Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration of inducing Iyabo Obasanjo to write the well-publicised Open letter against him.

In his yet-to-be-released three-part volume of his memoirs titled My Watch, which was exclusively obtained by an online journal; The Cable Alert, Obasanjo said he has been warned that “this administration” was attempting to induce two of his daughters to do a “dirty job” and that he warned both of them against it. Obasanjo said Iyabo succumbed to the advances because of “her character” and “the influence of her mother” who is the retired General’s first wife.

Obasanjo has remained silent since Iyabo’s open letter to him was published in the media, but has now responded in volume one of the three-volume memoirs. Obasanjo wrote: “I got a warning that this administration was attempting to induce two of my daughters, including Iyabo, to do a dirty job. I warned them both against it, but because of her character, the influence of her mother and her attitude, Iyabo succumbed; the other daughter did not.

“I was warned about a former minister of finance, who wrote the reply for Jonathan, and about the writer of the letter to which E. K. Clark appended his signature. Iyabo’s letter and the response to it has been treated as a family issue, so that all the members of the family can be equipped with the other side of the story from me for posterity.

“If Iyabo was childish and unwise enough to allow her to be used, no other member of the family should allow himself or herself to be so used. Tolerance and acceptance of others must be practised in the face of any provocation, no matter how vile.”

In her letter exclusively published by Vanguard (Read the letter here), Iyabo, a former commissioner in Ogun state and former senator, recounted Obasanjo’s failings as a father and questioned his moral right to criticise others. “This is the end of my communication with you for life. I pray Nigeria survives your continual intervention in its affairs,” she wrote.

Obasanjo had written a highly critical letter to Jonathan titled “Before It Is Too Late” in which he raised issues about insecurity and corruption in the country.

He wrote: “You must hold yourself most significantly responsible for what happens or fails to happen in Nigeria and in any case, most others will hold you responsible and God who put you there will surely hold you responsible and accountable.” Obasanjo further repeated an allegation that Jonathan was training snipers to kill his political opponents.