Chief Audu Ogbeh's Letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo. "ASO ROCK IS NOT A POULTRY FARM"

[December 6, 2004 - Hope For Nigeria Library]

His Excellency,
The President, Commander-In-Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abuja

RE: ANAMBRA AND RELATED MATTERS
About a month ago, the nation woke up to the shocking news of a devastating attack on Anambra State resulting in the burning down of radio and television stations, hotels, vehicles, assembly quarters, the residence of the state Chief Judge and finally, Government House, Awka. Dynamite was even applied in the exercise and all or nearly most of these in the full glare of our own police force as shown on NTA for the world to see. The operation lasted three days.

That week, in all churches and mosques, we, our party, and you as Head of Government and Leader of this Nation came under the most scathing and blithering attacks. We were singly and severally accused of connivance in action and so forth. Public anger reached its peak.

Recommendation:
You set up a reconciliation committee headed by Ebonyi State Governor, Dr. Sam Egwu, and we all thought this would help calm nerves and perhaps bring about some respite. But quite clearly things are nowhere near getting better. While the reconciliation team attempted to inspect damaged sites in Anambra, they were scared away by gun fire, further heightening public anger and disdain for us.Bomb Explosion in Government House, Awka:
On Tuesday, the 30th day of November, 2004, another shocking development; a reported bomb explosion in Government House Awka. Since then, the media, public discourse within and even outside of our borders, have been dominated by the most heinous and hateful of expletives against our party and your person and government.
It would appear that the perpetrators of these acts are determined to stop at nothing since there has not been any visible sign of reproach from law enforcement agencies. I am now convinced that the rumours and speculations making the rounds that they are determined to kill Dr. Chris Ngige may not be unfounded.

The question now is, what would be the consequences of such a development? How do we exonerate ourselves from culpability, and worse still, how do we even hope to survive it? Mr. President, I was part of the second republic and we fell. Memories of that fall are a miserable litany of woes we suffered, escaping death only by God's supreme mercy. Then we were suspected to have stolen all of Nigeria's wealth. After several months in prison, some of us were freed to come back to life penniless and wretched. Many have gone to their early graves un-mourned because the public saw us all as renegades.

I am afraid we are drifting in the same direction again. In life, perception is reality and today, we are perceived in the worst light by an angry, scornful Nigerian Public for reasons which are absolutely unnecessary. Mr. President, if I write in this vein, it is because I am deeply troubled and I can tell you that an overwhelming percentage of our party members feel the same way though many may never be able to say this to you for a variety of reasons.But the buck stops at your table and in my position, not only as Chairman but also as an old friend and loyal defender of your development programmes which I have never stopped defending, I dare to think that we can, either by omission or commission allow ourselves to crash and bring to early grief, this beautiful edifice called democracy.
On behalf of the peoples Democratic Party, I call on you to act now and bring any, and all criminal, even treasonable, activity to a halt. You and you alone, have the means. Do not hesitate. We do not have too much time to waste.

A.I. Ogbeh, OFR
National Chairman, PDP. ...after receiving this letter, Obj went to his house in Asokoro, Abuja and told Ogbeh's wife he wanted to eat pounded yam and egusi soup, she promptly made the meal which Obj seemed to have thoroughly enjoy after which he told Ogbeh to resign, after he left Ogbeh's house, Ogbeh called his family together and informed them of Obj's purpose of visit, the family told him to resign and that was exactly what he did!

Obasanjo’s Open Apology Letter To Nigerians – By Segun Dada

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Fellow Nigerians,

This letter of mine is going to contain a lot of apologies. I have sinned against God and against you all. I have transgressed. I apologize. I apologize for pissing down the many opportunities you gave me to be the greatest Nigerian ever. I apologize for a lot of things. I apologize.
I apologize because I had some of the rarest opportunities in public service anybody could get anywhere, which in other climes should have been a stepping stone to greater things if I was a man with an iota of humanity or decency. For you my countrymen allowed me a total of eleven years as the head of state and President of Nigeria.
I apologize for being a disappointment. I apologize for being a tyrant masquerading as a democrat. I apologize for being self-centred, obnoxious, vindictive and a crude man. I apologize for all the times I sought at all cost to always impose my will on the nation, even where it was detrimental to the laws of morality, decency, common sense and of national interest.
I apologize for the killing of Nigerian university students in cold blood and the invasion and razing of the home and business premises of Fela Kuti who was my number one critic as military head of state. I know now that he was never my enemy even though I treated him as my enemy and an enemy of the Nigerian state.
I apologize for supporting the annulment of the election of a democratically elected president, Chief MKO Abiola and colluding with my military colleagues and setting up all sorts of anti-democratic political contraptions to negate the mandate of the people in an election widely acclaimed to be free and fair.
I apologize to Jesus Christ for claiming to be born again when I came out of jail and to you my countrymen and women for playing on your intelligence that I had seen some light when my soul was still much engulfed in the spirit of darkness.
I apologize for asking my soldiers to burn Odi to the ground and kill everyone in sight. I know I am a murderer and a war criminal. I apologize for asking my army to massacre more people in Choba, Igwuruta, Biogbolo and other places in the Niger-Delta. I apologize for being evil, heartless and tyrannical. I apologize to the families of the people my army massacred. I apologize to the orphans whose parents my army killed, to the widows whose husbands were killed. I apologize for everything. I apologize.

• NewsRescue-Petition: Investigate Pres. Obasanjo For 1999 Odi Massacre – Nigerians For Justice

I apologize for sowing the seeds that led to the Niger-Delta crisis. That transformed a non-violent struggle for justice, equity and fairness in the Niger-Delta into a full-blown war. I take responsibility for causing the crisis in the Niger-Delta today that has made heroes out of oil thieves and cultists like Asari Dokubo and other militants that the Nigerian government has to pay billions of naira to every month to keep from going back to the creeks.
I apologize for sending my soldiers to kill and burn down the communities of Zaki Biam, Vaase, Agbayin, Gbeji, Sankara and several others towns…. I apologize to the families of the people my army massacred. I apologize to the orphans whose parents my army killed, to the widows whose husbands were killed. I apologize for everything. I apologize. I weep and apologize.
I apologize for the murder of my attorney-general and minister of justice, Chief Bola Ige. I apologize for rewarding the man suspected of his assassination with political power. I apologize for my failure to nab, prosecute and jail the perpetrators of his assassination. I apologize for being insensitive and sadistic.
I apologize for the many backdoor deals I oversaw as president. I apologize for spending $2.2 billion on power without due process or any favourable end result. I apologize for the part I played in the Transcorp shares saga, the Obasanjo Library Fund, the COJA contracts, the PTDF scandal, the Siemens bribe scandal, the oil contracts and oil wells allocation which I singlehandedly allocated to myself, my women(oh, and I have a lot of them) and my cronies. I apologize for running the petroleum ministry during my tenure as my private estate. For shrouding my activities in the petroleum industry in utmost secrecy, for never rendering proper accounts of the oil revenue to relevant agencies, the Federal Executive Council or the National Assembly.
I apologize for using the EFCC as my personal bulldog to intimidate and bend the will of my political opponents and those who went against my will. I apologize to Nuhu Ribadu for using him for my own selfish interest.
I apologize for victimizing those who criticized me or who attempted to criticize me. I apologize to Audu Ogbeh for forcing him at gunpoint to sign his resignation, to Eedris Abdulkareem for victimizing him and forcing his promoters to do away with him because of the ‘’jaga jaga’’ song that depicted the true picture of Nigeria under me at that time. Look, Nigeria was indeed “Jaga Jaga” and is still “jaga jaga”.
I apologize to Rotimi Amaechi for striking his (Amaechi’s) name off the list of PDP’s governorship candidate list for the election just because I could. I apologize for withholding Federal allocation to Lagos under Bola Tinubu for three and a half years–an act of tyranny and dictatorship that I have come to realize.
I apologize to the people of Anambra state for turning a blind eye as the then sitting Governor, Chris Ngige, was kidnapped and forced to a shrine to swear an oath in broad daylight by one of my apologists Chris Uba who I made sure was above the law. I apologize for withdrawing his security just so to spite him and all the people of Anambra and show validation to the actions of Chris and Andy Uba.
I apologize for attempting to alter the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria just for the single selfish purpose of getting a third term. I apologize to you my fellow Nigerians for using your tax money to bribe lawmakers in an attempt to make my selfish interest come to fulfillment. I apologize for heating up the polity, I apologize profusely for being a self-righteous, self-centered crook and a vindictive so and so.
I apologize to everyone I victimized when the will of you the Nigerian people prevailed over my third term attempt. I apologize for imposing on you a sick president. I apologize because I knew he was sick and didn’t have very much to live for, but I still made him President to spite you all. I wanted to punish the Nigerian people for not letting me have my third term so I imposed him on you, went back to my farm and watched in amusement. I look back at it all now and I admit that I am a terrible man. I apologize for the evils my actions have caused you. I apologize for my actions. I apologize even more for making an unexposed tribal bigot his Vice President.

• NewsRescue-EXCLUSIVE: Yar’Adua Was Poisoned By Obasanjo’s Kitchen Staff — Professor Ukandi G. Damachi, USA Cables

I apologize for giving you the Nigerian people, Goodluck Jonathan–a man who had no antecedent in leadership. I apologize for making a man who was under investigation for false declaration of his assets, President. I apologize for making a man whose wife was then being investigated by the EFCC for money laundering, President of the Federal Republic. I apologize.
I apologize for everything you the Nigerian people are going through right now. Your present travails with poor leadership are the products of my machinations. I am Goodluck Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan is me. I am the kettle that produced the blackened coffee. I’m the architect of your misfortunes. I’m the captain of the gang of pirates that are currently milking your motherland dry. I am the evil one. Goodluck Johnathan is a product of my evil mind. I apologize. I am sorry for all I have cost you. My head is deep in shame, my body is clothed in sack-clothes and my hair is filled with ashes.

• NewsRescue-How Obasanjo and Dangote Got Nigeria “Here” by Imposing Terminally Sick Yar’Adua- US Intel. Leaks from “Rat” Gusau

I appeal to you the Nigerian people today, flee from me and every of my many descendants. If Jonathan wants to contest in 2015, by all means he should. But I appeal to you the Nigerian to vote him out. For he has dwarfed everything I and the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria and my good friend General Babangida ever thought of stealing. Under him, the impunity under me is a child’s play. Under him, the Presidency has turned into a laughing stock and the presidential jet has turn into a taxi for tribal warriors and ethnic jingoists who look for an opportunity to beat the drums of war. Ask Asari Dokubo.
And in conclusion, I apologize to my son Gbenga for sleeping with his wife and for embarrassing the office of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria and myself and my family.
I am very, very sorry fellow Nigerians. Forgive me, for I have erred. Forgive me because without your forgiveness, I will forever be miserable. Without your forgiveness, I will never have peace.
NB: Let me crave your indulgence to share this with your neighbours, friends and fellow countrymen who can’t have first hand access to this letter. Let my story be a lesson for whoever wants to lead this country in the future. I am a mess and I messed up.

Signed:
Olusegun Obasanjo
Architect of Nigeria’s misfortune(s)

NewsRescue

Muhammadu Buhari Has A Say On Obasanjo’s Letter To Jonathan

An important political figure in Nigeria, a former military ruler of Nigeria, Major General (rtd.) Muhammadu Buhari (b. December 17, 1942) published some of his thoughts concerning the controversial letter of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan. You can read the full text of his statement below.

The Obasanjo letter did not come as any surprise to us. No right thinking Nigerian will choose to ignore the apalling descent to anarchy that Nigeria is experiencing under this government.
The good people of this country are equally oppressed by the PDP regimes of both Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. Therefore, while we have the right to demand accountability for the pertinent issues raised in the said letter, we also have the moral responsibility to question the sincerity of the messenger, and to condemn and reject the duo (Obasanjo and Jonathan) for their crimes against the good people of this country.
The destiny of Nigeria is the destiny of 170 million of us. No single individual, no single tribe, religion, political party or region can usurp this destiny for its selfish whim. Our strength and unity is national, not regional. There are attempts by the PDP to undermine this hard-earned national unity, we must guard against such manipulations with utmost vigilance.

InformationNigeria

Discontent in High Places

Even though the motive is political, the issues raised by Olusegun Obasanjo are grave enough for adequate response
In the last one week, two letters, one by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and another by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, have been playing in the public domain. They both roundly indict the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
While the CBN Governor in his letter expressed concerns about the non-remittance of an estimated $49.8 billion of oil proceeds to the Federation Account by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Obasanjo was more sweeping in his concerns ranging from executive impunity and recklessness to tacit complicity in acts of corruption and outright insensitivity to the feelings of Nigerians.
In similar vein, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal on Monday said pointedly that President Goodluck Jonathan’s “body language doesn’t tend to support the fight against corruption”.
Taken together, these expressions of discontent cannot be ignored first on account of the political status of the complainants. More importantly, the contents of these communications happen to tally roughly with the feelings of a broad majority of Nigerians. In sum, there is an emerging consensus that the quality of political leadership and governance being provided by the Jonathan administration falls below the minimum public expectation.
Worse of all, the moral foundation of the nation has been vastly eroded by industrial scale corruption among high public officials to the consternation of both Nigerians and foreign observers. It is the totality of these concerns that unites Obasanjo’s letter and that of Sanusi with the strong indictment of the president by the House Speaker.
However, of greater symbolic importance is the 18-page letter by Obasanjo to whom President Jonathan largely owes his political ascendancy. Until very recently, Obasanjo was the de facto leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and on account of having led the nation first as a military head of state and later as an elected president, he carries tremendous political gravity among Nigerians and the international community.
Therefore, both his concern and arsenal of information should be unassailable. Unfortunately, given that the issues raised in his letter require serious consideration, it is very disappointing that the Presidency has reacted, rather hastily, with more of invectives than a reasoned argument and constructive engagement.
Needless to say, some of the allegations made by Obasanjo in his letter are such that threaten individual rights and are incompatible with the exercise of democratic freedoms. There are also some aspects that impinge on national security. Take for instance the allegation that the administration is training snipers at a secret location and has also put over 1000 Nigerians on a political watch list.
Coming from a man like Obasanjo, this is a rather weighty allegation that ought to be properly investigated by the security agencies and the relevant committees of the National Assembly. Obasanjo also insinuated that the judiciary is being deliberately manipulated not only to pervert the course of justice but also to achieve some political objectives.
It is bad enough that the institutional channels of public accountability through which the president should have accounted to the nation on these matters are largely in retreat. The National Assembly seems hardly interested in seeking a higher level of accountability from the executive. On its part, the executive holds civil society in disdain.
Yet given the sensitive nature of some of the issues raised in Obasanjo’s letter, President Jonathan should find it necessary to enhance the public accountability of his administration by minimally providing factual responses to them. While the motives and timing of the letter may indeed have everything to do with politics, the contents are matters of grave public concern. Therefore, dismissing the letter as a vehicle for conveying a private political agenda is neither here nor there.
It is also in the interest of the president to respond to the issue of whether or not a whopping sum of $49.8 billion is yet to be accounted for by the NNPC. From what is already in the public domain, Sanusi’s letter was addressed to the president and it is from him Nigerians demand explanation. And this is not an issue that should be lost in the subterfuge of setting up another committee. What Nigerians deserve is accountability from their commander-in-chief, so that they can rest assured that contrary to some insinuation, the guard is not the thief!

ThisDay

The 'fake' Mandela memorial interpreter said it all

He claimed an 'attack of schizophrenia' rendered his signing unintelligible, but his performance translated an underlying truth

Thamsanqa Jantjie, the man accused of using fake sign language at Nelson Mandela's memorial. Photograph: Foto24/Getty Images

Our daily lives are mostly a mixture of drab routine and unpleasant surprises – however, from time to time, something unexpected happens which makes life worth living. Something of this order occurred at the memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela last week.
Tens of thousands were listening to world leaders making statements. And then … it happened (or, rather, it was going on for some time before we noticed it). Standing alongside world dignitaries including Barack Obama was a rounded black man in formal attire, an interpreter for the deaf, translating the service into sign language. Those versed in sign language gradually became aware that something strange was going on: the man was a fake; he was making up his own signs; he was flapping his hands around, but there was no meaning in it.
A day later, the official inquiry disclosed that the man, Thamsanqa Jantjie, 34, was a qualified interpreter hired by the African National Congress from his firm South African Interpreters. In an interview with the Johannesburg newspaper the Star, Jantjie put his behaviour down to a sudden attack of schizophrenia, for which he takes medication: he had been hearing voices and hallucinating. "There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," he said. "I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It's the situation I found myself in." Jantjie nonetheless defiantly insisted that he is happy with his performance: "Absolutely! Absolutely. What I have been doing, I think I have been a champion of sign language."
Next day brought a new surprising twist: media reported that Jantjie has been arrested at least five times since the mid-1990s, but he allegedly dodged jail time because he was mentally unfit to stand trial. He was accused of rape, theft, housebreaking and malicious damage to property; his most recent brush with the law occurred in 2003 when he faced murder, attempted murder and kidnapping charges.
Reactions to this weird episode were a mixture of amusement (which was more and more suppressed as undignified) and outrage. There were, of course, security concerns: how was it possible, with all the control measures, for such a person to be in close proximity to world leaders? What lurked behind these concerns was the feeling that Thamsanqa Jantjie's appearance was a kind of miracle – as if he had popped up from nowhere, or from another dimension of reality. This feeling seemed further confirmed by the repeated assurances from deaf organisations that his signs had no meaning, that they corresponded to no existing sign language, as if to quell the suspicion that, maybe, there was some hidden message delivered through his gestures – what if he was signalling to aliens in an unknown language? Jantjie's very appearance seemed to point in this direction: there was no vivacity in his gestures, no traces of being involved in a practical joke – he was going through his gestures with expressionless, almost robotic calm.
Jantjie's performance was not meaningless – precisely because it delivered no particular meaning (the gestures were meaningless), it directly rendered meaning as such – the pretence of meaning. Those of us who hear well and do not understand sign language assumed that his gestures had meaning, although we were not able to understand them. And this brings us to the crux of the matter: are sign language translators for the deaf really meant for those who cannot hear the spoken word? Are they not much more intended for us – it makes us (who can hear) feel good to see the interpreter, giving us a satisfaction that we are doing the right thing, taking care of the underprivileged and hindered.
I remember how, in the first "free" elections in Slovenia in 1990, in a TV broadcast by one of the leftist parties, the politician delivering the message was accompanied by a sign language interpreter (a gentle young woman). We all knew that the true addressees of her translation were not the deaf but we, the ordinary voters: the true message was that the party stood for the marginalised and handicapped.
It was like great charity spectacles which are not really about children with cancer or flood victims, but about making us, the public, aware that we are doing something great, displaying solidarity.
Now we can see why Jantjie's gesticulations generated such an uncanny effect once it became clear that they were meaningless: what he confronted us with was the truth about sign language translations for the deaf – it doesn't really matter if there are any deaf people among the public who need the translation; the translator is there to make us, who do not understand sign language, feel good.
And was this also not the truth about the whole of the Mandela memorial ceremony? All the crocodile tears of the dignitaries were a self-congratulatory exercise, and Jangtjie translated them into what they effectively were: nonsense. What the world leaders were celebrating was the successful postponement of the true crisis which will explode when poor, black South Africans effectively become a collective political agent. They were the Absent One to whom Jantjie was signalling, and his message was: the dignitaries really don't care about you. Through his fake translation, Jantjie rendered palpable the fake of the entire ceremony.
• This article was amended on 16 December 2013 to comply with our editorial guidelines

TheGuardian

Obasanjo: Who Has the Moral Right? By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

By Leonard Karshima Shilgba 

 

Obasanjo’s December 2, 2013 excoriating letter to President Jonathan has elicited diverse reactions from Nigerians. While some see the letter as appropriate, others have asked what “moral right” President Obasanjo has to write such a letter to President Jonathan.
First of all, I should provide what to me were highlights of the letter, and my personal observations:

1. President Jonathan has deliberately yielded to the temptation of sectionalizing his presidency as an Ijaw or South-South presidency and gloated in the highly provocative utterances of his kinsmen such as Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clarke, and Ankio Briggs. I have written against such unguarded show of sectionalism and clannishness. In January, 2012, in the heat of massive fuel subsidy protests, Ms Briggs said on national television, “If Nigerians don’t want Jonathan then they don’t need our oil.” Following that, there have been threats by some strategically placed members of Jonathan’s ethnic group that if Mr. Jonathan would not be president after the 2015 general elections there would be no Nigeria. What nonsense! Some of Jonathan’s tribal folks have even threatened to “disown” him should he refuse to contest. And has President Jonathan publicly distanced himself from such ethnic patronizing? No! Accordingly, President Obasanjo has warned that with such “possessive” tendencies of an Ijaw presidency under Jonathan, it would be difficult for another Ijaw man to be trusted by Nigerians to become their president in the near future. The chronicles of the sad ethnicization of the Nigerian presidency by Jonathan and his tribalists will not be expunged from our history even by an expensive wish.  Only few days ago, a fellow Nigerian from the North was arrested for saying some “inciting things” against the Jonathan government; but the bellicose Asari Dokubo rather gets presidential encouragement in spite of his often more acerbic verbiage.  
2. President Jonathan’s actions and inactions have encouraged unprecedented levels of corruption in our national life. Exponential increase in spending on “fuel subsidy” under Jonathan to trillions of naira annually from a few hundred billions under Obasanjo’s regime and Yar’Adua’s government (although I had written to express my concerns during the Yar’Adua government, that expenditure on the same item had suddenly increased by about 100 per cent over the Obasanjo era’s). Moreover, no government official who appeared before the House committee on fuel subsidy last year was willing to answer the question, “Who authorized the extra-budgetary expenditure on fuel subsidy in 2011?” We can conclude that the big elephant in government did, and none of the officials was willing to attract his wrath. A letter of complaint by the nation’s central bank governor to President Jonathan about non-remittance of about 8 trillion naira has not got his official response about three months after. Jonathan has “not given a damn” about how Nigerians feel about his management of our commonwealth. Consistently this year, the prices of crude oil have hovered above 100 dollars, yet we have heard every so often that there is not enough money to share among the three tiers of government. Public revenues have been under-announced, accruals to the Excess Crude account have been diminished without transparency, and public opinion is treated with disdain.   
3. President Jonathan’s government has had poor handlers, encouraging division and national tension rather than diminish it. He has been a source of much suspicion even within his party, resulting in anti-party activities against his party candidates, most recently in Anambra state. He is the first ruling party president under whom sitting governors have decamped to another political party. Jonathan has a great taste for criminals whom he loves to shield from justice and reward with party leadership. His government has no respect for the judiciary or rule of law. Abuses of power in Rivers state, Abuja, Lagos state, against the national secretary of his party, etc., testify to his undemocratic credentials.
4. There is growing economic tribulation under Mr. Jonathan’s watch. Investors in the oil industry are withdrawing from the scene. During his government African countries like Angola are overtaking Nigeria as the largest producers of crude oil on the continent. The Petroleum Industry Bill, initiated by President Obasanjo’s government has not been passed more than three years into Jonathan’s presidency, which is an evidence of his lack of leadership. While some Niger Delta ex-militants have been made multi millionaires and private jet owners by President Jonathan, the Niger Delta people’s fortunes have not improved even under the presidency of their son. President Jonathan’s lack of vision and understanding of his multi roles as president, commander-in-chief, party leader, national political leader, and chief security officer has turned himself into a rainfall that leaves nothing behind even as he antagonizes public goods projects in his vicious political tackles against just an individual.  
5. President Obasanjo mentioned specifically his discussion in 2011 with Governor Suswam on President Jonathan’s promise to run for only one term in office. This was a deliberate move to expose the hypocrisy and insincerity of some Nigerian politicians who have refused to serve the interest of truth for selfish reasons. If Suswam had said what Obasanjo reported then how can you place this beside what he said in September this year on the subject? Governor Suswam said, “Those who are calling President Jonathan not to contest again are ignorant of Jonathan’s massive achievements. The president has done very well and by the way, he never signed any agreement limiting him to one term in office; nor did he ever tell anyone at any time that he won’t run for a second term.” A true leader should at least be truthful even if the truth hurts or inspires anger rather than lie. I suppose many are so “ignorant” of those “massive achievements” and the presidency is doing rather a poor job at enlightening them.

    I make it a habit to read views of Nigerian readers on every news item or article that I read. What I have observed are as follows:

1. The Nigerian reader is generally vulgar in their comments to other people’s position on a matter. If they don’t agree with your view they would abuse you, question your education, soundness of mind, credibility, motive, and may even abuse your parents.
2. The Nigerian reader may be too hasty to comment on your views before they understand them.
3. Our poor formal education, which does not encourage debates at school, polite classroom discussion, language use and culture, and polite disagreement with another’s ideas and views, has produced many poorly educated citizens who, when they cannot stand intellectual dexterity, only reply with vulgarities.
4. The Nigerian reader leaves the issues in discourse and goes on a voyage of motive enquiry.
5. The Nigerian reader can be easily distracted. Just follow a trail of comments on an issue. After a few comments you may discover that the initial issue gets drowned up by petty hostile disagreements and quarrels by readers who have never met each other.
6. The Nigerian reader is often protective of their ethnic turf at the expense of truth.

Those six issues in observation represent what is wrong with Nigeria—the people. I have read how some Nigerians have asked what moral right President Obasanjo has to write the kind of letter he wrote to President Jonathan. My question is who gives that moral right? Moreover, who has that moral right and is not using it? Is it the General Overseers of big “Christian Ministries” who are too concerned with their “prosperity” messages and would receive any amount of money from just anyone in whose heart “God has laid” something to bring to the “man of God”? Is it the turn-coat public writer and critic who jumps at any available opportunity to serve (their lust)? The person who has the moral right to criticize an incompetent leader is the one that is courageous enough to use it. And if the informed Nigerian elite who have the moral right have rather elected to hoard that right until their graves feast on it, then the one who uses his courage to lay it all out gets my respect.
At this time of growing and worsening impunity in Nigeria, anyone courageous enough to confront the monster government of Jonathan should be encouraged by Nigerians that seek a country that works for all and not just for a few. Have I heard some say it is not appropriate for a former president to publicly criticize a sitting president? When the only thing that can move a president who “does not give a damn” to public opinion and private letters from even elders such as Chief Bisi Akande and President Obasanjo is an excoriating public letter from a former president, then the question is unnecessary. See how the presidency did not respond until the content of the letter became public knowledge more than one week after it was written?
I can only say, Good morning, Nigerians. It is at the door— a new dawn. Rejoice and lift up your eyes. Those who have plundered and robbed us, we shall bury. Within seven months from now it shall be done:
For seven months the house of [Nigeria] will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified, says the Lord God [Ezekiel 39: 12, 13].
Then behold, at eventide, trouble!
And before the morning, he is no more.
This is the portion of those who plunder us,
And the lot of those who rob us [Isaiah 17: 14].
Leonard Karshima Shilgba.

Saharareporters

Will Nigeria’s Igbo Army Chief, Gen. Ihejirika Save The Nation From Its Opprobrious 6th Republic?

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NewsRescue- A May, 2013 article by one of Nigeria’s most renowned writers, Professor Okey Ndibe, “A Case For Canceling The 2015 Elections,” expressed the growing frustration Nigerians have with the apathetic political dispensation of the nations sixth republic and the political madness and brutality of the politician cabal’s power thirst. Considering Nigeria’s crises, the insecurity, oil bunkering, deplorable education, threats of violence by the presidents ‘acolytes,’ Asari Dokubo, Kingsley Kuku and the like, the nation’s state of health care–disease, embezzlement, poor power supply, dilapidated infrastructure, waste disposal, terror, extra-judicial killings, and an endless list of woes, and his view that in regard to these, the current democratic president is ‘comatose,’ in addressing them, Okey wisely opined that the urgent solution for Nigeria would be some form of state of emergency:

Nigeria (needs to) cancel the 2015 elections. The country should then be put in a controlled comatose state, ready for the commencement of urgent, critical care. – Prof. Okey Ndibe

It is true! Nigeria can hardly continue the way it is going. Its politicians are only interested in ‘2015,’ elections and have retired from leading.
Nigeria has a history of military events at times like this when the political leadership totally fails and rules the nation in reckless abandon. Such military overthrows have largely never been ethnic, but have stemmed from a military that could no longer watch politician greed drive the nation into the slums. In 1966 when late Maj. Kaduna Nzeogwu attempted a coup to depose Nigeria’s first republic, he did so according to popular records out of frustration with the excesses of the political cabal. Sentiments aside, many believe that had he succeeded, Nigeria would possibly have had a chance to recover from a trend that has continued at every opportunity. The Buhari-Idiagbon administration took over from fellow northerner, President Shagari, who according to records, Buhari had sworn to, that he will not overthrow, the coup was to address the unbearable corruption of the politicians.
Nigerian politicians and friends, together regarded as the cabal, simply set out to retain power and divide and share the nations wealth among themselves. The highest paid lawmakers in the world, by no surprise, the Nigerian rulers are the worst lawmakers in the world. And their cabal of business tycoons, assist them to retain power with the promise of oil wells and ‘dividends of democracy.’
The United States refers to Nigeria and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, as ‘Beggar-thy-countrymen Dangote.’ This is due to his system with the ruling class who he buys the presidency for, of being rewarded sole importation and manufacturing roles, hence having autonomy of Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. His business policies in effect cripple small businesses and the nation at large. This is what Nigeria’s political dispensations offers the nation.
According to US cables, these elite are so wicked, they, for instance, recent 5th republic civilian president Obasanjo and his cabal crony, Aliko Dangote, selected a dying ‘recluse,’ late president Yar’adua, who was on dialysis, on treatment for brain problems–with blackouts, and suffering from epileptic seizures, to run for for presidency. See: NewsRescue-How Obasanjo and Dangote Got Nigeria “Here” by Imposing Terminally Sick Yar’Adua- US Intel. Leaks from Terror Mastermind, “Rat” Gusau. When Yar’adua objected for reasons of poor health, Obasanjo told him, ‘God will cure you.’ When Yar’adua said he had no money, Obasanjo chartered Transcorp and Dangote who gave him 5 billion naira, 45 jeeps, with 4 bullet proof and a private jet, to buy the presidency. Nigeria has suffered ever since from these wicked political games.
Listing the problems and dangers the reckless 5th and 6th republics have driven Nigeria into will take an ocean of ink and globe of paper. Way passed its elastic limit, more than just sick, the nation is a rotting carcass, waiting for the jackals and vultures to arrive. The issue is–will Nigeria’s current army chief, who hails from the Igbo ethnic group, a group who have long complained of being sidelined, save Nigeria?
It is said that lot’s of the powers of the military have been cordoned since the Obasanjo regime, but this is only a relative issue and only works when the people are marginally satisfied with the leadership. Despite the paid obfuscation of the presidents few men, it is clear to see that Nigerians are totally fed-up.
A recent non statistical survey NewsRescue conducted on its facebook page, requested to know if Nigerians will employ a man like the current president–who himself admits to being the most disliked leader on the planet–to man their business, club or school. 99% responded with a resounding, no. Unless it was an agriculture company and not their only, many said. The question was in relation to a petition recently started and garnering signatures, by ‘Operation save Nigeria,’ to petition a ‘vote of no confidence’ in the president.
Typical responses included, ‘Yes, if i have thousands of company I will sacrifice one for him just 2 c d worst he can do!,  ‘No , He Cant Even Control His Own House. He Lacks Managerial Qualities.’ And, ‘capital NO Because He is not good to go at ALL but if it’s ANIMALS/FISHERY YES I will.’

• NewsRescue-Coup Imminent if Rivers Crisis Persists – Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar

Political Mayhem Peaks

No doubt, the army general from Abia state, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, has his personal benefits and connections with the president. But will his commitment to Nigeria and desire for the peace, harmony and progress of Africa’s most populous nation get the better of him? Will he as an Igbo and Nigerian leader, show Nigerians the value he, on behalf of his great people and all the  great disenfranchised masses of Nigeria, has to offer? Truth is, Nigeria now has two ethnic groups, the poor masses and the cabal. It is no secret that the traditional leaders and elders have failed and deserve to be reneged. The army can fix the judiciary, force the retirement of all cabal (as Rawlings did to Ghana) and handover soon in early elections to a new crop of progressive Nigerian youth leaders. A new generation is needed, is skilled, is powerful and is ready.
Some may think that inviting a military take over is distasteful or out of vogue. But we are all witnesses to the military take over in Egypt and the fact that the world understood the need for such take-over in favor of the masses, to curb excesses of quasi-dictatorial regimes. Prominent western writers have declared for Nigeria, not much different, recently we read: Good luck, Mr. Jonathan. It’s time you were Impeached, by Joel Brinkley, LA Times, March 2013. We Nigerians and the world know that with the type of democratic system we have, that one that has the highest paid legislators, or legislooters in the world, a proper democratic process of impeachment will never happen. Nigeria is left with basically no choice. In any case, all systems on earth need checks, perhaps a coup will never happen, but it is important the legislooters and political warriors with their super mathematics, know that there is a hammer and it can fall.
Will the decorated Army General. Azubuike Ihejirika bell the cat and save the nation, or will he wait for a patriotic and ambitious junior officer to do the honors?
by Lekan Abayomi, Hamza Suleiman and NewsRescue staff

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