanjo heard the dialogue. And he fired a verbal shot: “I don’t know bastards, too.” If the bullet hit Fayose, he didn’t show it. He only fired back, “You’re a bastard, too!”
After the Okuku exchange came the two letters of apology and acceptance. Two years after the letter-inducing ceasefire, Fayose coasted home to a famous victory in the Ekiti governorship election of October 16, 2014, defeating the incumbent governor, Gentleman Kayode Fayemi, by a stretch. Thus, Fayose became the poster boy of the PDP in the South-West, while Obasanjo maintained his title as the party’s godfather and disciplinarian-in-chief.
As the 2015 general elections approached, Obasanjo turned into a thorn in the flesh of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, publicly tearing his PDP membership card, and endorsing the late President Muhammadu Buhari as a better candidate for the 2015 presidential election.
In his controversial three-volume book, My Watch, which was presented to the public on December 9, 2014, at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, Lagos, Obasanjo describes Jonathan as clueless, weak and selfish, even as he reserves uncharitable words for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a former Governor of Delta State, Mr James Ibori; and a former Governor of Kwara, Bukola Saraki, among other PDP chiefs.
A national chieftain of the PDP, Buruji Kashamu (now deceased), who hailed from Ogun State like Obasanjo, went to an Abuja High Court, where he obtained an order to stop the book’s release, claiming it was fraught with libellous claims. As a result of his loyalty to the PDP and financial muscle, Kashamu emerged as the axehead of the pro-Jonathan group against Obasanjo within the Ogun PDP. The book’s public presentation became the subject of intense national political debate as fever-pitch fear gripped the polity over Obasanjo’s safety. The Jonathan government did not shut down the venue of the book launch as anticipated. I was an eyewitness in the audience.
So, when Kashamu died on August 8, 2020, Obasanjo sent a letter of condolence to the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun. It read, “I received the sad news of the demise of Senator Esho Jinadu (Buruji Kashamu), a significant citizen of Ogun State. Please accept my condolences and those of my family on the irreparable loss.
“The life and history of the departed have lessons for those of us all on this side of the veil. Senator Esho Jinadu (Buruji Kashamu), in his lifetime, used the manoeuvre of law and politics to escape facing justice in Nigeria and outside Nigeria. But no legal, political, cultural, social or even medical manoeuvre could stop the cold hand of death when the Creator of all of us decides that the time is up.
“May Allah forgive his sin and accept his soul into Aljannah, and may God grant his family and friends fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”
Signed: Olusegun Obasanjo.
Not a few Nigerians saw Obasanjo’s letter to Abiodun as insincere and sarcastic because of its tone. It is also not on public record that Obasanjo sent a letter of condolence to Kashamu’s family, fuelling the allegation that vindictiveness, and not grief, was the inspiration behind the condolence letter.
As PDP governor in Ekiti, Fayose queued up behind Jonathan, attacking Obasanjo for alleged anti-party activities, saying the former president behaved as though he owed Nigeria. Thus, the two frenemies left the path of peace again and pitched their camps at opposing ends. In an eternal tug-of-war, two eboras forcefully grabbed the same pair of trousers; each thrust his foot in one leg of the trousers, one leg in, one leg out, each struggling, each pushing, each tugging and staggering, whipping up dust in a battle of self-interest. Unmistakably, the battle line was drawn in blood red colour.
Jonathan lost his re-election bid and went back to the creek quietly. The PDP won’t forgive Obasanjo; he’s the architect of their misfortune. Fayose continued to lambast Obasanjo, calling him a corrupt, manipulative and egocentric leader. He demanded a refund of the money he donated on behalf of Ekiti State to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, saying PDP governors were arm-twisted by Obasanjo to donate state funds to the library, a claim Obasanjo had refuted.
During his first coming as governor, Fayose, fiercely loyal to Obasanjo, climbed a table inside the hallowed chamber of the Osun State House of Assembly venue of the South-West regional hearing on constitutional amendment, ordering out activists like the late Bamidele Aturu, Abiodun Aremu (deceased), and a host of others, who had stormed the sitting, protesting that the hearing was a ruse to guage the people’s feeling on a third term for Obasanjo. South-West PDP governors, deputy governors, senators, House of Reps members, ministers, speakers, etc, were present at the event. I was an eyewitness.
The above-painted scenario was the state of affairs between Obasanjo and Fayose until the latter turned 65, and he decided to call on Nigerians from all walks of life to celebrate with him. Speaking with me on the phone, Fayose said, “Excuse me, sir, I don’t want to discuss Obasanjo anymore because we are all going to become history one day. But we must be mindful of our legacy. What is wrong with turning 65 and reaching out to everyone to celebrate with you? He wasn’t the only person I invited. Is there a sin in that? I told Osita (Chidoka), who gave me his (Obasanjo) number. I called and informed him about my birthday; he said he wished to come, but that he was out of the country, and I sent him $20,000, only for him to come and start abusing me at my birthday party. I’m not contesting any election. What do I need him for? I do not regret everything I said.”
The Ebora Owu has kept mute over Fayose’s outburst. “A knife cuts the child’s finger, the child flings the knife away. Has the knife not achieved its goal?” Obasanjo’s silence seems to say.
Looking beyond the theatrics of the cat-and-mouse fight between the two leaders, an ominous cloud of bad leadership examples descends, nudging me back to the twin metaphors of accident and misfortune upon which this article is predicated. I repeat, many Nigerian leaders arrive in office by accident, and many are a misfortune in office. Nigeria’s democracy is the government of the few, by the few, for the few.
Many National Assembly members, including Osun-born Senator Ṣola Adeyeye, had come out to say that Obasanjo gave millions of naira to federal legislators to accommodate a third term in the constitution. Adeyeye, who said he didn’t collect the N70 million shared to each legislator, maintained that Obasanjo sought a third term in office.
Fayose jumping on the table and ordering policemen to chase out human rights activists during the constitution amendment hearing in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, showed he was an accomplice, ready to do anything to subvert the Constitution for the President’s interest. This is the misfortune of Nigerian democracy.
The latest outburst between Fayose and his former godfather wasn’t a clash of morality. No. It was a fight of ego, revenge, and self-righteousness. Both clothes are cut from the same cloth, both are dyed deep.
Probably wanting to finally bury the hatchet, Fayose thought 65 was the age to retire from war, but Obasanjo was not only the Balogun of Owu Kingdom, but he was also a war-tested Aloku Soja (Old Soldier), with an unforgetful brain, a tribute some say makes him unforgiving. Ara Owu ki i ranro, awi menu kuro ni t’Owu.
I think Obasanjo was utterly wrong to collect $20,000 from Fayose and board a plane from Rwanda to deliver a baggage of insults at Fayose’s birthday. Fayose going to Obasanjo’s house to invite him was a show of repentance, and OBJ’s acceptance to grace the occasion should have been an enduring lesson in forgiveness. But Obasanjo flunked the opportunity.
Like a foxy old soldier, Obasanjo had his revenge strategy pre-planned. His enumeration of Fayose’s sins on a sheet of paper and his choosing to be the last speaker at the event all evidenced his mission. Either to show purpose or charge himself up, Baba Iyabo, at 88 years of age, ran up the stage, waving Juju legend, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, to cut the music. And he began his sermon on the mountain.
Was Fayose’s outburst wrong? I don’t think so, because he didn’t make his response public. Obasanjo did. Who wouldn’t be annoyed? Obasanjo didn’t blast Fayose alone; he lambasted his wife, too, saying the couple lacked integrity – Enyi mejeji e ki i se Omoluabi. What did Ebora Obasanjo expect to get from Ebora Fayose? A bunch of roses? Fayose crowned him with a garland of thorns, instead.
Both Obasanjo and Fayose are leaders whose decisions have impacted the lives of the Nigerian masses, either positively or negatively. Both are community leaders. Both are family men with wives and children. One is in combat with his children in his nuclear family. The other is at war with his siblings in his extended family. Both are our leaders. At various times, they decided the fate we live today.
* Concluded.
Written by Tunde Odesola and first published in The PUNCH, on Friday, November 28, 2025)
Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com
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