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Tag: Open letter

  • Don’t rig the elections: An open letter to Uhuru Kenyatta from Nigeria – By Eferovo Igho

    Don’t rig the elections: An open letter to Uhuru Kenyatta from Nigeria – By Eferovo Igho

    Dear Mr Kenyatta,

    Please don’t rig the elections. Let Kenyans vote for the leader(s) of their choice.

    You don’t say ‘I will not hand over to so and so’, which you have said repeatedly and over time. That is a statement of chaos of unimaginable distractious consequence. The only way to achieve that is by rigging. And it is very disastrious.  Kenya is a democracy. Let the people give the mandate, and you handover. Even sane emperors know they don’t own a Nation.

    You were given the Presidency by the people and not by the highly esteemed Kibaki, who you apparently have learnt nothing from because of a dead political father whose instructions you are carrying out in the present Presidential race just to settle with his ‘political enemy’ all to safeguard his family which he feared may be dealt with for obvious reasons. It was a deal secondarily to avoid another Kalengin family competing with the Moi family.

    Didn’t my heart and spirit here in Nigeria go with you in all those meetings the said ‘political enemy’, the now dead man’s son, the now dead man (who incidentally is far the worst leader Kenya ever had and second worst in the Continent after Idi Amin Dada Oumee) and you were having before his demise? Didn’t we see from here why and how your Deputy was prevented by the man’s son from seeing the man at that time?

    Do the dead mandate? Let the living do. You have chosen a course that ordinarily you wouldn’t have taken before the so-called Handsake which came on the heels of those aforesaid meetings with the then old man. What may have been transferred in that Handshake may be as horrible as your actions since then. And it gives life to the many readings of some spiritual covenants made from Kisumu to Ramogi Hills, with Mama and baby present.

    Since then you helplessly care no more for your own thus playing perfectly the Biblical Ostrich, which please see: Job 39:13-18 (ESV):

    “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.”

    You’ve been acting proudly probably because of your family background forgetting that whatever it (that background) is, is by the courtesy of Kenyans, and whatever you are today is by same. You don’t own Kenya because you are President. Kibaki never own it. Kenya own the Presidents. So, never wave your wings so proudly like the Ostrich. Don’t delude Kenyans to think you love them. Your ‘pinions and plumage’ are not of love, but just like the Ostrich you are killing your ‘loved ones’ bringing many feet to crush and trample on them. That is what the evil handshake has done.

    You tried in a way I’m yet to understand to mutilate your Country’s Constitution spending to Everest the people’s money until a very dangerous ‘reggae’ was stopped. Your own Party, a National Party is not even today now sure of winning Kiambu County. You used your own hands to tear it apart and we watched from here dazed with our hands akimbo. Then your government came crashing down. Haba!  Did the evil powers you once castigated came on your unguarded hour? With bouyant economy handed over by Mai Kibaki setting the stage to becoming a ‘tiger’ nation, today the Kenyan nation is wallowing and suffocating under in debts.

    And then too, you attempted with no mean strange strength to cause total confusion in the Mt, among your own people. Rather than having that negative success, it is they who apparently knew you were confused and therefore stayed intact. They overcame the Ostrich spirit. Talk of how you are out to destroy your own: The list runs ad infinitum.

    Have you forgotten wisdom? Have you no more share of understanding? Of the Ostrich spirit I again allude to. Now is it the Country itself by acts of rigging you want to set on fire? Please don’t.

    For, we fear your alleged night meetings that are going on, you spiritedly denying opponents rally venues, fake opinion polls sponsored to shout out voodoo figures etc, and your repeated undemocratic audacity not to handover to a certain person are all harbingers of your plan: Rigging. What a bad way to set the stage for crises.

    Don’t you love Kenya your country. It is your own. Do you prefer one dead man who died in good oldage to lives of millions of Kenyans most of whom are in their tender age? And now to think of actualising any rigging plot will be the climax of playing the Biblical Ostrich. Please don’t. It does not augur with nations that do that.

    May I say parenthetically that the other day you were in Tanzania praising Magufuli to high heavens and said specifically too that he has taught Africa to govern without borrowing from foreign countries, even though you have carelessly borrowed from those places unceasingly, AND WORSE STILL, KEPT BORROWING AFTER THAT MAGUFULI PRAISES, AND STILL BORROWING.

    Visiting Kenya frequently in the years of Kibaki and seeing live what Kenya is in your days and worse still what has become of Kenya after that sorry Handshake, I am too saddened. Too bad. The only thing that is in tact now may well be your family. Your hands have destroyed what is yours. And today, Kenya is already bleeding.

    Don’t get it to bleed further. Let the people pick their leader by ballot – that is free, fare and transparent, which is why Chebukati is there. It is not your station. Please! Don’t allow the spirit of that old man control you from the grave. He is dead. Enough of this Kid-Presidency controlled by a ‘triumvirate’ of dead Moi, the Bondo man and Mama.

    DON’T RIG THE ELECTIONS IF YOU LOVE KENYA.  Please, please and please.

    God bless Kenya.

     

    Igho writes from Makurdi, Nigeria

  • Continued existence of Nigeria building up to dangerous time bomb, Anyim Pius Anyim tells Buhari in open letter

    Continued existence of Nigeria building up to dangerous time bomb, Anyim Pius Anyim tells Buhari in open letter

    Former President of the Senate, Anyim Pius Anyim has expressed his concerns over the recent security challenges in the country in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Pius who doubles as former Secretary to the Government of the Federation in the letter said the continued existence of Nigeria as an entity is daily threatened and has now gotten to a dangerous stage requiring urgent attention particularly from the president as the Commander-in-Chief.

    He enthused that the challenges are surmountable if the president can raise to the occasion by creating a plaftorm to hear Nigerians out.

    Read full letter below as obtained exclusively by TheNewsGuru.com, TNG.

    ANYIM PIUS ANYIM LLB, LLM

    3rd May, 2021

    Mohammedu Buhari, GCFR
    President
    Federal.Republic of Nigeria
    Aso Villa
    Abuja

    OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MOHAMMADU BUHARI.
    RE: THE STATE OF INSECURITY IN THE NATION:

    MY SUGGESTION

    Mr. President, you may recall that on the 5th of October, 2018, I had audience with you in your office. In that meeting, with your then Chief of Staff, the late Mallam Abba Kyari, in attendance, we touched on a number of issues including the insecurity in the country and about which you directed that I should do a short brief on my suggestion and forward to your Chief of Staff.

    Mr. President may wish to know that I did as you directed and submitted my suggestion to your then Chief of Staff on the 20th of October, 2018.

    I have decided to do this open letter just to be sure that it will get to you, because I suspect that the private one did not get to you. Most importantly, I would not have bothered to write you this letter if the unfortunate and avoidable circumstances we have found ourselves in, as a nation, have not continued to fester to the magnitude of threatening the fabric of the nation. This letter, therefore, is to reconvey my earlier suggestion which, I want to believe, did not get to you.

    PREAMBLE

    The perilous threats to our national sovereignty at the time you took over the reigns of power in 2015 were the Boko Haram insurgence in the North East; the armed agitation in the Niger Delta Region, and the IPOB agitation in the South East. Mr. President, on your assumption of office the most striking promise you made to the nation was to tackle insecurity with emphasis on reclaiming the territories occupied by Boko Haram. I must admit that you did approach the insecurity challenge with commendable determination but unfortunately, the challenge, with time, became hydra headed and no doubt went beyond your control.

    Before I proceed with my suggestion, may I first put in perspective the basis of the position I will canvass in this letter.

    I wish to note that every violent agitation originates from a non-violent agitation that was not attended to. Today, Nigeria is bedeviled with violent and non-violent agitations. It is also a fact that the current violent agitations originated from non-violent agitations e.g., Boko Haram started as a non-violent procession; the herders/farmers clashes which has degenerated into a deadly conflict with many states now bloody theaters of war; ethnic conflicts in Kaduna, Ebonyi, Cross River, Benue, Plateau states etc. which are escalating to an unmanageable scale; Armed Banditry in virtually all states of the federation particularly Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto which has overwhelmed the Law enforcement agencies, kidnapping which has become occupational in most parts of the country.

    To worsen matters, Boko Haram, has acquired new impetus that they now overrun the military and have even expanded their base to Niger State. IPOB has become a regional challenge. On the non-violent side, agitations for restructuring are scaling up in
    momentum, ethnic consciousness and allegiance even among the elite are far eroding national concerns. All these and many more coupled with gross downturn in the national economic, social and political space has become an apparent threat to our nationhood.

    I am to add, that it must be known that military actions or even foreign help alone cannot bring permanent solutions to ethnic conflicts or nationality agitations. Mr. President, you need to create a platform to hear Nigerians out.

    MY SUGGESTION

    THE SEARCH FOR SOLUTION MUST INVOLVE THE CITIZENS

    In the build-up to securing the Nigerian Independence, the Colonial Administration were confronted with reservations by minority tribes in the three regions of Northern, Eastern and Western Nigeria about fears of domination by the majority tribes. In other to find a lasting solution, the Colonial Administration appointed a commission to “ENQUIRE INTO THE FEARS OF MINORITIES AND MEANS OF ALLAYING THEM”.

    The Willink’s Commission of 1957, named after its chairman Mr. Harry Willink, produced a far-reaching report after extensive hearings of the complaints and suggestions from the people. It can be argued that no other document in the history of Nigeria has had far-reaching impact on our political structure than the Willink’s report. It guided the debates in subsequent constitutional conferences before the independence; gave structure to the emergent Constitutions and indeed gave health to the socio-political structure of the nation at independence.

    The greatest achievement of Willink’s Commission is that its report provided the colonial administration and the nation an in-depth understanding of the nature, dimensions and magnitude of the fears of the minority tribes. Accordingly, its recommended solutions became an official position and was easily accepted to be constitutionalised as a long-term measure.

    There is no gainsaying that reservations about the continued existence of Nigeria is building up to a dangerous time bomb. I make bold to say that no solution except one birthed by an independently conducted engagement with fact-based recommendations arrived at with the participation of the citizens will provide an enduring solution.

    The most outstanding recommendation of the Willink’s Commission as a long-time solution is the inclusion of a Fundamental Human Rights Chapter in the constitution. It was recommended that the inclusion of the Fundamental Human Rights Chapter in the constitution will protect all citizens, including the minority stock from any governmental and or majority bloc abuses. I must say at this point that it was the recommendations of the Willink’s commission that gave all the component groups in Nigeria the comfort to go into the union at independence.

    It has become apparent that the foundation of the various agitations in Nigeria today is that the comfort provided at independence by the Willink’s Commissions Report is no longer working. I make bold to recommend that Mr. President should make history by empaneling another commission of inquiry to inquire into the violent and non-violent agitations in Nigeria and make recommendations on the immediate-, short- and long-term solutions as a way of first de-escalating the rising tension in the land and a process for the renewal of our march to nationhood.

    It is important to note that in a democracy, no action is deemed successful or completed until the buy-in-of the people is secured through a democratic process. This buy-in- is an imperative that is yet to be pursued in the fight against violent agitations in Nigeria. I must say that as long as the people are not part of the process of finding solutions to the conflicts, a permanent solution will be a mirage.

    THE BENEFITS OF SUCH A COMMISSION

    i. The de-escalation of the current tension in the country and creation of a platform for exchange of ideas.

    ii. It is a natural Governmental process of addressing challenges of public importance. The report of such a commission will put in proper perspective and provide basis for further action.

    iii. It will offer the citizenry the opportunity and platform to share their concerns and to be heard. This helps to build confidence and reduce animosity and mutual suspicion.

    iv. It identifies the immediate and remote causes of the current challenges and provide a framework for their resolution.

    v. Such a commission will aim not only to unravel the remote and immediate causes but also determine the various dimensions and define them accordingly. E.g. democratic agitations will be separated from violent crimes to the understanding of all. It will also capture the reasons for the agitations and the Justice thereto.

    vi. Such a Commission will propose immediate-, short- and long-term solutions and develop a roadmap towards addressing them. Such roadmap used as a national reference document would guide further interactions and process for implementation.

    vii. Such document will be the foundation for a new Nigeria anchored on negotiated settlement derived from the legitimacy bestowed by citizen participation and the credibility of the commission.

    Above is submitted for your kind consideration Sir.

    Anyim Pius Anyim, GCON.
    Former Senate President
    Federal Republic of Nigeria

  • An Open Letter to the Newly Appointed Nigerian Ambassador to the United States of America, By Alvan Amadi

    An Open Letter to the Newly Appointed Nigerian Ambassador to the United States of America, By Alvan Amadi

    By Fr. Alvan I. Amadi

    Dear Ambassador Emenike,

    It is with a sense of hope and excitement that I write this letter to you. First, I would like to offer my congratulations on your appointment as the first female Nigerian Ambassador to the United States of America. As a Nigerian citizen who resides in the United States, it is a source of immense pride that President Buhari saw fit to appoint an experienced diplomat like you to represent our country to the government of the United States.

    Years ago, our country was referred to as ‘the giant of Africa.’ Some might argue – with varying degrees of persuasiveness — that this appellation is still valid. Those who insist on our maintaining this title are quick to remind everyone that we are the most populous African nation as well as Africa’s highest oil-producing nation. Undoubtedly, this situation affords our country considerable political influence and status in the world. We think of ourselves as the proverbial head of the cow that is never invisible in the cooking pot. Put simply, due to the size of the geo-political space occupied by our country in Sub-Saharan Africa, it matters who the Nigerian president sends as envoy to any country. This is especially true when we are talking of the United States of America, which is a nation that is not known to be shy to wield its enormous economic, technological, scientific and geo-political power and influence on the global stage.

    As you would perhaps agree, ambassadors not only represent their countries to foreign governments, they also, in a certain sense, symbolize their countries in their places of assignment. This is where ambassadors and presidents share similar characteristics because just as presidents should embody and articulate, among other things, the hopes and dreams of their citizens, ambassadors – to a lesser degree — do the same. The very presence and persona of the envoy speaks volumes. Hence the role of the Ambassador is one that is hugely consequential. As the Canadian communication theorist, Marshall McLuhan, posited long ago regarding communication (and this can also apply to diplomacy), “the medium is the message.” After the death of the former Nigerian Ambassador, Justice Sylvanus Nsofor who died in office last December at the venerable age of 85, it is refreshing to know that the Nigerian Mission in the United States now has a new head.

    In your previous diplomatic post, Madam Ambassador, you served as our country’s representative in Ireland. Students of Nigerian history remember that it was the Irish Missionaries who brought Christianity to our shores in the latter part of the 19th century. These intrepid men and women of faith also built mission schools and hospitals, which offered a lifeline of progress and development to many in our country. This is not to say that our country’s relationship with Ireland was without complications. Despite this complex history, however, our Nation and the Republic of Ireland share a bond that is strong and lasting. Your mission in Ireland was a significant contribution to nurturing that relationship and, by many accounts, it was a success.

    I am also reminded that in the same country where you previously served as Ambassador, a Nigerian prelate, in the person of Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo serves as the Vatican envoy also known as the Apostolic Nuncio to the Irish Republic. On days when one struggles to find kindling for the flames of national pride, the thought of you and Archbishop Okolo serves as a needed shot in the arm. Both of you, as well as many other compatriots excelling in their fields of endeavor are testament to the qualities of talent, intelligence and grit that inhabit the Nigerian mind.

    As I rejoice in your appointment and what it means for the future of our country to be represented by an experienced and skilled diplomat in the United States of America, I would also like to bring a few issues to your attention. These have to do with the Nigerian consulates here in the United States. Living in the United States for the last few years first as a student and then as a permanent resident, I have had to contact and visit the Nigerian consulates in their different locations to renew my Nigerian passport. This letter has been inspired by my experiences and those of others I know with the consulate staff.

    Many Nigerians I know have recounted their less than desirable experiences trying to reach the embassy by phone. There are times when the phone will ring endlessly during normal business hours without being answered. This may go on for several consecutive days. On other occasions calls will get transferred to a voicemail system where the requested person’s mailbox is full and a message cannot be left. If one is lucky, and actually gets a live person on the other end of the line, their response is as if one’s inquiry was a rude interruption to their day. This type of treatment in no way represents our great country. Perhaps those who work in these positions should be required to take classes in how to communicate effectively both personally and professionally.

    Timely communication with Nigerian citizens who have appointments at the Embassy also needs attention. We all know that 2020 was marked by COVID -19. The myriad impacts of the pandemic were felt by every segment of society. I know of a Nigerian whose appointment for passport renewal had to be canceled three times because an Embassy staff was exposed to the virus. While I understand the importance of this measure, which was to ensure the health and safety of all involved, the issue in question was that the individual was never contacted by either phone or email to inform them of the cancelation. Announcing the cancelation on the website alone, perhaps the day before the appointment was scheduled to take place, without contacting the individuals affected, is not enough. A friend of mine recently shared with me his experience of driving for hours to the Embassy on the day of his appointment, only to learn that the Embassy computer used in the production of new passports had been out of order for weeks. Hence, he was not attended to. These actions reflect not only a lack of respect for Nigerian citizens but also the incompetence of those who are in charge.

    Lastly, most Nigerians prepare for their appointments by downloading the necessary information from the website of the Nigerian Consulate. Sometimes and unbeknownst to them, updates with great significance had been made but never corrected on the website. How does this get overlooked? Are the individuals responsible held accountable? This sort of negligence must no longer be allowed to pass unnoticed. Significant changes must be instituted to assure a smooth process for all involved. Perhaps one of the major tasks in your new diplomatic post will be to lead the charge in promoting a healthier organizational culture and in establishing clearer lines of responsibility and measures of accountability. I am convinced that we can and should do better.

    Former President Barack Obama in his widely acclaimed memoir, “A Promised Land”, writes about the responsibilities of leadership at the highest level. His words address the duties of a president, but they also apply in varying degrees to leaders everywhere. “As President” he observes, “I would be able to articulate a vision and set a direction for the country; promote a healthy organizational culture and establish clear lines of responsibility and measures of accountability. I would be the one who made the final decisions on issues that rose to my attention…” As the head of the Nigerian delegation, you, Madam Ambassador, are better able than any other person to handle and hopefully resolve these matters.

    As I am sure you will agree, rendering a competent and efficient service to the citizens of our country should be ordinary and a matter of course. It should not be newsworthy that one received prompt and polite assistance at the consulate of one’s home country. For years now, however, members of the Nigerian community in the United States have put up with these indignities. Dealing with the Nigerian Embassy has long been regarded as an unpleasant experience at best and a necessary evil at worst. But does it have to be like this?

    Your appointment and your track record offer great hope that positive change will not be long in coming. In a country like ours that boasts of a cadre of accomplished and outstanding female leaders who have left their mark on our nation’s history: Dora Akunyili, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, Oby Ezekwesili, Onyeka Onwenu, Dorothy Ipere, Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and many others, I am confident that we shall not hope in vain.

    My hope is mingled with excitement that with your appointment as the first female ambassador of our country to the United States, it will no longer be newsworthy in the future that a woman is at the head of a prominent and sensitive diplomatic position like the one to which you have been assigned. This may seem like a small and insignificant step in the grand scheme of things, especially when a woman serves as the Vice President of the United States, another woman as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and women are Supreme Court Judges as well as heads of Fortune 500 companies, but it is a giant leap in the unfolding story of our great country.

    I wish you every success in your new diplomatic post.

    Sincerely yours,

    Fr. Alvan I. Amadi

    Fr. Alvan I. Amadi is a Catholic Priest and a writer serving in Algoma Wisconsin, USA.

  • #EndSARS: Genevieve Nnaji writes open letter to President Buhari

    #EndSARS: Genevieve Nnaji writes open letter to President Buhari

    Award-winning actress Genevieve Nnaji has written an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari over the call to end the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS).

    In the open letter, Genevieve recalled how her niece was harassed by SARS because she carried a laptop. She mentioned that the 13-year-old niece was slapped across her face.

    According to her, complaints were filed but nothing was done.

    ”Mr President, this is the current state of your country. The stability of a nation largely depends on its leader.

    ”Sir, you have had two terms. What our country is today is a reflection of your leadership. Your legacy.

  • Jurgen Klopp writes open letter to people of Liverpool

    Jurgen Klopp writes open letter to people of Liverpool

    Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has penned an open letter to the people of Liverpool – including Everton fans – after the Reds were confirmed Premier League champions.

    Klopp admits it was the first time he’d written to a newspaper, but felt moved by what the club has achieved.

    Published in the Liverpool Echo, the letter in part read: “I have the great privilege of being manager of Liverpool Football Club. It is a privilege that I carry with me every single day because I know that I am working for you. I knew that Liverpool was a special place before I came here almost five years ago but it is only when you get to know the people that you feel the city’s heartbeat and then you are able to realise just how special it is.

    “This does not only apply to Liverpool fans either. I am obviously biased because Liverpool is my club but I am not so biased that I cannot see that Everton fans are the other side of the same coin and that the rivalry that exists is so important to the city’s identity.

    “I know that this is not their favourite time and if roles were reversed it would not be our favourite time either but in Carlo Ancelotti, Everton have a great manager and a great person and I have no doubt in my mind that their improvement since he arrived will only continue. Everton is a great rival in every sense. I do not need anyone to remind me of this.

    “For us to finish above Everton and the 18 other Premier League clubs is an unbelievable achievement. I respect all of them because between us we combine to make English football so competitive and so compelling that people all around the world are captivated by it.”

     

  • Democracy Day: Edwin Clark writes open letter to Buhari on alleged injustices to South South

    LET US CALL A SPADE, A SPADE!

    OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, GCFR
    President and Commander-in-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria
    By Chief (Dr.) E. K. Clark, OFR, CON

    Mr. President,

    LET US CALL A SPADE, A SPADE!

    Let me, begin by, expressing earnest gratitude and appreciation to Mr. President, for congratulating me, both on my 92nd and 93rd Birthday anniversaries. I deeply cherish the thoughtful gesture, and the kind remarks. As Mr. President, rightly stated in the two congratulatory messages, I have rendered over 70 years of my life to the service of this country, starting from the age of 19. And it pleased the Almighty God to keep me up to this age, and in sound health. Accordingly, as long as, I live, I will continue to work for the good of this country, in any way, I find it possible.

    It is in that light, and in view of recent worrisome developments, that I am writing this letter to Mr. President on Democracy Day. The message herein, is a message of truth; encapsulating my thoughts, as well as, the feelings, dissentions, and remonstrations, of the people of the South South Geopolitical Zone, that I have been continuously inundated with.

    I have to state it, unequivocally, the way it is, for the sake of posterity, and in the interest of peace, unity, and progress of our dear country, Nigeria.

    And the truth, Mr. President, is that the South South Geopolitical Zone have not been treated fairly, by your administration, despite our contribution to the economy of the country. Let us call a spade, a spade!

    For reasons unknown to me, we have continued to witness discriminative, and unjust actions, against people of South South Extraction, under presidency, in the last five years.

    Why is it that people, particularly from the South South Zone, are being treated as if they are not Nigerians, as if they are foreigners, or as if they are second class Citizens, in their own country.

    Situations, whereby, people due confirmation for their positions, are being removed, and replaced with people from particular parts of the country, is not right.

    And the situations are getting too many. We are all Nigerians; we are entitled to be appointed to any position. If our people are not qualified, it is a different matter.

    Discrimination is a danger to any society, particularly, a plural society like ours.

    The recent events in the United States of America, over the ill-treatment meted to Afro-Americans; and the “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations across America, and around the world, should be a lesson to Nigeria; no nation is an island to itself.

    Mr. President, about two weeks ago, Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Rtd), former Military Governor of Kaduna State, wrote a similar letter to you. The gentleman, pertinently and rightly, drew your attention to the imbalances in your appointments, and warned of the dire consequences, to the nation when he said “I regret that there are no kind or gentle words to tell you that your skewed appointments into the office of the Federal Government, favouring some and frustrating others, shall bring ruin and destruction to the nation”.

    Colonel Umar’s perspective is very correct. But, instead of giving conscientious considerations to the issues raised by the retired Colonel, what we saw, were unguarded utterances against him, by some of your aides, and partisan loyalists. That was very sad and unfortunate.

    Today, it seems, the only qualifications for appointment in the federal civil service or public service, under your administration, are religion or ethnicity.

    Let me highlight, a few of the recent puzzling, and embarrassing, actions of Mr. President, which many have termed, targeted exclusion of the South South from TOP MANAGEMENT POSITIONS in critical sectors of the nation’s Public and Civil Service.

    Replacement of Acting Director General of Security and Exchange Commission, SEC

    Mrs. Mary Uduk, acted as Director-General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), for over two years, but Mr. President did not deem it fit to confirm her as substantive Director General of SEC. It will be recalled that this lady, from Akwa Ibom State, was appointed as acting Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission, by the former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, following staff reshuffling in the agency, in March 2018.

    In view of her track record of service, many in the sector, had expected that she would be confirmed as substantive Director General of the apex stock regulatory body. But, Mr. President, thought otherwise, and instead, replaced her with Lamido Yuguda, a retired staff of Central Bank of Nigeria, somebody from the North, who was a Commissioner working under her in the Commission.

    This is a very glaring instance, of the discrimination and unfair treatment against the people of the South South, we have been talking about.

    This woman has been part of the system; she has been at SEC for over thirty years. Why should she be treated that way? Was she found wanting in the discharge of her duties and responsibilities as Acting Director General?

    Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)

    Again, is the case of Mrs. Azuka Azinge. Mrs. Azinge who had worked at the CAC for about 10 years was appointed acting Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for about 2 years. Rather than confirming her appointment, charges were brought against her before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), that she maintains a domiciliary account, and that she was paid salaries and allowances which she was not entitled to, in an acting capacity, despite the fact the payments were approved by the Board of the Commission.

    In a manner unknown to extant laws, the Code of Conduct Tribunal “ordered the Minister for Trade & Industries to appoint a replacement for Mrs. Azinge”. In compliance to this “order” a letter dated 7th January, 2020, issued by the Minister of Trade & Industries, to Alhaji Garba Abubakar, from Bauchi State, who was a principal Manager and former Special Adviser to the former Registrar-General, appointing him the Registrar-General of the Commission. The whole essence of the case was to ridicule Mrs. Azinge, a South-Southerner from Delta State, and get her out of office, for a Northerner to take over.

    Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA

    Another worrisome appointment by Mr. President is that of the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.

    Dr. Dakuku Peterside from Rivers State was appointed DG of the Agency, in 2016, his term expired this year, he was not re-appointed.

    Unknown to, and without the input of the Minister of Transportation, under whose charge the Agency operates, Mr. President, appointed a Northerner, Bashir Jamoh, from Kaduna State, who was an executive director at the Agency, to replace Dr. Dakuku Peterside. Mr. Bashir Jamoh, is reportedly, a father-in-law to one of your aides.

    Meanwhile, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman, also from Kaduna State, was reappointed for another four years. The two agencies, NPA and NIMASA, are parastatals under the same Federal Ministry of Transportation. Hadiza Bala Usman of NPA, from Kaduna State, was reappointed for another four years, whereas, Dakuku Peterside from Rivers State, was not re-appointed. Worst still, replaced with a Northerner. What could be the logic behind this?

    Predictably, just a few days ago, Mr. President, renewed the appointment of the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Umar Garba Danbatta, which was done expressly, without any hullabaloo. Apparently, because he is from the Northern part of the Country.

    It is consequential, Mr. President, to further highlight that, we are yet to see a situation where Northerners have been removed and replaced with Southerners, like it was done in the case of NIMASA, and several other Agenencies.

    These situations give credence to suggestions of a Northernizing agenda of the Nation’s public service, by your administration; sacrificing merit, competency, sector experience, and geographical spread, at the altar of nepotism.

    The Situation in the Petroleum Industry

    Let me remind Mr. President, of what played out at the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, of the Ministry of Petroleum, last year. The man who was Director there, Mordecai Baba Ladan, from the North, attained the retirement age of 60 years in June, 2017, but he was retained till December, 2019. When he eventually left, consistent with the tendencies of your administration, Sarki Auwalu, also from the North, was appointed to that position. I was made to understand that, Mr. Auwalu, who was an Assistant Director, was appointed Director of the key regulatory Department, ahead of eight Deputy Directors.

    While, in the same petroleum industry, Roland O. Ewubare, who is from the South South, was moved from NAPIMS as Managing Director last year, another person from South South was not appointed to replace him. Rather, a Northerner was used to replace him, perhaps, because NAPIMS, like DPR, is said to be one of the strategic subsidiaries of the NNPC.

    Interestingly, on the other hand, when Roland O. Ewubare, was earlier, moved from Integrated Data Services Limited, he was replaced with someone from South South, in the person of Diepriye Tariah. I understand, Mr. Tariah, recently, disengaged from the service, and another South South person has been appointed to replace him.

    So it seems to me, there are positions in NNPC, reserved for people from the South South, and there are some other positions reserved for people from the Northern zone. Why the discrimination, and seeming snobbery?

    Space, and time, will not allow me, to exhaust the appalling injustices against the South South people, in the Oil and Gas industry alone.

    Mr. President will recall that I have written several Letters, both open and otherwise, to you on these issues.

    While our resources are being managed, and subjugated, mainly by people from other parts of the country, the people of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta, who bear the brunt of degradation, arising from the oil and gas exploratory activities, receive mere soupçons, and are rendered spectators of the oil business.

    Recently, the House of Representatives passed a Motion that the unusual deaths of humans and fishes in Bayelsa and Rivers States, possibly caused by oil pollution, should be investigated. These situations cannot be allowed to continue.

    Former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation

    Mr. President may wish to recall, the instance of the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, who happens to also come the South South, from Cross River State. A woman, who after several years in the Civil Service of the government of the federation, rose to become Permanent Secretary, and served meritoriously, in two or three ministries before, Mr. President, appointed her Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in October, 2015.

    Mr. President, while we do not condone corruption, the way that woman was treated, leaves a lot to be desired.

    This lady worked for four years, as Head of the Federal Civil Service, and she was loyal and committed to the presidency. Throughout that period of time, nobody said anything about her. Until, I understand, she had cause to disagree with the late Chief of Staff in the presidency, Mr. Abba Kyari. It was then, that they realized she was corrupt.

    When she decided to resign on her own, Mr. President, said no; that she should remain in office. Only to be later humiliated, and disgraced, and now being prosecuted on all sorts of charges. Why? Because she comes from the South South, which is, regarded as a disadvantaged Minority area, where its people can be exploited, ridiculed and maltreated, by anybody. She had nobody to protect her; so, as usual, they treated her in such a shabby manner. I repeat that, I am not supporting corruption, if there is any malfeasance on her part, she should be tried.

    The Case of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria

    That brings to mind, the way the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, he too from Cross River State, was treated as well. I recall, how we appealed, when Mr. President hesitated to confirm his appointment after his recommendation by the NJC. Until the Acting President at the time, forwarded the letter for his confirmation to the Senate.

    One had expected his confirmation would have ended the hatred against the jurist but for obvious political and other reasons, and perhaps, having regard to Mr. President’s reelection stratagem in 2019, this man was allowed to be harassed, humiliated, dehumanized, and disgraced, by less qualified, and far junior benchers, like the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, to the extent that, the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, was undignified.

    And Mr. President, unprecedentedly, without deference to the Constitutional provisions on the appointment of Chief Justice of Nigeria, appointed an Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria; a person who was later queried by the Nigerian Judiciary Council (NJC).

    And for no known reasons, the NJC, made up of senior jurists, surprisingly, without making any attempt to rectifying the situation, confirmed the unconstitutional appointment made by Mr. President.

    As a Lawyer of over 50 years standing, I was ashamed that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) could not live up to expectation. I do not know what they are afraid of.

    Mr. President, why is this being done to people who have faithfully served this nation, in their various positions. What is going on?

    The 16-Point Demand of the Niger Delta region

    The 16-Point Demand of the Niger Delta region drawn up after our intervention as leaders of the region with the Niger Delta Avengers, for which, I led a 100 – Member Delegation including First Class Traditional Rulers of the region, and which had in attendance Governors of the region, to Mr. President on the 1st of November, 2016, is yet to be attended to.

    The Presidential Amnesty Program has now become everybody’s affair in Nigeria. These situations are unacceptable.

    The construction of the East-West Road has been abandoned. Recent news reports show the deplorable nature of the road. Motorists and travellers are stock and stranded in the Bayelsa axis, an unmanageable gridlock of trucks and other vehicles has formed stretching to several kilometers. A journey of between 15 and 20 minutes, now last for hours un-end. Same is happening at the Akwa-Ibom/Cross River axis. The East-West Road is undoubtedly the haulage route of the nation’s economy; yet it is a project not qualified as a priority project for the monies recovered from Gen. Sani Abacha to be spent on.

    My adjuration, therefore, to the people of the South South, is that they should esteem themselves as Bona fide Nigerians, and be courageous, in fighting for their undeniable rights. Nobody owns this country more than they do; rather Nigeria stands to lose, if there is crunch in our Region because of this injustices, unfairness, neglect, and continued marginalization.

    Conclusion

    Today is June 12, which Mr. President declared, Democracy Day, last year, in place of May 29, and the essence of this day, that is freedom and equality, epitomizes the crux of this letter.

    Therefore, as we remember, the heroic courage and sacrifices of MKO Abiola, and all those who have stood in defense of TRUTH, FREEDOM, and DEMOCRACY, may I implore, Mr. President, to discard the togs of nepotism and injustice. And don the noble vestments of inclusiveness, equity, fairness, and justice, for the betterment of Nigeria, our dear country as in the days when the politically motivated Kano State voted against their son Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and voted massively for Alhaji Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), from Souh-West.

    That was the height of Nigerian democracy.

    I pray that as we celebrate Democracy Day today, we go back to that era where Nigeria was Nigeria; not now when religion and ethnicity decides who is popular and who is better qualified to be voted for.

    I am an old man now, I have just celebrated my 93rd birthday, but it would be unthinkable for me, to keep quiet in the face of such injustice, oppression, and marginalization, unfair and unjust treatment, being practiced against my people. I can say, without doubt, we have never had it this so bad.

    I do not know when it will please the Almighty God to call me home. But, let me sound this note of warning, THINGS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS WAY!

    Thank you, Mr. President.

    Chief (Dr.) E. K. Clark, OFR, CON
    Leader, South-South, former Minister of Information, Senator of the 2nd Republic
    June 12, 2020

  • Col. Umar’s thought provoking letter to Buhari: ‘You failed to act your pledge of belonging to everyone’

    Col. Umar’s thought provoking letter to Buhari: ‘You failed to act your pledge of belonging to everyone’

    A former military Governor of Kaduna State, Colonel Dangiwa Umar (rtd), has written an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, in which he critically reviewed PMB’s five years in office.

    In the letter, Umar raised salient points to buttress how Nigeria has become dangerously polarized on accounts of Buhari’s lopsided appointments and warned that the country risks sliding into crisis under Buhari’s watch.

    READ THE LETTER IN FULL:

    OPEN LETTER FROM COL. DANGIWA UMAR (RTD) TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI

    Muhammadu Buhari, Sunday 30th May 2020

    President,

    Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,

    Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Dear Mr. President,

    MR. PRESIDENT; PLEASE BELONG TO ALL OF US.

    “One of the swiftest ways of destroying a Kingdom is to give preference of one particular tribe over another or show favor to one group of people rather than another. And to draw near those who should be kept away and keep away those who should be drawn near” Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio.

    I have been prompted to write you this open letter, Mr. President, by the loud sounds of drums, singing and dancing that erupted within many groups in the last few days on the grounds that you attained the 5th year in office as President of Nigeria. It comes as no surprise that enthusiasm for the celebration is not shared equally by segments of the public. While your admirers and supporters believe you have performed well, many others believe the five years you have been in office as our President has not met the yearnings, expectations and change promised Nigerians.

    Mr. President, you know me well enough and my position on issues to realize that I can be neither a rabid supporter nor a fanatical opponent of yours. I believe being a responsible citizen is enough reason to wish you well and to work for your success. As we have seen all too clearly these past few years, your success is ours as is your failure. We swim or sink with you!

    You might wish to recall that after the results of the 23rd of February 2019 presidential elections were announced, giving you victory, I addressed a press conference during which I urged the runner-up, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, to concede defeat. The reason was clear: tensions were running high and little missteps by the leaders might ignite violence, as often happened after major elections. Some supporters of Abubakar Atiku disagreed with me and told me off. As it happened, Alhaji Atiku went ahead to mount a legal challenge to the outcome of the elections up to the Supreme Court. Mercifully, his actions did not result in an outbreak of violence as we feared.

    At the same occasion, I counselled the declared winner, your good self, to use the opportunity of your second term to redeem your pledge of being a leader and president of all Nigerians.

    On the occasion of the first-year anniversary into your second four-year term, I feel there is an urgent need to revisit this subject matter.

    Mr. President, you have often expressed the hope that history will be kind to you. It is within your competence to write that history. But you have less than three years in which to do it. You may wish to note that any authentic history must be devoid of myth. It will be a true, factual rendition of the record of your performance.

    And truth be told, Mr. President, there are quite a lot of things that speak to your remarkable accomplishments, not least of which is that for the first time in our democratic history, a sitting President was defeated. That feat was achieved by Muhammadu Buhari. The reason was the public belief of you as a man of integrity.

    The corollary to this is that at the expiration of your 8-year tenure in 2023, your achievements will not be measured solely by the physical infrastructure your administration built. An enduring legacy would be based on those intangible things like how much you uplifted the spirit and moral tone of the nation. How well have you secured the nation from ourselves and from external enemies?

    At this time and in the light of all that have happened since you took office, any conversation with you Mr. President cannot gloss over the chaos that has overtaken appointments into government offices in your administration. All those who wish you and the country well must mince no words in warning you that Nigeria has become dangerously polarized and risk sliding into crisis on account of your administration’s lopsided appointments which continues to give undue preference to some sections of the country over others.

    Nowhere is this more glaring than in the leadership cadre of our security services.

    Mr. President, I regret that there are no kind or gentle words to tell you that your skewed appointments into the offices of the federal government, favoring some and frustrating others, shall bring ruin and destruction to this nation.

    I need not remind you, Mr. President, that our political history is replete with great acts of exemplary leadership which, at critical moments, managed to pull this nation back from the precipice and assured its continued existence.

    A few examples will demonstrate this:

    In February, 1965, the NPC-led Federal Government was faced with a decision to appoint a successor to the outgoing Nigerian Army General Officer Commanding (GOC), General Welby Everard, a Briton. Four most senior officers were nominated; namely, Brigadiers Aguiyi Ironsi, Ogundipe, Ademulegun and Maimalari. The first three were senior to Maimalari but he was deemed to be more qualified due to his superior commission. He was the first Sandhurst Regular trained officer in the Nigerian Army. His being a Muslim Northerner like the Minister of Defense, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu and the Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa granted him added advantage by today’s standards. But to the surprise of even the Igbos, and opposition from some senior NPC members, Minister Ribadu recommended Ironsi, pointing to his seniority. The Prime Minister concurred and Aguiyi Ironsi was confirmed as the first indigenous GOC of the Nigerian Army.

    When on 13 February 1976, the Commander-in-Chief, General Murtala Muhammed, was assassinated in a failed Coup de tat, General Olusegun Obasanjo, his deputy and the most senior officer at the time, was sworn in as his successor. The Chief of Army Staff, General T.Y Danjuma, a Northern Christian, was next in line to succeed Obasanjo as the Chief of Staff, SHQ and Deputy Commander in Chief. General Danjuma however waived his right and recommended a much junior officer, Lt. Col. Shehu Musa Yar’adua, for the post. Shehu was promoted two steps up to the rank of Brigadier and appointed Chief of Staff SHQ and Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Lt. Col. Muhammadu Buhari was appointed Minister of Petroleum. This was done to placate Muslim North which was deemed to have lost one of its own, Murtala Muhammed.

    Both the chief of staff, Mr. Sunday Awoniyi, and the personal physician Dr Ishaya Audu to the Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, a direct descendant of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio, were Christians.

    Barely nine years after the civil war in 1979, the NPN Presidential candidate, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, picked an Igbo, Dr Alex Ekwueme, as his running mate. They enjoyed a truly brotherly relationship as President and Vice President. President Shagari’s political advisor, Dr Chuba Okadigbo and National Assembly Liaison, assistant, Dr K.O Mbadiwe, were both Igbos. His economic advisor, Prof. Emmanuel Edozien and his Chief of Personnel Staff Dr Michael Prest, were of Niger Delta extraction. Remarkably, all his military service chiefs were Christians with the exception of his last Chief Army Staff, General Inuwa Wushishi under whose tenure he was removed in a military coup de tat.

    Mr. President, as a witness and beneficiary, it is our expectation that you would emulate these great acts of statesmanship. Which is why we have continued to engage with you.

    You may wish to recall that I had cause to appeal to you, to confirm Justice Onnoghen as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria a few days before the expiration of his three months tenure of acting appointment to be replaced by a Muslim Northerner. We were saved that embarrassment when his nomination was sent to the senate by the then acting President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo. When he was finally confirmed a few days to the end of his tenure, he was removed after a few months and replaced by Justice Muhammed, a Muslim from the North.

    May I also invite the attention of Mr. President to the pending matter of appointment of a Chief Judge of the Nigerian Court Appeal which appears to be generating public interest. As it is, the most senior Judge, Justice Monica Dongban Mensem, a northern Christian, is serving out her second three-month term as acting Chief Judge without firm prospects that she will be confirmed substantive head. I do not know Justice Mensem but those who do attest to her competence, honesty and humility. She appears eminently qualified for appointment as the substantive Chief Judge of the Court of Appeal as she is also said to be highly recommended by the National Judicial Council. If she is not and is bypassed in favor of the next in line who happens to be another northern Muslim, that would be truly odd. In which case, even the largest contingent of PR gurus would struggle to rebut the charges that you, Mr. President, is either unwilling or incapable of acting on your pledge to belong to everyone — and to no one. I hope you would see your way into pausing and reflecting on the very grave consequences of such failure not just to your legacy but to the future of our great country.

    Thank you for your time, Mr. President.

    COL. ABUBAKAR DANGIWA UMAR (RTD)

  • Insecurity & people-smuggling to the South: A Letter to President Muhammadu Buhari – By Theophilus Ejorh

    Insecurity & people-smuggling to the South: A Letter to President Muhammadu Buhari – By Theophilus Ejorh

    Your Excellency, President and Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari, please permit me to address you in your full designation. It is deserving of men and women entrusted with responsibility. I write you this message with a heart plagued by anguish and a soul throbbing with terror, both as a concerned son of the soil and as an individual with an interest in the pursuit of human rights and fundamental changes in the polity.

    Before I go into thrust of my message, may I remind you of three key election promises you made before you mounted the saddle of power. You promised to fight corruption and make it a forgotten thing in Nigeria and to defeat Boko with military precision and install national security. In May 2015, you became President of Nigeria, the second time of ruling the country, after unsuccessfully running for that coveted crown in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 general elections. Your defeat in those three attempts did not deter you. Rather, it buoyed your optimism and underscored your doggedness as a soldier who never says die or flees in the face of conquest. A true soldier lives to fight another day, and that was what you did. During the campaign season, we remember how you, flanked by party stalwarts, gleefully stood before swarms of supporters, gap-toothed and beaming with assuredness of victory. With your party bigwigs you waved brooms before the jubilant hordes, like revellers waving ivy in a bacchanalian festivity, and like Hercules, you swore to clean the Augean stable, the enduring cesspit called Nigeria.

    Then you won the elections. The first man to dethrone an incumbent president, and started off on a very positive footing, taking on the demon of corruption in a ferocious war, even though many think – and they are right to do so – that your anti-corruption war has been solely targeted at your political enemies, especially those that belong to the opposition side of the political spectrum. Some have even gone further to accuse you of embarking on selective ethnic witch-hunt. People have accused you of remaining insensitive to the crass looting of the commonweal by your party members and hangers-on, that clingy and opportunistic colony of political vultures that are wont to burrow into Nigeria’s bloated bowels to gorge on the cadaverous entrails. But, this is not the focus of my message. It is only a prelude.

    Now, the thrust of my message is security. You have been in the corridors of political power far too long time to understand that security is a key desideratum of responsive and trustworthy governance. You were in the upper levels of government in 1975 as Governor of North Eastern State under General Murtala Mohammed; in 1976 as the Federal Commissioner (the equivalent of minister in today’s parlance) for Petroleum and Natural Resources, under General Olusegun Obasanjo; from 1983 as military head of state, following a coup that ousted the Second Republic presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, up to August 1985, when you were swept aside in a coup, seen by many as retributive. That coup was led by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the gap-toothed enigma of a man that has worn various sobriquets like a mantle, some of which are: “The Evil Genius”, “Machiavelli”, “Political Maradonna”, and “The Butcher of the Niger”.

    Those close to you, including co-military officers, testify that you are a man with a desire to do things right. This was why as a military ruler, your government introduced the programme called the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), through which you set to restore and sustain positive values in society, even though its very implementation was fraught with repressive conducts. How can we forget how your soldiers, ever nimble and mean-faced, savagely whipped discipline into a miserable populace with their thirsty and swishing kobokos (horsewhips) cutting through flesh and drawing blood, on the streets, at motor parks, in crowded public places, teaching the people the bitter language of discipline in a military fashion? I hold no grudge against your person, your Excellency. It was your own understanding and way of enforcing discipline and ensuring national security.

    Now, that brings me to the central concern of my humble message to your Excellency, the President: SECURITY, a word that may have become trite to you, given your years of service as a military man and even as a top political figure. Needless to remind you that a key constitutional remit of a responsive and responsible government is national security. Such a government is that which provides protection to its citizens against external aggressions and threats as well as an internal safety that assures wellbeing in every facet of life. Leverett Saltonstall Professor of International History at Harvard University, Charles S. Maier’s definition of nation security can be instructive and instructive. He describes national security as: “a capacity to control those domestic and foreign conditions that the public opinion of a given community believes necessary to enjoy its own self-determination or autonomy, prosperity and wellbeing.” As a matter of fact, security comes in varied dimensions, including: physical, political, economic, military, social, cultural, ecological or environmental, cyber and infrastructural, just to mention a few. While all these are important and interact in mutually reinforcing ways for the maintenance of a stable and happy society, I will focus on just one, and that is physical security. However, it is important to point out that there are blurred lines between physical security and some of the others like political, military, social and environmental security. In fact, physical security can be an all-embracing descriptive expression for all types of security – corporeal, concrete, objective and visible, if you like.

    Your Excellency, people are grumbling about your handling of the matters of state, saying that the country whose political saddle you have been riding for around five years now has become one of the most insecure places to live in the world. I have considered people’s complaints with an objective eye, and I think they are justified in their disaffection. First, let us start with Boko Haram. You made consistent promises to fix the persistent insecurity tugging at the very core of our collective existence and defeat the insurgents within the shortest time possible if elected. We all remember your assertion in an interview at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, in London. You had stated as follows:

    “I as a retired general, and a former head of state, have always known about our soldiers. They are capable, they are well-trained and patriotic and always ready to do their duty to the service of their country… You can bear witness to the gallantry of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and many other parts of the world, but in the matter of the insurgency our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem.” You further accused the military apparatus under your immediate predecessor of lacking competent intelligence and analysis, blaming this for the inability to locate and rescue the abducted Chibok girls. On top of that, you criticised the government of the time for not making any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to the security problem, leading the country to depend on neighbouring Chad and Cameroon for rescue. Your Excellency, to be honest, not everyone celebrated your avowal wholeheartedly. You may not know this, but many took it with cautious optimism. Even, there were others who did not believe or care a hoot what you promised to do. For the latter, it was the usual vainglorious, self-important effusions from a frantic mind.

    Five years on, your Excellency, and the state of external security of the country has deteriorated to staggering proportions. Boko Haram has continued to make unbridled incursions into northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt, sacking whole villages, maiming, raping, pillaging and killing, like some maniacal, trigger-glad gung-ho Hollywood heroes obsessed with the sight of gore. Of the 276 Chibok girls abducted and whisked away into the insurgents’ Sambisa dens in Chad and Cameroon, some have been rescued by the Nigerian security forces (credit to them), a few others initiated their own escape into freedom, while about 112 are still reported as missing. It has been widely reported that some of the girls have been killed, while many have been forced to marry their captors, bearing children for them, every one of them men battling with concupiscence and harnessing sexual violence as a veritable instrument of religious war.

    Also, Leah Sharibu, now 17, the only Christian among the 110 Dapchi girls that were abducted by the Boko Haram faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), in February 2018 is still trapped in captivity, despite your Excellency’s profuse promise to secure her freedom. She was only 14 at the time of her capture, and it has been reported that she has conceived and born a child for one faceless insurgent. Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, still rants and rages, threatening more mayhem and blood, and the common opinion now is that your Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, has failed dismally in his role. Nigerian frontline soldiers and their officers have repeatedly lamented their continued supply with outdated weapons to fight their enemies, who are better equipped with more modern and more sophisticated artilleries. Today, those gallant soldiers have become the laughing stock of both Nigerians and their West African neighbours, especially Chadians whose president, Idriss Deby Itno, recently joined his soldiers in the frontline to deal a deadly blow on Boko Haram terrorists, flushing them out of Chad, and killing over 1000. Perhaps, General Buratai should learn a lesson or two from the Chadian leader. Or better still, you can get rid of the present service chiefs and appoint new ones, men who are keen and responsive. But, whichever option you choose, please ensure that the men you have sent to defend the country are supplied with modern and sophisticated artilleries.

    Now, I would like to draw your attention to the recent cases of people smuggling from the north to southern Nigeria over the past few weeks. Intelligence making rounds say the people, stowed away in trucks among cattle and sacks of goods, and many others coming in surreptitiously on minis buses, are not almajiris, but hired Boko Haram mercenaries sent in batches to southern Nigerian communities with an agenda. You may have heard how local vigilantes in some of these communities as well as the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, recently intercepted some vehicles (including those belonging to Africa’s richest man, billionaire Aliko Dangote) used for smuggling these individuals in the midst of a national ban on interstate travel due to the Corona virus pandemic. If you will agree with me, Governor Nyesom Wike deserves commendation, perhaps a medal (please stifle a giggle over this) for ordering the arrest of 14 men who were hidden inside trucks conveying cows from the North into his state, on the night of Thursday, May 7. No other governor has had the courage to do what Wike has done so safeguard his state and people. The men had been intercepted by security agents stationed at the Rivers State borders and to make an example of them for other prospective violators of the ban, Wike (I’m sure you’d be enamoured of his bravery and exemplary action by now) ordered that the 14 people be tested first for Coronavirus and then charged to court while the cows and trucks would be auctioned. I bet you would have admired his guts or even done the same in your prime as a military man. Am I right, your Excellency? I can bet you’re chuckling.

    Your Excellency, there are several questions on the lips of members of the communities into which the said mercenaries are being smuggled, and they are:

    1. What is the mission of these individuals in southern Nigerian communities during this time?
    2. Why should they be hidden among cattle or sandwiched between bags of agro produce like MacDonald burgers?
    3. Why should they breach the interstate travel ban imposed by your government?
    4. What do they intend to do with the caches of arms found in their sacks and baggage?
    5. Who provided them with those weapons?
    6. Moreover, what has prompted such unprecedented mass movements of people from the north (some say they are people recruited from the Futa Jallon region of West Africa) to southern Nigeria?

    I hesitate to believe the allegation that these individuals are being sent to execute a well-laid plan, whatever that is, or that they have made makeshift camps in bushes, in readiness to unleash terror on the communities. One supposed intelligence claims the set time for the attacks is when covid-19 will have been over, and that the mercenaries are currently undergoing routine training in military combat in their forest camps. These stories are gaining traction, though some objectivists like my humble self, consider them to be rumours and fear-mongering until certified as true. But, one thing I do know for certain is that the unchecked acts of terror by herdsmen and Boko Haram against hapless and unprotected Nigerian communities in recent years are enough reason for people to worry about the current smuggling of persons from northern Nigeria into the south in the midst of a pandemic and interstate travel ban.

    Terror has seized many farmers. Women and young girls continue to be violated, routinely bearing the concupiscent rage of satyrs and killers from the north who now maraud their towns, villages and farms without the faintest of qualms. These are not hearsay. There is a plethora of videos and photographs showing unprovoked attacks by Fulani men, who, driven by Mephistophelean rage, leave testimonies of mutilations and gore that are hard to forget.

    Your Excellency, we all remember you as a man of action, driven by energy and zest. We once regarded you as a Mr. Michelin archetype – strong, firm and dynamic. But, many are beginning to doubt that you are still driven by that spirit that catalysed radical things. Now, permit me to ask where that spirit has gone. Has it flown away with age and ageing and its consequent lethargy? To reiterate, I am ill-disposed to rumours and fear-mongering. But, many people believe that your Excellency is no longer in charge of things, and has never even been, and that a monster that goes by the undesirable label, cabal or gang, if you like, has always run the government.

    Your subjects need protection of their lives and property. Many say you have even been compromised by the fact of your tribal identity, which has made you always turn a blind eye on the heinous crimes against humanity committed by your tribesmen. In the absence of national protection, communities may decide to provide their own forms pf protection as they deem fit and appropriate. And believe you me, the result of that kind of situation can be grave. Very grave. As I write this, dark clouds of insecurity thicken, sliding across the sky, bearing an uncertain burden. Is the country sitting on a keg of gunpowder?

     

    Dr. Theophilus Ejorh is a writer and research consultant based in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

  • Insecurity: Collaborate with NASS to enact law fast tracking trial, execution of culpable kidnappers, Oluwo tells Buhari in open letter

    The Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, Telu I, has written an open letter to President Mohammad Buhari over security challenges facing the nation.
    In the letter released to the press, the first class monarch said he was compelled to write Mr. President because of the fragile moment and a threat to the nation’s peace and unity.
    The Oluwo said: “I rarely write, not because of what or how but as a proactive father, I love actions. But for the purpose of Nigerians, my race and my promising subjects, I chose to communicate this solution based epistle for two things – to avert journey of no return (war) and kill negative ambitions with alternative means.
    “The recent security threat emanating from incessant kidnapping by bad elements or alleged Fulani herdsmen most especially in the south western Nigeria is not without general knowledge. Many brainstorming sessions have been conducted by stakeholders.
    “Just three days ago, I was with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Osun State Government House, Osogbo, Osun State addressing the same burning issue. I’ve suggested both long term and short term solutions for policy makers attention. One of those suggestions was adopted by some State Assemblies recently.
    “I met Nigeria as Nigeria. There were hurdles but our fathers managed themselves despite diverse ethnic background. As a pragmatic leader, I’m hopeful you are on toe to run peacefully.
    “Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding.” Ralph Waldo Emerson says Education is a tool to peace though it does not guarantees peace. Understanding is the primary key to peace. Had Yugoslavia, Liberia, Sierra Leone knew this, may be they would have avoided blood bath. I was caught up in the Liberia war and even fought along Charles Taylor as a rebel on the NPFL, the havoc wrecked all.
    “War knows no status, age, influence, identity. Mano and Gio tirelessly committed atrocities against the Kru tribe, the whole nation was tore a day to Christmas celebration (December 24th, 1989) led by National Patriotic Front of Nigeria under the watch of Charles Taylor. It consumed over 250,000 souls including leaders despite plea for dare lives. Majority paid the debt they didn’t owe. War is an enemy of identity. War turns the rich to beggars and something to nothing.
    “I’ve seen many survivors of war including Professors, Doctors, Ministers, and even kings lining up with plates begging for food. Human eating human during war. Nothing except your cloth is yours in a war zone, provided not naked at the point of attack. Is this what some are drumming? Who will pray to line up begging for food? Do this people know about war in 21st century?
    “As a responsible father, I will never go with bloodshed. No father will pray to loose his children. No father will want to be childless and turn barren at menopause. No one will prefer turning a beggar in the land of hope. There is an understandable way of killing a rat without shedding blood. We shouldn’t forget in haste event have overtaking Voodoos and traditional war instruments. A fighter jet can destroy thousands in jiffy. Mr. President, I say no to war. War is older than us all. ‘Òkun ki o ruru, kawa ruru’ meaning you don’t fuel a burning fire.
    “Mr. President, I want to urge you, call every opinion leaders to order to stage a caution of their utterances at this moment. If you can’t be peace we want, don’t be agent of chaos.”
    According to the royal fathers, there are short and long term solutions to the nation’s insecurity.
    He continued: “In my own assessment your excellency, the solutions to the trauma are two – Short term and long term. My domain is the highest host of the Fulanis in Osun State. Before the escalation of the kidnapping menace, I’ve visited the Fulanis in my domain mandating formal education and threatened to arrest parents of teen children rearing cattle during school hours.
    “They obliged although not completely. Recently, Seriki Fulani brought one their children who graduated from university to my palace. Understanding is key while education is the door to peace. I want to appeal to your excellency to assent a legislation that will compel education for children and enact strict punishment for parents refusing to educate their children.
    “Priority can be placed on the Fulanis with preferential monitoring of nomadic settlements. This option will secure their future to be engineers, pilots, doctors, professors, kings, bankers , ambassadors etc and not kidnappers.
    “Additionally, growth is gradual. Our security should go digital. If not now, who else is our Messiah? Nigeria security should be strengthened. The boost can optionally be assured through mandatory and timely provision of electronic national identity card for everyone on Nigeria soil such that the security force can accost and demand for identification anywhere anytime. With digital ID card, the security can track suspicious members of the society.
    “Your excellency, as a short term mechanism, kidnapping cases should be given accelerated hearing with death as penalty for culpable kidnappers. The famous Ralph Waldo Emerson was remembered quoting that “there are five enemies to peace: ambition, avarice, anger, pride and envy.” Enacting such severe law will dissociate perpetrators from the five enemies of peace. We can’t continue cold handling and expect cold retort. Kidnappers are killers. If caught, they should have a taste of their intention.
    “Your Excellency, I want to appeal for quick response to enact a law in collaboration with the national assembly for quick trial and execution of culpable kidnappers. There is no justifiable excuse for injustice. Injustice is only justified when matching penalty is meted. The change is in action. Let two, three to four culpable kidnappers taste death, then, we will breath air of peace. Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous, according to George Bernard Shaw.
    “Additionally, there should a special federal government sponsored enlightenment program for herdsmen to halt farm attacks. I have done it in the past. I tutored Fulanis in my area on ranch and provision of hay. You walk your cattle miles to feed them. Acquired nutrients almost used while covering miles walking them back home. Even in the course of covering miles of journey in the bush, there are many dangers. The federal government should legislate advanced training on cattle raising as obtainable in developed nations. Construct ranch in your personal land, and feed them with hay. Hay is the best food for the cattle. There is little nutrient in silage. Formal learning should be made compulsory for herdsmen while government can as well sponsor them overseas for training on ranching.
    “In a final note, let me state it unequivocally that Nigeria is indivisible. The only voodoo to war is peace not traditional concoctions in digital age. We are on the part of greatness. We must not for once be drunk with deception of war. Mr. President, my words are given for your attention. Nigeria is yours and mine. While I pray for wisdom greater than that of Solomon to constructively pilot Nigeria, do accept the assurances of traditional rulers support at effecting solutions mentioned and conduct Nigeria’s affairs.”

  • Open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari [3]- Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu,

    How would you want to be remembered?

    My dearly beloved President, I spoke about two major issues last week before drawing the curtain, albeit the terrorism-like nature of the Hausa/Fulani Herdsman and your unwillingness [not inability] to deal with it as a terrorist organization and the near-Islamization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs [as all the Parastatals of that ministry is now placed under Hausa/Fulani Moslem] by the incumbent Minister; Lt-Gen Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, which many believed, unfortunately though, has your backing.

    I equally promised that, though there were more revelations to be made, I would not over-border you with lengthy letters, “having appreciated the stress l already put you through so far with these two” [referring to the first two letters]. In keeping to this promise Sir, l shall be brief and straight to the point in these few inevitable subjects that needs your attention. I must admit however that these “subjects” might not be strange to you but bringing them to your attention here [as l now do] is nothing but telling you about the importance of them [the subjects] to majority of Nigerians. Let us go Sir, with your permission.

    When you visited late Lam Adesina, then Executive Governor of Oyo State, on October 13, 2000, in Ibadan in your capacity as the Grand Patron of Miyetti Allah Group [Fulani Association of Cattle Breeders], protesting the killing of one herdsman in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, not much interpretation was attached, though your angered-mood almost questioned the nationalism/patriotism of a former Head of State [of Nigeria], mostly when you asked that notable question – “why are your people killing my people”?

    Though the governor responded with great calmness as he called the heads of all security agencies in the State to respond and give account of what exactly happened concerning that particular incident at Oke-Ogun, which of course reduced tension, the harm was however almost done when a former Nigerian Head of State claimed that some “people are more of his own than others” in the same country.

    This episode which took place in Ibadan back in 2010 resonated recently when your plea to the President of the World Bank to “cross over to the North-East to help because of the catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram insurgence” is now being misinterpreted by “some seditious” elements that you don’t have the interest of the whole country at heart but strictly the North only.

    Yes, this interpretation [which the Presidency, Minister Lai Mohammed and Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State called mischievous interpretation] could be perceived as coming from “wicked and misleading people” from other parts of the country. But you have to agree with me that they [the interpreters] are not to be entirely blamed for the simple reason that if your authenticated statement that you would “patronize those who gave you 97% of votes than those that gave you only 5% [or should it be 3%?] is juxtaposed against the World Bank President’s revelation, reading your body-language in being skeptical or suspicious of your utterances can be forgiven.

    Sir, this writer is not one of those that give any hook to your Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu’s crocodile tears about award of contracts in the NNPC by the Group Managing Director; Dr Makanti Baru, whom he [Kachikwu] alleged of by-passing him for obvious reason. For me, Dr Ibe Kachikwu did not just know that his portfolio has no legal and constitutional validity. He did not even know that there is a court ruling in the land which categorically stated that the office of the Minister of State in that Petroleum Resources Ministry [I want to believe that this applies to all Ministers of State] is illegal. He interpreted your good humanitarian gesture in naming him to be Minister of State as having so-much power in that capacity.

    There are two allegations he made against your [not his] Group Managing Director vis-à-vis the fictitious contract of his [Kachikwu] imagination and recent appointments made in the NNPC without referring the list to him and the Board [which is real and weightier]. It is the list of those appointed that need your attention in this discussion because notification of these recruitments/appointments which was signed by Isa M. Inuwa; COO, Corporate Services of the NNPC, stated that “The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has approved the appointments/redeployments of the under-listed Management staff.”

    The said list that got your approval [you have the absolute legal and constitutional authority to do what you did by so approving] consisted of 55 top management positions encumbered with the responsibility of managing the NNPC. Of the 55 Sir, 19 are from the whole South put together while 36, which included the most senior positions, are from the North. If this is true Sir, it made nonsensical of the Board of the NNPC [which latest revelation has proved to be a dead-duck entity] which you earlier constituted with 6 members from the North, 5 from the South-West, 1 from the South-East and one from the South-South.

    I promised to end my letters to you with this one and we are coming to the end but not without mentioning very briefly one major concern of Nigerians about your choice of foreign medical treatment. Maybe the monumental fraud that has reduced the Aso Villa Clinic to mere “consulting mortuary”, in the words of late Head of State; General Sanni Abacha, when he announced the Military intrusion of December 31, 1984, as recently revealed by your very patriotic wife, Aisha Buhari, decided your choice of London in the United Kingdom. But Nigerians are not in hurry to forget that you had earlier placed “overseas treatment ban on all public servants”. You are not the only one enjoying this “special privilege but a few of your ministers and your Chief of Staff have been ferried across the Atlantic Ocean for “yafu-yafu” privileged treatment overseas. Don’t blame them if they cannot understand why what is not good for the goose should be good for the gander.

    Lastly Sir, your seeming reluctance in bringing judgment against those adjudged to be corrupt within your “trusted” employees is giving some Nigerians sleepless nights. Permit me to mention, just for your ears only Sir, your suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Lawal Babachir and some others [which I respectfully refrain to mention here Sir]. In the same vain the whole world is waiting for your reaction to the allegation that the Hospital created and being sustained by Nigeria’s national budget at the Presidential Villa has no functional X-Ray machine, has no Panadol and not even a single Syringe. You just have to do something about this serious revelation, for it is not just allegation because we believe in the source of the information. Yes, the whole world is waiting for what you will do about it please.

    I draw the final curtain by thanking you for your patience with me because l am sure that you read every of the letters, either directly or through your two trusted employees in the persons of Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina. If there is rethinking on your side on some of the issues raised in this discuss, then the excruciating exercise of this work would not have been in vain. It is only then that Nigeria, Nigerians and humanity would have been better off for it. See this work therefore as my little contribution to the strengthening of your office and making you a better President please.

    Sir, always be assured of my absolute loyalty and esteemed respectful regards.
    Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote in from Lagos.