Mr. President, many believe that you cannot read and those that believe
that you can claim that you cannot go beyond three lines. They say
outside of that you can only comprehend cartoons.
I do not share either view. I know you well enough to concede that when
you consider a literary submission of sufficient importance you have the
prescence of mind, discipline, health, intelligence and ability to read
through it very slowly and very carefully weighing up every word. And
that is precisely as it should be.
The first open letter that I wrote to you was in December 2015 and the
following serves as the second.
You will forgive me because this is a long letter and I am fully aware
that your attention span or ability to retain too much information in
one fell swoop may not be as good as it used to be.
Nevertheless I urge you to do your best to muster the courage, energy
and intellectual stamina to stay the course and to find the time out of
your busy schedule to read it from beginning to end.
I have written it because our nation is entering into dangerous and
precarious waters and I sense that something will give very soon. I am
therefore constrained to use this medium to bring my observations to
your attention.
Be rest assured that I speak out of nothing but love and concern for the
welfare of the Nigerian people and it is not my intention to insult you
or undermine and disrespect your office but rather to shine the light of
truth on all your activities with a view to assisting and encouraging
you to change your ways.
You will agree with me that, no matter how bitter it may be, that truth
must be told. This is a sacred obligation on our part as leaders and a
matter of duty and honor.
I owe you, the Nigerian people and posterity that much and I have little
doubt that no matter how badly you may feel after reading it, history
will vindicate me and prove me right and one day you will acknowledge
and recognise the profundity, wisdom and foresight in my constant and
consistent criticisms, admonitions and counsel.
Outside of that it is my earnest prayer that the God of Heaven, whose I
am and whom I serve, will judge between you and I.
Your Excellency, kindly note and consider the following.
You released hundreds of Boko Haram fighters from prison claiming that
they are reformed and a few days later 30 of your citizens are blown up
by the same Boko Haram in Borno state.
Worse still on that same day 16 members of the same family and four
others were herded into a room and burnt alive by Fulani militants in
Kaduna state.
After these terrible events instead of rushing back home to stand with
your people, you stayed in Addis Ababa, lamenting and crying about the
security situation in Libya and you sent your Vice to a funeral in
Nairobi. Such insensitivity, even by your own standards, is rarely seen.
It took you three long days to finally see fit to leave your foreign
friends, leave Addis Ababa and fly directly to Maiduguri to express your
condolences to the Governor and people of Borno.
Even then you could not muster the courage to go to the town of Auno
where the bombing took place but only to Maiduguri, the capital of the
state.
Understandably you were received with boos, jeers and shouts of “ba ma
so” (meaning “we dont want”) by the crowds that lined the streets and
this was an eloquent testimony to the fact that the entire nation,
including the north that you claim to represent and be a champion of, is
fed up with you and can no longer bear your incompetence and inability
to run the affairs of our nation.
Worst still hours after your condolence visit Boko Haram attacked
Maiduguri itself hitting one of its suburbs called Jidari Polo.
Their leader, a cowardly creature that can best be described as a
psychopathic, delusional, sociopathic, mentally-deranged, murderous,
bloodthirsty, bloodlusting and unconciable monster by the name of Sheik
Abubakar Shekau, even had the nerve to send you a public warning in a
recorded message that was released to the public after you left in which
he arrogantly and boastfully declared that you must never come back to
Borno again or you would be attacked and that you “should fear and serve
God and not cows”. He added the following,
“Buhari thinks he is a general but God says he is nothing. He hasn’t
achieved anything in the sight of God. Buhari is deceiving the people
and playing to the gallery”.
Mr. President he has sent his message to you and to Nigeria and we have
heard him loud and clear.
Yet most disturbing was not his sheer effontry but the fact that the
only thing that you had to offer the leaders and people of Borno state
when you got there was a lame and self-debasing question which was “I
wonder how Boko Haram still survives?”
You went further by blaming them for “not taking care of local security”
forgetting that that is meant to be your job and not theirs.
In your so-called condolence visit you refused to take responsibility
for your own inaction and failure and instead you sought to pass the
buck to the very victims of terror that you claim to have come to mourn!
You refused to inspire and encourage them and instead you accused them
of, at best, rresponsible behaviour and, at worst, collusion with the
enemy.
This is not just a case of rubbing salt in their wounds but it is more
like blowing them up and killing them all over again. Worse still as you
spoke your Minister of Defence, who sat just a few feet away from you,
fell fast asleep!
Mr. President I really do wonder whether you have any feeling or any
compassion at all? Has the milk of human kindness stopped flowing
through your veins?
Do you know that young students, women, infants and babies were amongst
those that were blown up in the Auno atrocity?
Yes you issued a statement immediately but you didn’t show up till three
days later and your Vice, who was in the country the day it happened,
never showed up at all and instead jetted out to President Arap Moi’s
burial in Nairobi!
Kindly tell me what the Nigerian people have done to deserve this level
of contempt? Or is there more to it than meets the eye?
Forgive me Mr. President but I am constrained to ask, why do you love
terrorism, bloodshed and violence so much? Why do you find it so easy to
forgive terrorists that are slaughtering your own people? Are you
feeding your spiritual foundation and getting your power from the
spilling of innocent blood?
Meanwhile your own Chief of Army Staff has told us today that
“we have defeated insurgency but we are facing the challenge of
terrorism. There is no-where you will not find Boko Haram, even in Lagos
here, there are Boko Haram. In Kaduna there are Boko Haram. There are
more across the North East. Many have been arrested here in Lagos. We
have been tracking them. We arrest them and take them into custody”.
I commend the Chief of Army Staff for his admission of failure but what
he didn’t add was that after taking them “into custody” you ordered him
to release them and even draft some of them into the Nigerian Army on
the spurious grounds that they have repented and that they have been
reformed.
Again the truth is that neither you or him ever “defeated insugency” or
anything else. Instead you encouraged and supported it! Both of you
have failed the Nigerian people just as I predicted that you would and
if you had any decency or honor you would BOTH resign.
Aside that it takes a very mean, callous, wicked and cruel President and
Commander-in-Chief to release 1,400 terrorists who have murdered,
butchered, slaughtered, tortured and maimed his soldiers and terrorised
his people over the last 5 years.
Mr. President I am constrained to tell you that some believe that you
are a sadist! They believe that your heart is as hard as stone and your
soul is as black as night.
Relevant and instructive are the words of Mr. Charles Ogbu, a brilliant
writer and essayist who has consistently proved that he is not only
insightful but also deeply profound. Three days after the Auno bombing
he wrote the following:
“Those who are asking for the sack of the Service Chiefs as a solution
to the upsurge in Boko Haram terrorism are missing the point.
Nigeria is not currently being overrun by terrorists because we have a
set of incompetent service Chiefs or soldiers who cannot fight the
terrorists. Not at all.
The only reason the Boko Haram terrorists are having a field day is
because we have a President and a Commander in Chief who shares the same
ideology as the terrorists and as a result prefers pandering to them as
opposed to fighting them”.
He went further by writing,
“In fact a betting man would bet that the only difference between the
Boko Haram terrorists killing, maiming and beheading Nigerians in the
Northeast and our President and Commander-In-Chief is in their name and
location. One is named “Boko Haram” and operates from the bush while the
other one is named “Muhammadu Buhari” and operates from Aso Rock. If we
were to remove the cloak of fear of detention by state oppressive
forces, we would all admit they are both pursuing the same goal and
doing a very good job of it. You that is reading this, you know this is
exactly what is happening even if you may not want to publicly say it
for whatever reason”.
He concluded by asking,
“Who ‘rehabilitates’ and releases captured terrorists back into the wild
at a time the terrorists are still visiting death and destruction on his
country? Even America with her sophisticated military doesn’t release
arrested terrorists in the heat of the war because the chances of these
terrorists going back into the wild to continue killing are very high”.
Mr. President, forgive me for saying so but the verdict is out and Mr.
Ogbu has made a valid point. This calls for much soul-searching on your
part.
I urge you to bear in mind that trading in the blood of your own people
and indulging in all manner of barbarity, suppression of dissent,
persecution of your perceived enemies and evil comes with a heavy price.
Every Pharaoh, Sennacherub, Herod, Jezebel and Nebuchadnezzar has a bad
end.
Every tyrant, no matter how powerful and highly-placed, will eventually
account to God and the people for his brutality and wickedness. Yours
will be no different.
Anyone that doubts that should consider the plight of the Sudan’s former
President, General Al Bashir. As the great black American Nation of
Islam leader and one of my favourite heroes, Malcom X, once said “the
chickens have finally come home to roost”. This has always been the case
and it will always be the case. It is only a matter of time.
Over the last 5 years hundreds of thousands have died under your watch
and virtually all have been killed by those from your core northern
region. You turned a blind eye to it and even encouraged it.
Today belongs to you but let me assure you that tomorrow belongs to
those of us that you have killed, persecuted, oppressed and treated with
disdain and contempt.
On the 11th of February, at the burial ceremony of the 18 year old
Christian martyr Nnandi Michael (the Seminarean that was abducted and
later murdered by Fulani herdsmen) the respected Catholic cleric Bishop
Matthew Hassan Kukah, a man of immense moral authority and intellectual
vigour, courageously admonished you before the entire world, spoke the
bitter truth and reflected the thoughts of millions from all over the
country. Amongst many other things he said the following:
“This President has displayed the greatest degree of insensitivity in
managing our country’s rich diversity.
He has subordinated the larger interests of the country to the hegemonic
interests of his co-religionists and clansmen and women. The impression
created now is that, to hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria
today, it is more important to be a northern Muslim than a Nigerian.”
He did not stop there but went on to say,
“We are being told that this situation has nothing to do with Religion.
Really? It is what happens when politicians use religion to extend the
frontiers of their ambition and power. Are we to believe that simply
because Boko Haram kills Muslims too, they wear no religious garb? Are
we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from
infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die? If your son steals
from me, do you solve the problem by saying he also steals from you?”
He then said,
“The Fulani, his (President Muhammadu Buhari) innocent kinsmen, have
become the subject of opprobrium, ridicule, defamation, calumny and
obloquy. His north has become one large grave yard, a valley of dry
bones, the nastiest and the most brutish part of our dear country”.
He added,
“Today, our years of hypocrisy, duplicity, fabricated integrity, false
piety, empty morality, fraud and Pharisaism have caught up with us.
Nigeria is on the crossroads and its future hangs precariously in a
balance. This is a wakeup call for us. As St. Paul reminds us; The night
is far spent, and the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast away the
works of darkness and put on the armour of light. It is time to confront
and dispel the clouds of evil that hover over us.”
He concludes by saying,
“On our part, I believe that this is a defining moment for Christians
and Christianity in Nigeria. We Christians must be honest enough to
accept that we have taken so much for granted and made so much sacrifice
in the name of nation building. We accepted President Buhari when he
came with General Idiagbon, two Muslims and two northerners. We accepted
Abiola and Kingibe, thinking that we had crossed the path of religion,
but we were grossly mistaken. When Jonathan became President, and
Senator David Mark remained Senate President while Patricia Ette was
chosen by the South West became a Speaker. The Muslim members revolted
and forced her resignation with lies and forgery. The same House would
shamelessly say that they had no records of her indictment. Today, we
are living with a Senate whose entire leadership is in the hands of
Muslims. Christians have continued to support them. For how long shall
we continue on this road with different ambitions? Christians must rise
up and defend their faith with all the moral weapons they have”.
I assure you that these were not the words of Bishop Kukah alone but
rather the Holy Spirit speaking through him. He spoke the mind and the
oracles of the Living God and you would do well to humble yourself, take
heed and appreciate the Lord’s admonition and counsel.
Let us hope that you disregard the advice of the hardliners around you,
learn from these words and change your dastardly ways though I doubt
that you will.
Whatever the case and whatever you choose to do or not to do, know this:
the die is cast, Caesar has crossed the Rubicorn, the horse has bolted
from the stable, the cat is out of the bag, our eyes have been opened,
we have lost all sense of fear and Nigeria can NEVER be the same again.
Mr. President, here ends my counsel to you but permit me to conclude
this contribution with a closer look at the north that you love so much
and that you seek to empower and enthrone forever.
According to the World Bank “87% of poor people in Nigeria are in the
North”.
One wonders what 58 years of northern oppression, tyranny, aggression,
manipulation and hegemony over Nigeria has actually done for the
northern masses.
Since indendence mass poverty, terrorism, religious bigotry, ethnic
hegemony, Islamic fundamentalism, arrogance, born to rule syndrome, the
worship of cows, ignorance, disease, hate, racism, feudalism,
pedophilia, child marriage, VVF, gender inequality, male chauvinism, the
persecution of Christians, the suppression of women, corruption, deceit,
greed, ingratitude, a sense of entitlement, tyranny, insensitivity,
bloodshed, genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder and gratuitous
violence have all been deeply embedded in and associated with the core
north.
Worse still, according to UNICEF, if Nigeria were to ever break up the
core north would be the poorest spot on planet Earth.
I guess this is why northerners keep screaming “one Nigeria” and
threatening the lives and liberty of those that do not share their view.
Without Nigeria they would be groping in the dark, wobbling on their
feet and literally starve to death.
All this yet they insist that they were “born to rule” and that
southerners and Middle Belters were “born to serve” them and be their
slaves!
Professor Yusuf Dankofa of the Faculty of Law at Ahmadu Bello University
who happens to be a northerner himself put it in very clear terms and
spoke the bitter truth when he wrote the following:
“I think the north is only interested in power and nothing more.The
sweetness of power and the allure it brings is what appeals to them and
not work. If not, how can a region be so decimated by its own internal
contradictions and trudge on as if the region is not regressing. In the
face of calamity, what you see is eerie silence, since power is with
their elites who are thoroughly dependent on public treasury to
survive.The poor too draws happiness from the fact that power is in the
hands of their elites even if they will die of poverty and insurgency.
We are happy that power is with us even though we don’t know what to do
with it.This mindset will definitely lead others to seek to move out of
the union. You can’t slow down your own progress and those of others
and expect them to clap for you”.
Dankofa is absolutely right! What a people! What a country!
Yet I do not blame the core northeners: I blame southern and Middle Belt
politicians and leaders who have refused to unite and who have failed to
resist them and stand up to them over the last 58 years.
The history of our nation records that there were a few great men of
remarkable courage, extraordinary fortitude and immense valour that not
only did their best but were also gallant, fearless, selfless and
outstanding in their quest to deliver our people.
Some of them were martyred and others were jailed whilst all suffered an
unprecedented and unbearable level of humiliation and persecution. Yet
despite it all they continued the struggle.
They identified and understood the problem and fought hard in their
respective ways to fix it and deliver our people from northern hegemony,
domination and bondage but sadly they all failed.
The new generation of southern and Middle Belt leaders must NOT fail
because this is the final lap. For our generation failure is NOT an
option.
We have no choice but to use all lawful and non-violent means to break
the yoke of subjugation, servitude, slavery and bondage and to succeed
in our quest for total liberation. If we fail to do so future
generations of our people shall NEVER be free again.
We need the prayers of the saints and the fastings and supplications of
the intercessors, the Prophets, the men and women of God and the Body of
Christ!
We need the Holy Spirit of the Living God: the El Shaddai, the Elohim
and the Adonai.
We need the Man of War, the Comforter, the Lord of Hosts and the Ancient
of Days!
We need a great deliverer: a Moses, a Joshua, a Caleb, a David, a Cyrus,
a Samson, a Gideon, a Jeptha, an Esther and a Jehu all rolled into one.
We need men and women of courage to pick up the gauntlet, take up the
challenge and lead us in this great and cataclysmic battle and this
monumental struggle.
We need to close ranks, build bridges amongst ourselves and forget past
hurts, past disputes and past disagreements and agree to be totally and
completely united.
Finally we need to look within ourselves and firmly resolve that it
would be better to live a short life and die as free men than live a
long one and live as slaves.
We fight not for ourselves but for future generations of our family, our
lineage, our loved ones and our compatriots.
God forbid that they should have to live through the hell that we had to
suffer called Nigeria: a land where the accursed rule over the blessed
and where slaves ride on horseback whilst Princes and Kings walk around
in bare feet.