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06 June 2012 By Raheem Oluwafunminiyi
Dear president Jonathan, I am writing this letter to
you because since 2011 when you assumed the post of
the most powerful man of the most populous black
nation in the world, Nigeria has been left adrift with
plunder and hopelessness. Dear president, am in no
doubt that you understand the rudiments of leadership
or maybe I should take it as a responsibility upon
myself being a patriotic citizen of our country to
enlighten you more on it.
Leadership is about commitment, sacrifice, foresight
and intelligence. It is simply about one man who has
the mettle and charisma to take his nation to
Eldora do. Leadership is about taking advantage of
salient situations and using it to transform one's
society for the better. It is a situation where the
man at the top, against all odds, uses the power at
his disposal to entrench basic fundamental ideals,
promote favourable policies for the people and create
an ideological front that would propel not only the
people's status but the country towards greatness. A
leader is one who comes out straight, talks straight
and act straight in time of crisis and trouble.
Leadership is about stepping on toes to make those
meant to be served better of. It is simply the rule in
a mutually binding social contract.
Dear president, I can go on and on, but like the
millions of Nigerians who came out en masse to
vote for you in the last presidential election, I am
hopping mad that you have failed to display the
promises in your campaign and change the stagnation
that has bedeviled this country for years. Nigerians
are very disappointed at your lackluster temperament
and lackadaisical attitude towards national issues.
From the issue of legislative financial recklessness,
massive corruption unprecedented in our history, the
Boko-Haram menace that has continued to defy all
solutions from your military chiefs, recklessness in
the judiciary to unemployment, falling standard of
education and most especially the subsidy removal
injustice. All these and many more have led to
disaffection and bitterness among the vast majority of
people who thought with you as president, a breath of
fresh air would permeate the nation. What we see today
is a sharp contrast to what many had hoped for.
Dear president, in the history of our leadership
enthronement in this country, none from Tafawa Balewa
to the late Yar'adua had emerged through the Goodluck
mien as you did. Never in our history had we openly
revolted against a certain powerful cabal in the late
Yar'adua presidency who lorded themselves over you,
even as you were the vice president of our dear
country, refusing to allow you exercise your
constitutional power.
Dear president, I remember just like millions of
Nigerians holding placards and voicing out against
those who refused to give you the constitutional right
as acting president. We were fighting for justice and
equity which belonged not to the cabal but the people.
Our resilience and doggedness eventually forced the
legislature to use the 'Doctrine of Necessity'
unprecedented in our history to give you full powers
even though the cabal were yet unsatisfied.
Dear president, if you could remember vividly that
even when you became president as a result of the
death of the late Yar'adua, this same cabal were still
hell bent on seeing that you were systematically
schemed out of the power game by firstly, insisting
that there was a nonsensical zoning formula in your
party which gave them the right to continue ruling
until 2015. When they discovered this was not
possible, they went ahead to anoint a consensus
candidate to defeat you at the primaries, but with
your goodluck mien, you surpassed the mathematical and
political machinations of this cabal.
Dear president, not many Nigerians would forget easily
those cannelloni words used in your campaign and
presidential inauguration speeches which claimed you
wore no shoes to school and we thought for that
reason, you understood our pains and therefore, as a
matter of expediency, you were going to do all in your
capacity to transform Nigeria and propel it towards
greatness. Nigerians were hopeful that someone for the
first time, who had felt the pain of being a Nigerian
was becoming our president and would do the people
proud, yet these people today are frustrated and
filled with regret at your volte-face.
Dear president, as if struck by myopia, which had been
a recurring feature with past Nigerian presidents, you
suddenly tripled the price of petroleum which is the
only benefit the people gain from abundance of oil and
arrogantly told the people there was no going back on
it. You refused to shift ground and called the bluff
of the people. Your ministers and governors became
your supporters and even when we rightfully came out
to show our displeasure over the insensitivity, armed
soldiers ready to commit murder lined the streets. Not
even the death of youths who would have contributed to
the development of this country could assuage your
feelings. Your speech did not solve the question of
the subsidy removal and only exposed further the
thievery ongoing in the presidency.
Dear president, the oil sector is one issue too over
flogged but the issue of Boko-Haram is another too sad
not to be mentioned. Since the emergence of the
British in Nigeria, violence had been the order of the
day and even after independence, violence had not
stopped appearing on the socio-political scene. These
brand of violence were majorly on a small scale and
were quite easy to curtail. Today, however, the
challenge of insecurity continues to be a bane to our
collective security. Boko-Haram and its incessant
attacks in the North has made those at the top
clueless as to how they could nip this national
embarrassment in the bud. It
is so sad dear president that you have failed to
realise that your ascension to the post of president
is dreaded by some powerful northern elements and for
that reason would do anything to disparage your
administration. Since you are helpless in tackling
this menace, the aim of these elements is to ensure
you do not go beyond 2015. Your lack of foresight dear
president is why you made a Northerner your party
chairman simply because you wished to spite others and
block their ambition in 2015. By this singular action,
you have given many Nigerians the reason to believe
that you wish to go for another term come 2015. It
is so sad dear president that you do not have the
wherewithal to use your constitutional power to bring
down the vestiges of northern political hegemony that
has dragged us down for decades. As the first
president from a minority group, you ought to have
done what millions have been agitating for which is to
cut the godly powers emanating from the centre, while
throwing it to the geo-political zones so that the
bloody quest and thirst for power at the centre would
diminish in its entirety. You allowed yourself to wine
and dine with hawks who have no patriotism towards the
country but how to make it big for nothing in the face
of the international community. We
are yet to see what the increase in fuel had done for
the country and people and it is in the best interest
of your administration to let sleeping dogs lie else
more than ever before, Nigerians would come out in
revolt and make the country ungovernable for both the
oil cabals who you had failed to prosecute and your
administration as a whole. We will take to the street
and we shall be ready to die for what we believe in.
Dear president, it is a well known fact that the worst
thing anyone can do to a fellow human is taking such a
human for granted. Nigerians have for years been taken
for granted and our patience is no more alive. It is
our belief that since you are a minority, you could
change the destiny of other minority groups in the
country, yet your brand of leadership is weak,
unsavoury and lack political will. If it is your
intention to contest in 2015, Nigerians who you have
failed will not stand by you anymore. Nigerians would
readily give their support to an individual who have
the will to get those who have drawn this country
backwards on their knees. We shall support a man or
woman who is ready to play by the people's wishes and
not some political friends or party.
Nigeria belongs to all of us and if those who claim to
represent our interest at the top fails to implement
people friendly policies, then we must begin to rise
against them. Dear president, if an Arab spring had
swept away kleptocratic and insensitive leaders in the
last couple of months, it is not hard to have it here
and soonest shall it appear if things do not take a
better turn for the people and country as a whole.
Dear president, God bless Nigeria. |
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