As could have happened to every other father, former Nigerian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has been left devastated by the open letter written to him by his daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo.

News Express learnt that whereas his first son Gbenga years ago exposed him to a bigger public ridicule by claiming that he slept with his wife, the 76 years old Obasanjo is more pained by Iyabo’s action as she is not only his first child but also his favourite. A source told News Express that the war veteran had in the past openly boasted that even if every other person did not like him and abandoned him, Iyabo would always stick with him and ensure that he gets a befitting burial whenever he dies.

It was therefore a massive shock to Chief Obasanjo when in an 11-page explosive letter dated December 16, 2013 Senator Iyabo Obasanjo publicly derobed him, accusing him of being a liar, manipulator, wife-basher and hypocrite who was desperate for a third term despite his denials to the contrary.

The letter, exclusively obtained by Vanguard newspaper, has dominated national discourse since its publication yesterday morning. Vanguard in an update this morning reported how furious Obasanjo was when approached for his reaction to the letter.

It said the retired army general “was furious” and “hurled invectives at the newspaper.” According to the report, the exchange between the two went 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).

Vanguard is not only standing by its story but reports that Senator Obasanjo while speaking with the paper yesterday “flayed the orchestrated attempt in the social media by a network of associates of her father to separate her from the letter.”

The paper quoted Iyabo as disclosing that she decided to write the open letter to her father because she had given up on her father ever changing from his old ways.