OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ON THE STATE OF THE NATION
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Dear Sir,
I write this letter to you, Mr. President, with all sincerity and
humility, as it is my very first letter to you since your emergence as
President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of our great
country, Nigeria.
I would first of all like to use this opportunity to formally
apologise to the immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan, for all the tantrums and mistreatment orchestrated by me
against his person while he held sway at the helm of affairs of our
great country.
Indeed, I and many others may have misunderstood Jonathan’s silence
for weakness and thus pushed harder to malign his person and portray
him as a weak leader. Having achieved the Change Agenda, it is now
crystal clear, that the change we had clamoured for is not the change we
got.
While this may have come as a rude shock to some of us who preached
the change mantra assiduously, particularly the youth, I am consoled by
the fact that, Nigeria shall get to the promise land someday and our
generations yet unborn will appreciate the genuine efforts made by those
of us who stood on the path of truth, rather than being praise singers
sycophants.
Mr. President, I am sure that the current state of our dear country
should be a cause of genuine concern, as the symptoms of the ailment
you had come to cure seem to have morphed into a killer virus waiting to
consume its patient (Nigeria) as the clock ticks away.
The damning assessment of Nigeria under your leadership as released
by the United States Department of State in its 2017 country reports on
Human Rights, cited impunity as being widespread at all levels of
government and lack of transparency by your administration. The report
noted that massive corruption by government officials and security
agencies is on the rise with most perpetrators being shielded from
trial, thus giving room for reckless practices with impunity. The report
stated that, “although the law provides for criminal penalties for
conviction of official corruption, the government did not implement the
law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices
with impunity…massive, widespread and pervasive corruption affected all
levels of government and the security services.”
Today there is hardship everywhere with the price of fuel now N145
per as against the N85 that it was being sold when you assumed office –
the over N1.4trillion already paid by your government as fuel subsidy
notwithstanding. You will agree with me, Mr. President, that a report of
this magnitude coming from a foreign government should be a cause for
serious concern as it posits that your Anti-Corruption Agenda is merely
a hoax. Furthermore, your famous slogan of “belonging to everybody and
belonging to nobody” has turned out to be a mere Public Relations
gimmick, meant to soothe the egos of the spectators that were present at
your historic swearing-in-ceremony.
Other assessment cited by the report include the extra judicial
killing of IPOB members, Col. Sambo Dasuki’s continuous incarceration,
widespread human rights abuses and flagrant disregard for the Rule of
Law, under this administration.
You will recall, Mr. President, that a similar report from the
Transparency International (TI) was rubbished by your Ministers who
claimed the global body was biased in its assessment. Surely, both
agencies could not have conspired to tarnish the reputation of your
government, as Nigerians can also decipher the high partiality and
nepotism being practised by your government, which represents a new low
in the history of governance in Nigeria.
I would therefore recommend that your Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity should grab a copy of THISDAY Newspaper of Tuesday, 24 April
2018 and perhaps brief you further on the report, in the event that the
content of the report has not been brought to your attention.Mr.
President, it may also interest you to know that the economy under your
watch has been terribly battered, with all the economic indices
indicating that we are yet to recover from the recession of 2016, owing
to your ill conceived policies as against the rhetoric of the erstwhile
administration being responsible for our woes.
The GDP growth before you took over government and three years
after being in the saddle of governance attests to woeful failure of
government policies while gambling with the nation’s economic gains. The
high unemployment and poverty rate as released by the National Bureau
of Statistics (NBS) should be a cause of concern to any well-meaning
Nigerian, as the masses can barely survive with their current meagre
income which leaves them with little or no savings to embark on other
meaningful economic ventures to better their lot.
Furthermore sir, I am sure that you’re aware that the level of
insecurity in the country now has reached an all time high with an
average of at least 50 deaths weekly to the bewilderment of the an
already wearied population, whose hopes are dashed on a daily basis.
Only last week over 120 persons were kidnapped along the Birnin-Gwari
Road in Kaduna State. The farmers/herders crises has continued to claim
precious lives as if the nation is in a state of war. Moreover, the
statement credited to you that the killer herdsmen were trained by the
late Moumar Gadaffi of Libya is most unfortunate as nothing is being
done to police the borders in order to prevent them from coming in as
well as declaring a state of emergency on these murderous killers.
More so, the statement credited to former Minister of Defence, Gen.
T.Y. Danjuma came as another rude shock to Nigerians on the state of
our security architecture in the nation, not also forgetting the
statements attributed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Gen.
Ibrahim Babangida, reemphasising, that the government under your watch
has failed Nigerians.
Surely, the opinions of your comrades cannot all be a farce, but
rather a wakeup call to your administration that all is indeed not well
with the nation. This is why I dare say that a re-election bid in the
wake of this wanton killings and widespread sacrilege in the land, is
definitely not the right thing to do at this time in a country engulfed
with so much bloodletting. Permit me to say that as things stand today,
Nigeria, under your government, has become increasingly autocratic.
Instead of enhancing freedom and rule of law, our democratic gains
are being frittered away under the pretext of fighting corruption. The
rights to freedom of speech and association are increasingly being
denied. People can no longer freely express themselves without security
agencies harassing, accusing, arresting, parading, and prosecuting them
like common criminals over spurious allegations.
I dare say that I am by this letter offering myself to pay whatever
price it will take for Nigeria to be free once again. I know your goons
will soon come after me but I am not bothered a bit. I will continue to
speak the truth. I spoke the truth when Jonathan, my kinsman, was in
power and I will continue to speak the truth. Be that as it may, the
truth is that you have destroyed our democracy so much so that Nigerians
are now living in fear.
Under your tenure the rule of law has been replaced with the rule
of force. You have injected fear into the society. People who voted for
you to save them from corruption and ineptitude have been barred from
speaking up against the myriads of evil and wicked acts being
perpetrated by officials in your government.
Unfortunately, corruption is in the upward swing under your watch.
This is why I had to apologize to Jonathan since events of the last
three years have shown the former President was a better leader. People
freely expressed themselves under Jonathan’s administration without fear
of being branded cultists’ sponsors, gunrunners or aiding murderers.
But not so under this administration.
Under Jonathan, Nigerians enjoyed freedom of speech, association
and right to hold dissenting views including organizing and partaking in
protests against unwelcome government policies. All these are no go
areas today. Does it mean Jonathan was a better democrat? It is a fact
that no member of the APC which was then in the opposition before 2015
was jailed or harassed for expressing dissent.
However, under this administration, the Senate President is being
persecuted, Senator Dino Melaye has been arrested and detained like a
common criminal, Senator Matthew Urhroghide had been attached for
telling Nigerians that the Federal Government breached the Constitution
by paying the sum of $496million for 12 Tucano fighter jets without
National Assembly approval; the trial of Senator Isa Misau by the AGF
over his face-off with the Inspector General of Police, the persecution
of most members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the name of
fighting corruption are all examples of intolerance under this
administration.
Mr. President, while your fight against corruption is being
promoted as gathering steam leading to an award given to you by the
African Union (AU) recently, the allegation of illegal award of
$25billion contracts leveled against the GMD of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has not been investigated but rather the
malfeasance and shoddy dealing in the NNPC has been swept under the
carpet because as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources any
probe of the agency will require that you make some explanations.
This government has shown total disdain for court pronouncements
and the enforcement of fundamental human rights of citizens. El-Zakzaky
and Dasuki will not be in jail today but for the present rule of force
under this government. It is a pity that today democracy and freedom
have become scarce. Insecurity continues unabated. Killings take place
on a daily basis across the country either by kidnappers, Boko Haram
insurgents, herdsmen, and other criminal elements having a free reign
around the country. Life has become worthless and uncertain and people
cannot speak out for fear of being labeled anti-government by your
regime. Besides, instead of heeding the wise counsel of leaders like
Obasanjo, IBB, TY. Danjuma, General Gowon, and religious leaders like
Bakare and Oyedepo, you have again declared to seek reelection as
President. You even boasted in Bauchi that you will be reelected which
was akin to saying you will rig yourself back into office. The worse
acts of corruption are being perpetuated under your regime, but people
are keeping quiet because of fear of reprisals. This cannot continue.
You met Democracy and freedom in 2015, when you leave office, there will
still be democracy and freedom for the people. Nigeria will not end
with you. Before you, others came, but today where are they? Under this
regime, the homes of Honourabe Justices were forcefully broken into and
ransacked. Many of them were suspended and are currently being
prosecuted by agents of the executive. If this is not intimidation of
the highest order what is it? Despite immunity conferred in him by the
Constitution, the home of the Governor of Akwa Ibom State was raided.
The Governor of Rivers State had to approach the courts for an
injunction to forestall a similar treatment being meted on him. Is it
not curious that Senator Shehu Sani and Dino Melaye have been framed up
as being connected to criminal murder suspects just because they
politically differ with their state governors? It is not also true that
Saraki and the Governor of Kwara State are now being roped into the case
of alleged cultists and murder suspects arrested in Ilorin? If this is
not harassment, intimidation and humiliation of perceived opponents of
your administration, then what is it?
Don’t forget that the Senate led by Saraki has been in a ding-dong
with the Inspector General of Police for refusing to honour the
legitimate summons of the upper chamber. The plot to once again
implicate Saraki in murder activities using alleged cult members earlier
arrested in Kwara State is a new low in the antics of this
administration to harass, intimidate and humiliate members of the
opposition especially those of the defunct New PDP arm of the APC.
The recent attack on the Rivers State Judiciary, the invasion of
the Senate and forceful theft of its mace without arrests or word of
condemnation by you make the security situation worse and worrisome.
The vehemence with which members of the opposition and the New PDP
arm of the APC are being persecuted makes one to wonder why close aides
of yours and other high officials in this administration with criminals
allegations against them are not equally being prosecuted.
Are you no longer for everybody and belong to nobody? What is good
for PDP and New PDP members ought to be good for members of the CPC,
ACN, ANPP and a faction of APGA in the APC as well. The reality is that
members of the APC are sacred cows that can do no wrong.This growing
intolerance, repression and coercion against innocent citizens has led
me to the painful resolve to once again offer myself as a sacrificial
lamb to pay the price for Nigeria’s total emancipation from the shackles
of tyranny being perpetuated by your government.
I therefore, urge all Nigerians to wake up and face the current
realities and save Nigeria from total collapse under the jackboots of
impunity by this administration. History will not be fair to me if I had
championed the campaigns against former President Jonathan and now
remain silent in the face of anti-democratic tendencies and sheer
impunity.
It is my sincere hope that this letter meets you well. I also hope
that my outburst will not be seen from the angle of disrespect, but
rather of despair and urgency. I believe it is high time for you, as the
President and Commander-In-Chief to arrest the situation and restore
peace, security and rule of law in the country and confidence in the
people once more.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
With best regards
Comrade Timi Frank
Deputy National Publicity Secretary All Progressives Congress
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