Sir, when such
occurrences happen, with the current rapidity, I believe it is time to
look inwards. We must take a comprehensive glimpse at our home and check
where the roof is leaking, because these are no normal times.
Your Excellency, when I wrote my last letter to you about three weeks
ago, little did I realise I was going to write another so soon. But
events of the past two weeks have happened so rapidly, and in such
dramatic fashion, that it left me with no choice than to come back to
you, anon, Sir.
I believe the first thing to do is to once again commiserate with you
on the death of fellow Nigerians in that fatal helicopter crash. It is
always sad, sombre and sobering when we witness such tragedy of
monumental proportions in our clime. The loss of any soul, no matter the
religious persuasion or ethnic background is always an occasion for
collective mourning and abstemious reflections.
On a personal note, I was absolutely shattered even if I did not have
a close relationship with any of the unfortunate victims. I was a great
fan of Lt. General Owoye Azazi, in particular, after the brilliant
speech he gave at his controversial outing in Delta State, where he
lampooned and lambasted Nigeria’s reckless ruling party as being
responsible for the spate of violent crimes in the country. Since then
and until he paid the ultimate price and became a reluctant statistic of
the failings of our nation, life had never been a bed of roses for
him. He instantly became a pariah and was treated like a recalcitrant
baby in the family.
One did not have to be a soothsayer to know he had touched the tiger
by the tail and it is not in the nature of such beasts to condone and
forgive acts of impudence. It was only a matter of time before he was
eventually booted out of the corridor of power even if, as now seems
apparent, he remained in the periphery somewhere. It is tragic how the
end came so suddenly and quickly.
I never met Patrick Yakowa, the late Governor of Kaduna State. His
rise to power and influence was beginning to mirror your own. Indeed he
had become Governor of Kaduna State as a benevolent beneficiary of the
good fortune for which you have become widely acclaimed because you
chose his boss, Namadi Sambo, then Governor of Kaduna State as your
Vice-President. His miraculous ascent to power was therefore similar to
yours. He was Commissioner, Deputy Governor and then, Governor; without
personally contesting election. Indeed some were also beginning to
tout him as a potential Presidential candidate, a possible bridge being a
Northern Christian. As they say, man proposes but God disposes.
Glowing tributes have been paid to his memory and I assume he was
deserving of them all.
However, it is usual at times like this for Nigerians, particularly
our leaders to forget the aides and pilots who died with them. It is my
hope that you will give pride of place in your grief to Dauda Tsoho,
Commander Muritala Mohammed Daba, Lt. Adeyemi Sowole and Warrant Officer
Mohammed Kamal. In particular, the latter three officers should
attract commendation and glowing tributes from you for they are the ones
who truly died in the service of their nation. They were sad victims
of a terrible system that made it possible for big men to use and abuse
government facilities and personnel for non-official duties and totally
private engagements. I hope that you will find the time to pay
condolence visits to the families of those four gentlemen and encourage
your darling wife and members of your Government to do the same as they
have no doubt done with respect to the two more distinguished gentlemen
who lost their lives. These officers and aides are not lesser mortals
merely because they did not attain the higher offices of those
compatriots that died with them. They must be treated as fallen heroes
in obeying the last order.
I know how deeply these untimely deaths must have hit you on a day
one of your closest aides, my dear friend and brother, Oronto Douglas,
was burying his dad, and barely a week after you buried your own dear
beloved brother in the same Bayelsa State. This strange and calamitous
string of tragedies is highly regrettable.
However, you may feel, Sir, they portend ominous signs of darker days
ahead and it is time for you to think of even commencing fasting and
prayers. You may need to solicit the spiritual intervention of a
syncretic combination of Pastors, Imams and Marabouts from far and near,
and I’m not joking. Even as I write this, there are nationwide reports
of unprecedented disasters, fires burning here and there, sporadic
explosions, road accidents and air disasters involving senior government
officials, medical complications with Ministers and Governors
disappearing and reappearing. Only recently, we were on our bended knees
praying for the safe return of your dear wife, our beloved First Lady
and Mother of the nation, from a rumoured treatment in Germany. No one
has deemed it fit to tell us the true story!
Sir, when such occurrences happen, with the current rapidity, I
believe it is time to look inwards. We must take a comprehensive glimpse
at our home and check where the roof is leaking, because these are no
normal times. They are spiritual warnings that, perhaps, if we had done
the right things at the right times, we could have avoided some of
these ugly catastrophes. If you ever read my articles in the last few
years, you would have recognised my constant distress and disappointment
at the total collapse of our ethics and our infrastructure.
I had lamented regularly, like the Biblical Jeremiah, about the road
from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa. I had wondered why that important road
has remained unrepaired, even if only to make merely motorable, despite
your influence and humongous power. You are the only Nigerian I know who
has been permanently in power since 1998, or thereabout, as board
member, Deputy Governor, Governor, Acting Governor, Governor, Vice
President, Acting President and President. One would have expected that
given your unique occupation of these offices, the road to Yenagoa
would have transfigured into a super highway, befitting an oil-rich
community. Alas neither the road nor indeed the State remotely qualifies
for any kind of superlative description. Your state remains one of the
most squalid in the whole of Nigeria. It remains as terrible as it was
before their son attained the highest level of power. I dare say it is
not something you can be proud of. For the amount of money being pumped
into the Niger Delta project, the land should be paved with gold by now.
The United Arab Emirates is a veritable example of what responsible,
visionary and determined leadership can do and achieve with prudent
management of resources. The amount you spent on your presidential
campaign last year was about what it took Dubai to build The Burj
Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
If it has been impossible for you to resolve, or fix that disgraceful
Port Harcourt- Yenogoa road, indeed, I wonder who would do it and by
what magic or miracle. This should have been your priority since charity
begins from home. Sir, I insist, you cannot say Nigeria has not had the
money and requisite resources to build a modern nation we all can be
proud of. The problem I can see is the lack of will on your part to
challenge fate and change how government business is run in Abuja and
Nigeria in general. The politics of patronage we practise here has been
our albatross. The resources we should deploy for our common good are
often shared by a few aides and acolytes.
There is no reason we can’t work on our infrastructural decay. We’ve
lost too many lives to our criminal carelessness. The solution is not as
difficult as we make it look in Nigeria. We have too much money from
all available and symptomatic evidence. No poor nation would ever spend
money the way we do. We are wasting resources that would have turned
many African nations into paradise. One way to save some money is to
reduce the Presidential fleet and global travels. The other is to arrest
our irrational awards of over-inflated contracts. We can know the true
cost and worth of projects by simply checking online. Nothing is secret
these days. What’s worse and sickening is the fact that we are even
borrowing money to fund frivolous, substandard, obsolete and abandoned
projects. None of our current roads would meet international standards
for approval. Why can’t we just tighten our belts and do what reasonable
people do, reduce the excesses that have wasted many generations and
more to come?
The roads from our airports tell the stories of who we are. We have
spent years and good money trying to expand the road between Nnamdi
Azikiwe Airport and the gate of Abuja city. Our shame as a nation is
further confirmed and compounded by our flagship Murtala Mohammed
International Airport that has been in permanent state of disrepair and
rehabilitation. Despite the billions of Naira being made and spent on
it, the place presents a foretaste of hell on earth. Once upon a time,
we had trains that criss-crossed our cities and made it easy to move
people and goods in different directions. Why has our rail system
collapsed and all we can do is to make an open mockery of our country by
running on prehistoric engines? We continuously hear that things will
soon get back on track, but when?
How come we’ve stopped developing our villages and only visit for
funerals and similar dire tragedies like consoling victims of natural
disasters and man-made calamities such as deaths from pipeline
infernos? Why is it that there are no longer weddings and similar
celebrations in our villages which attract the cream of society? Why
can’t we see that mass unemployment is always an impetus for
misbehaviour and mass disenfranchisement? Why can’t we see that
corruption begets societal rot and abuse of office always ends in tears?
There are several things you can do to imbue confidence in the
system. You will do this by shaking off the lethargy for which you are
now becoming notorious, reshape your cabinet, abandon the frill, thrills
and paraphernalia of office which only serve as a distraction to you
and members of your government and roll up your sleeves. Shutting down
cities and villages during your visits is never a good way to endear
yourself to the people. The fear of terrorism and terrorists is no
excuse to further disturb those struggling to eke a living in a
particularly difficult terrain. Your security must be retrained in how
to give maximum cover with minimum disruption to lives and properties.
You will lead by example starting from your household. You should
tell Madam that she has to reduce her retinue of hangers-on and refrain
from inconveniencing the citizens when she travels through our roads.
Of course this message will be easier to pass on to everyone in your
Government if you do the same. You are not any safer simply because of
the number of sycophants and battalions of security who accompany you.
Deploying the military might and arsenal at your disposal does not
translate to safety from avenging recruits. Your best forms of
security, as I have always said, are your people. When they love you,
nobody can touch you. When they tire of you no army can save you.
Those singing your praises now will be the first to jump ship. That is
the Nigerian way.
Next you must fight the cankerworm of corruption and you can only do
this if you do not mind whose ox is gored. There must be no sacred
cows. Again your leadership must be by example. Do not hide behind any
constitutional loophole and refuse to publicly declare your asset. Be
true to yourself, your nation and more importantly your God by revealing
your true worth.
Ask for the nation’s forgiveness and return anything which is more
than you could reasonable have acquired whilst in Government. Your
people are a forgiving people if they discern genuine remorse and sense
the sincerity of purpose that you would have shown. You will be amazed
by the rush to follow suit from members of your government and public
servants. They will know that times have changed and the old order has
collapsed. Your people will ardently support you as you really pursue
your transformation agenda. You will surely have truly metamorphosed
into the God anointed leader that the manner you have been thrust into
the leadership of our great country suggests.
I continue to pray for you and our dear Country. God bless us all. God bless Nigeria.
YNaija.com
