{"id":3741,"date":"2014-12-15T22:29:46","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T22:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=3741"},"modified":"2014-12-15T22:31:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T22:31:02","slug":"obasanjo-an-incorrigible-liar-fiction-writer-brig-gen-alabi-isama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=3741","title":{"rendered":"OBASANJO AN INCORRIGIBLE LIAR, FICTION WRITER: BRIG.GEN. ALABI-ISAMA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Obasanjo-dancing.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3742\" alt=\"Obasanjo dancing\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Obasanjo-dancing.jpg\" width=\"278\" height=\"181\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n* A retired Nigerian military officer offers an<br \/>\nunflattering response to Obasanjo\u2019s new book<br \/>\nObasanjo\u2019s Memoirs: My Watch: Alabi-Isama<br \/>\nsays it\u2019s all fiction<br \/>\nFrom his base in Ilorin, retired Brigadier<br \/>\nGodwin Alabi\u2014Isama this morning sent his<br \/>\nresponse to General Olusegun Obasanjo\u2019s three<br \/>\n\u2013volume memoir, \u2018\u2019My Watch\u2019\u2019<br \/>\nIn a telephone conversation, Alabi-Isama said<br \/>\nthat if he had read Obasanjo\u2019s book before it<br \/>\nwas presented in Lagos last Tuesday 9<br \/>\nDecember, he would have gone to the venue to<br \/>\nchallenge Obasanjo.<br \/>\nHe said \u2018\u2019the tragedy of our civil war is<br \/>\npainful, but that Obasanjo is publishing fiction<br \/>\nabout it is so outrageous. We should not allow<br \/>\nthis liar to get away with his self \u2013serving<br \/>\nlies.\u2019\u2019<br \/>\nHere is Alabi-Isama\u2019s response:<br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019m gravely pained to be trading words with<br \/>\nGeneral Olusegun Obasanjo once again on the<br \/>\nhistory of Nigeria-Biafra War. He is an elder<br \/>\nand a former ruler who, ordinarily, should be<br \/>\ntreated with utmost respect. But how can one<br \/>\ngenuinely respect an old man who tells lies like<br \/>\na badly raised child?<br \/>\nObasanjo has obviously not recovered from the<br \/>\nshock inflicted on him by my book, \u201dThe<br \/>\nTragedy of Victory\u201d in which I exposed the<br \/>\ntissues of lies in his civil war memoir, \u201dMy<br \/>\nCommand\u201d.<br \/>\nIt is said that a lie may travel for a thousand<br \/>\nmiles, but it takes just one step of truth to<br \/>\ncatch up with it. I\u2019m alive to stand up to him on<br \/>\nthe lies he has told on the war because I was a<br \/>\nmajor participant in it. I kept records. With<br \/>\nfacts and figures at my finger tips, I have<br \/>\ndebunked Obasanjo\u2019s lies in part three of my<br \/>\nbook, consisting of one hundred and sixty five<br \/>\npages, sixty nine pictures, thirteen military<br \/>\nstrategies and tactics, maps and documents.<br \/>\nThis was the same Obasanjo who published a<br \/>\nfake Federal Government gazette that I was<br \/>\nfound guilty by the Army when I was never<br \/>\ntried. I have proved that Obasanjo was an<br \/>\nincompetent commander. I have proved that he<br \/>\nwas a wily and cunning fellow, and an<br \/>\nincredible opportunist who reaped where he did<br \/>\nnot sow.<br \/>\n\u201cI have proved that he was an ingrate and a<br \/>\nhypocrite. More importantly, I have proved that<br \/>\nhe was a coward, who ran away from the war<br \/>\nfront to go and look for phantom ammunition.<br \/>\nRather than respond to my claims the way a<br \/>\ngallant officer should, he has now responded<br \/>\nlike a motor-park tout, impugning my person<br \/>\nand questioning my ethnic lineage. I never said<br \/>\nI was from Ibadan. I only schooled there.<br \/>\nGeneral Obasanjo, this bolekaja style is so<br \/>\ndemeaning. You live in a glass house, so stop<br \/>\nthrowing stones. We, who have facts, pictures<br \/>\nand documents, meticulously kept over the<br \/>\nyears, can tell the whole world one or two<br \/>\nthings about you.<br \/>\n\u201cHave a look at this attached picture at your<br \/>\nwedding to your first wife Remi. When the<br \/>\nphotographer wanted to take the picture of the<br \/>\nbride and groom and their parents, you said a<br \/>\nfew things about your parents which I still<br \/>\nremember. It was only Remi\u2019s mother that took<br \/>\nthe picture with us. Please, don\u2019t mess with the<br \/>\nmemory of my dear parents. You know my<br \/>\nmother, an Ilorin woman, and you also saw her<br \/>\nat the war front. She told me who my father<br \/>\nwas and she spoke his language, and took me to<br \/>\nhis home town when he died. I went to primary<br \/>\nschool in Owu, so I know your family very well.<br \/>\nYou should be honest enough to tell the world<br \/>\nthe story of the man who was your father. I<br \/>\ntold you and wrote in my book that any person<br \/>\nwho does not appreciate the efforts of women<br \/>\nhas had no good mother. Please, don\u2019t go<br \/>\nbeyond military tactics and strategies when<br \/>\ndealing with me.<br \/>\n\u201cYou say in volume three of your book \u201dMy<br \/>\nWatch\u201d that I could be in bed with a woman<br \/>\nwhile radioing my commander that I was in<br \/>\npursuit of rebels. Hundreds of thousands of<br \/>\nthose who have read my book \u201dThe Tragedy of<br \/>\nVictory\u201d\u2014-a six hundred and seventy-page<br \/>\nbook, complete with four hundred and fifty<br \/>\npictures and thirty nine military strategies and<br \/>\ntactics, maps and documents\u2014 will call you a<br \/>\nliar. I am so surprised and even embarrassed<br \/>\nthat a man of your status is still trading in<br \/>\ngutter rumours. An elder with a filthy mind, a<br \/>\nleader who lacks wisdom of age, does not<br \/>\ndeserve any respect.<br \/>\nI have proved that he was an ingrate and a<br \/>\nhypocrite. More importantly, I have proved that<br \/>\nhe was a coward, who ran away from the war<br \/>\nfront to go and look for phantom ammunition.<br \/>\nRather than respond to my claims the way a<br \/>\ngallant officer should, he has now responded<br \/>\nlike a motor-park tout, impugning my person<br \/>\nand questioning my ethnic lineage. I never said<br \/>\nI was from Ibadan. I only schooled there.<br \/>\nGeneral Obasanjo, this bolekaja style is so<br \/>\ndemeaning. You live in a glass house, so stop<br \/>\nthrowing stones. We, who have facts, pictures<br \/>\nand documents, meticulously kept over the<br \/>\nyears, can tell the whole world one or two<br \/>\nthings about you<br \/>\n.<br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019m the same Godwin Alabi- Isama that<br \/>\ncommanded the troops that liberated today\u2019s<br \/>\nCross River State in thirty days of battle from<br \/>\nCalabar to Obubra with no single casualty. This<br \/>\nis the same Alabi- Isama that advanced 480<br \/>\nkilometres in 30 days from Calabar to Port<br \/>\nHarcourt, liberating today\u2019s Akwa Ibom, Rivers<br \/>\nand Bayelsa States with 35,000 men and women<br \/>\nwith 15000 on logistics, building roads and<br \/>\npontoons, with 8 men and 2 officers as my<br \/>\ncasualties. Obasanjo ordered the attack of<br \/>\nOhoba, a mere 24 miles from Owerri, in one<br \/>\nhour of battle, more than 1000 Nigerian<br \/>\nsoldiers were dead.<br \/>\n\u201cObasanjo claims that when I once played<br \/>\nsquash with him, I cheated. This incredible liar<br \/>\nhas forgotten that there were witnesses to that<br \/>\ngame. Those witnesses are still alive, and they<br \/>\nremember what really happened. I played<br \/>\nsquash with him once in my life. He could not<br \/>\nmake a point because I was not one of his<br \/>\nsycophants who would allow him to win a game<br \/>\njust to massage his huge ego. Look, General<br \/>\nObasanjo, there was no way you could have<br \/>\nbeaten me in any game. You do not have the<br \/>\nphysique and agility to do that. Apart from<br \/>\nbeing a popular sports man and soccer captain<br \/>\nin Ibadan Boys High School, I was Sports<br \/>\nOfficer in the Nigerian Army, playing games<br \/>\nfrom soccer to tennis, athletics etc. You never<br \/>\nplayed any games at school let alone in the<br \/>\nArmy. If you had been diligent at your physical<br \/>\nexercises as we were taught to be, your<br \/>\nprotruding tummy would not have become a<br \/>\nbutt of joke to many officers and men of the<br \/>\nArmy.<br \/>\n\u201cGeneral Obasanjo may try but he cannot<br \/>\ndeny the evidence of the civil war tragic<br \/>\nhistory. While he got over a thousand soldiers<br \/>\nkilled at Ohoba, myself, Alani Akinrinade, and<br \/>\nthe brilliant and hardworking Pincer Team of<br \/>\nOla Oni, Iluyomade, Isemede, S.S. Tomoye,<br \/>\nSalawu, Okwarobo, Sunny Tuoyo, etc did a<br \/>\nbetter job at the Third Marine Commando. I<br \/>\nhave stated how it was done in \u201dThe Tragedy<br \/>\nof Victory,\u201d by writing to set the Civil War<br \/>\nrecords straight. Obasanjo says I only wanted<br \/>\nto make money that was why I wrote my book,<br \/>\nafter all I was broke. I thank Obasanjo for<br \/>\nunwittingly giving credit that I did not steal<br \/>\nmoney in the Army. I believe that this country<br \/>\nNigeria ought to know by now all the crooks<br \/>\nparading themselves as saints. Now I know why<br \/>\nObasanjo was surprised at my financial<br \/>\nsuccesses abroad, and then sent his wife Stella<br \/>\nof blessed memory to me. She was my guest in<br \/>\nHouston Texas for a week. We have video and<br \/>\npictures of the visit with witnesses like Jack<br \/>\nGonsoulin, Rod Anthony, and Tom Britton.<br \/>\n\u201cI challenge Obasanjo to a debate on military<br \/>\ntactics and strategies on the Nigerian Civil<br \/>\nWar. He wrote about his team. Who were they?<br \/>\nGeorge Innih went the wrong way to Arochukwu<br \/>\nwhen Akinrinade needed reinforcement for the<br \/>\nfinal battle to capture Uli Ihiala airport.<br \/>\nAkinrinade told him that he would shoot George<br \/>\nInnih anytime he showed up. Where was<br \/>\nObasanjo\u2019s fake Apollo Battalion that operated<br \/>\nbehind enemy lines, when he could not capture<br \/>\nOhoba? When Akinrinade called him that<br \/>\nBiafra troops had surrendered to him and the<br \/>\nPincer team, Obasanjo, who was coming from a<br \/>\nparty, got lost looking for them, as he did not<br \/>\nknow where to go and did not know the way to<br \/>\nAmichi.<br \/>\n\u201cI challenge Obasanjo to a debate on military<br \/>\ntactics and strategies on the Nigerian Civil<br \/>\nWar. He wrote about his team. Who were they?<br \/>\nGeorge Innih went the wrong way to Arochukwu<br \/>\nwhen Akinrinade needed reinforcement for the<br \/>\nfinal battle to capture Uli Ihiala airport.<br \/>\nAkinrinade told him that he would shoot George<br \/>\nInnih anytime he showed up. Where was<br \/>\nObasanjo\u2019s fake Apollo Battalion that operated<br \/>\nbehind enemy lines, when he could not capture<br \/>\nOhoba? When Akinrinade called him that<br \/>\nBiafra troops had surrendered to him and the<br \/>\nPincer team, Obasanjo, who was coming from a<br \/>\nparty, got lost looking for them, as he did not<br \/>\nknow where to go and did not know the way to<br \/>\nAmichi.<br \/>\n\u201cI am not qualified to comment on Obasanjo\u2019s<br \/>\npolitical achievements, if any, for this country.<br \/>\nThe people and posterity will do that. There is<br \/>\nno president in this country that he has not<br \/>\ncondemned. Haba! He always thinks that he<br \/>\nhas the preserve of knowledge on how to rule<br \/>\nthis country. Did the country move forward<br \/>\nwhen he was Head of State or President? He<br \/>\ndestroyed the heart of the national security.<br \/>\nWe can see the result today. He destroyed<br \/>\neducation in many ways. We see the result<br \/>\ntoday. He destroyed a lot of other things.<br \/>\n\u201cAs for how he has treated his family shabbily,<br \/>\nhis wife and children have openly made their<br \/>\ncomments. Those comments are in public domain<br \/>\ntoday and forever, even though Obasanjo<br \/>\ncleverly brushes them aside in his current book.<br \/>\n\u201cI implore Obasanjo to stop lying before he<br \/>\ndies.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>* A retired Nigerian military officer offers an unflattering response to Obasanjo\u2019s new book Obasanjo\u2019s Memoirs: My Watch: Alabi-Isama says it\u2019s all fiction From his base in Ilorin, retired Brigadier Godwin Alabi\u2014Isama this morning sent his response to General Olusegun Obasanjo\u2019s three \u2013volume memoir, \u2018\u2019My Watch\u2019\u2019 In a telephone conversation, Alabi-Isama said that if he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[155,156],"class_list":["post-3741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-brigadier-godwin-alabi-isama","tag-general-olusegun-obasanjo"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Obasanjo-dancing.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-Yl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3743,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741\/revisions\/3743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}