Dear President Buhari,
\nI had planned to meet you one-on-one during the United Nations General
\nAssembly in New York. But recent events have convinced me that the central
\nissue of this letter has outgrown a private affair.<\/p>\n
Not long ago, I was thinking that your recent long-stay in London could be
\na blessing in disguise. Besides the need for your full recovery, I
\nfervently prayed that your brand of medical tourism, in of itself, could
\nabreast you with at least three common principles that are conspicuously
\nlacking in your democratic power. The first is that leadership is more
\nenduring through dialogue than through terror. The second is that a leader
\nof a nation is the father of all\u2014regardless of political, cultural,
\nsocial, or tribal differences. The third is that opposing viewpoints are
\nthe spice of democracy.<\/p>\n
Little did I know that my prayers were a castle in the air. A leopard, we
\nwere warned, hardly changes its spots.<\/p>\n
Many instances abound but none is more fanatic than your approach to the
\nnew Biafran agitation. Upon your return, instead of employing dialogue to
\nattend to a myriad of problems begging your attention after a long
\nabsence, you chose to demonstrate your wellness by commanding the Nigerian
\nArmed Forces to \u201ccrush\u201d or, more plainly, to kill some youths opposed to
\nyour regime in the name of Biafra.<\/p>\n
Mr. President, my position on the new Biafran agitation is an open book.
\nFor avoidance of doubt, my innocent opinion is written all over my various
\nessays on the topic, for example, \u201cHow PDP and APC created New Biafran
\nAgitations\u201d and \u201cBuhari and Nnamdi Kanu Fighting the Wrong Enemies\u201d, and
\nmany others. To make it simple, I am for a united but equitable Nigeria. I
\ndo not subscribe to the IPOB agenda nor fancy Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s style. But
\nthere are pertinent issues in their advocacy that must not be ignored.<\/p>\n
In short, notwithstanding the sensational issue of secession for which
\nBiafra is better known, you cannot feign ignorance of the fact that the
\nrallying point of the agitation is anger against politicians like you, who
\ndwell in ocean of huge wealth, not by the dint of any hard-work or
\nintellect but through mere access to power. You, Muhammadu Buhari, cannot
\nclaim not to know that these Biafran youths, like other Nigerian youths,
\nare angry at people like you and I, whose children school overseas and
\nreceive expert medical attention in foreign hospitals while the masses at
\nhome have nowhere to go for their own wellness.<\/p>\n
On top of that, Nigeria currently has a president, you, who is generally
\nseen a tribalist, sectionalist, misogynist, and religious bigot veiled in
\none garb. A majority of the Eastern youths, in particular, no longer sees
\nyou as their president. And you cannot blame them.<\/p>\n
In the first place, you began your democratic regime by vowing to punish
\nthe people of the Eastern Region for the simple reason that they emulated
\ntheir Northern counterparts to vote for their native son in the 2015
\npresidential election. You have since doubled down your vow with lopsided
\npolitical appointments and projects that show utter disdain for the same
\nregion. Today, while you are doggedly commanding the Nigerian Armed Forces
\nto \u201ccrush\u201d the Eastern youths agitating for Biafra, you conveniently used
\ndialogue, and wisely so, to contain their Northern counterparts who issued
\nquit notice to the Igbo living in your region. Further, another group from
\nyour tribe, the Fulani Herdsmen, have been terrorizing the Middle Belt and
\nSouthern Nigeria, raping women and killing innocent civilians with
\nimpunity; yet you have continued to carry on as if the victims are the
\nanimals themselves.<\/p>\n
As if your brazen pattern of sectionalism is not enough, your regime is
\nnow in a shameless back-and-forth dance with a confusing stance of either
\nproscribing IPOB, associating it with terrorism or declaring the Biafran
\nyouths as terrorists. Which one, Mr. President?<\/p>\n
Either way, did I really hear \u201cterrorists\u201d as in plural of terrorist?<\/p>\n
Before you make up your mind, let us consider what a terrorist truly
\nmeans. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, terrorist is defined as \u201ca
\nperson who uses unlawful violence or intimidation, especially against
\ncivilians, in the pursuit of political aims.\u201d<\/p>\n
Your Excellency, with the Holy Qur\u2019an on your hand, please quietly go into
\n\u201cthe other room\u201d and look at yourself in the mirror and answer the
\nfollowing twin questions: Who is the terrorist in the current Biafran
\ncrisis? Could it be you, General Muhammadu Buhari, who is intimidating and
\nmurdering civilians opposing your regime by way of self-determination as
\nenshrined in the UN charter or the innocent victims themselves?<\/p>\n
There is no need to grapple with the questions any further. The answer can
\nbe gleaned from an emerging world view that once again casts you as a
\ndictator bereft of ideas to lead but desirous to garner followership by
\nintimidation. This explains why Tom Marino, a high-ranking member of the
\nTrump presidency and the current US Drug Czar, then a Congressman and a
\nmember of the Foreign Affairs Committee, was bold to warn the United
\nStates, just a year ago, to withhold selling arms to Nigeria until you,
\nPresident Buhari, demonstrates true \u201ccommitment to inclusive government
\nand the most basic tenets of democracy: freedom to assemble and freedom of
\nspeech.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. President, that view has not changed. The Americans, that I know, know
\ncommitment to the most basic tenets of democracy when they see one. They
\nalready know that your Operation Python Dance in the South-East Nigeria is
\nstark opposite. The world knows that the military action is nothing but a
\nscheme to rekindle the zeitgeist of the Biafran war\u2014hoping to regain your
\nwaning popularity within our party and the nation at large.<\/p>\n
But Nigerians are wiser. That is why patriots from the east, north, and
\nthe west, including my very humble self, are uniting against you. We
\nrecognize that your Python Dance\u2014no matter how constitutional or
\nelegant\u2014is misguided and ill-timed. Unlike you, the vast majority of
\nNigerians recognizes that dialogue is the way forward, not terror. Unlike
\nyou, we recognize that the lives of these Biafran youths are not less
\nimportant than the lives of your children and grandchildren silver-spooned
\nby the way of our common wealth.<\/p>\n
You will also fall into the temptation of deploying your Igbo appointees
\nto attempt to paint a different picture at the UN gala. But that strategy
\nis also a vain hope. Their voices will be outnumbered by the true Nigerian
\nambassadors in the Diaspora, who are deeply entrenched in the global
\npolitical economy, the Igbo elites very well-included. These patriots,
\nmost of whom have understandably maintained stoic silence, will be
\nprovoked to counter you with the truth anywhere.\u00a0 As I had counselled in
\nthe essay, \u201cBuhari\u2019s New Change Ought to Begin with His Igbo Problem\u201d;
\nyour sole wining option is to trek back to where the rain started beating
\nyou; the world in 2017 is no longer that of 1967.<\/p>\n
So, Your Excellency, come back home. Come back home. The current Biafran
\ncrisis is not as insoluble as you portray it to be. Even a blind squirrel
\ncan sometimes find a nut. What is needed, therefore, is for the \u201cchange\u201d
\nto truly begin with you. With a new lease of life, you can still muster
\nthe willpower to become a detribalized leader who truly believes in united
\nbut equitable Nigeria. You can still develop the capacity for dialogue and
\nvalue for all Nigerian lives. The problem, though, is that you have not
\ntried. True<\/p>\n
SKC Ogbonnia+<\/p>\n