Letter to President Muhammadu Buhari; “the Man of Time”

By Abdul-Rahman Baban Saibo

babansaibo@gmail.com

Dear Mr. President Sir,

With all due regards and hopes for your wellbeing, with ardent anticipations of these past months and the few to come will come to be the most difficult times of your life, with fervent expectations that your nights are seen as bright as are your days, with even sheer certitude that you spare not a second to ensuring righteousness, honesty and justice are the keys to making your decisions in serving with transparency, fairness and equity the people you lead. As “A time for historic change is no time for recklessness”, says former President of the US George W. Bush. May your days of service be fruitful and of bliss, and I wish and pray that the Almighty may see you all through this quest.

I wish to begin by conveying to you Sir, that I am 29 years of age, a resident and born of Bauchi State and that I used to be a no good citizen. I have in the past broken some laws and was engaged in (let’s say) a few illegal acts. One time I made a forgery of my Local Government’s indigene certificate just to bypass the lengthy procedures to obtaining the genuine copy. During the 2011 general elections, I stood in line to vote (for you), and I did, but then I didn’t have a voters’ card. That too was unlawful. In the past, I engaged in exams malpractices, an act of which I rebuke today with utter disdain. I’ve disobeyed traffic laws, school laws and even encouraged others to violate them. I offered bribes to policemen and working staffs whenever I get whelmed in desperation over things I eagerly need. Yes, I was a no good citizen.

Regretful are these past behaviors of mine. Yes. But then again, regretful has been the civil order of this country for a very long time. A time not so near to that of which I was born. By thence I was born, all these past deeds of mine were already the regular ways things were done in this country. Although, as does all citizens, I also learnt in time, that the “regular ways” in which things were done in this country are flawed and are absolutely out-of-order. The system is sick. The people also, are sick; well, some are sick, whilst some art the sickness. Thus, in realizing such every son of the land with a healthy conscience would set forth to seeking a “change”.

Albeit still, in essence to how this country’s system worked (or still works), I plead not guilty, for it must be understood that it is my country that violated against me and not me She. Do you recall in your acceptance speech when you said to Nigerians “you have voted for change, and now change has finally come?” Well, I registered that as a promise from you Sir and for that I also have pledged to change, and I vow to never again break any laws of the State.

It is strange how one’s epiphany for the betterment of his home-land and prospects for true civil order comes from the reasons that hopes for the subsistence and liberation of an entire nation hath withered to being one man’s ultimate possibility. Very strange. I quote my confessions to Nigerians from a piece (Whither Nigerians’ faith after APC’s Presidential primaries), “Lest I remind us that albeit General Muhammadu Buhari remains Nigeria’s only best hope for a proper credible and responsible leadership as well as governance any other citizen is better than this clueless sick.” In these 100 days of your leadership in office Sir, you have proven not only to Nigerians, but to the whole world the worth of your 12years “Long Walk to Change”, as Sa’id Enagi calls it.

Permit me to remind you Sir of the wild celebrations that claimed innocent lives during that same historic evening that also claimed your victory. Blames were thrown on the dead and the injured for their recklessness, but I ask why are they to blame after having suffered a lifetime of hardship which was instilled upon them by their own brethren? Yet still, I earnestly seek to know who’s to blame for the same people would have exercised the same nefarious on others if the chance was theirs’ to rule. “Leaders do not fall from the sky.”- Abubakar Gimba (Letter to the Unborn child), do they? The same man went to iterate later in the same book “a nation is as good or as bad as the character of its men.” Why then are they to blame?

“Behold, verily may the world stop and see, the “fortunate tragedy” that befell thee. The former our freedom gained 1^st of October, the latter our canker, our grime yet moreover… and after a struggle we gained independence, ‘oh my’! How the stories of Nigeria’s confidence…” Indeed it was a “fortunate tragedy” that befell this country when she experienced the freedom of sovereignty on 1^st October 1960. But, March the 28^th 2015 will forever entail in history how this country attained independence. I would attest that Hannatu Musawa couldn’t have been blunter in that wonderful poesy “Nigeria we hail thee”. I, as a declared changed citizen of Nigeria, hereby proclaim this day (28^th March 2015) the “Self Independence day”, for you Mr. President would agree with me that, it was an independence attained by “self” with “self” and through “self”.

The very same eve of your victory came to Nigerians as though it was a long awaited dream. Perhaps it was some dream-come-true; perhaps it was some sort of mystery; and perhaps God just decided it be a turning point for the good people of Nigeria. They say “God works in mysterious ways” indeed He does. And that is why when times of change approach (especially in adverse nations such as ours) God and mystery are the prominent artists for that “Change” to edifice.

I would have forever declared your ascension to power somewhat a mystery of a circumstance, but thanks to Franz Rosenthal’s break-down of how power is swapped from a dominant dynastic tyranny to a justice led opposition all through time, in the book of Ibn Khaldun (Al-Muqaddima), Franz explained, “All dynastic history moves in circles, as it approaches senility, the dynasty slowly shrinks inwards from its borders towards its center under the persistent pressure of the new outside leader and his group. Eventually the dynasty collapses. The new leader and his group there upon constitute a new dynasty”. In the end, he (Franz) concluded that the new dynasty must “-suffer in three more generations the fate of its predecessors”. Having already experienced the empirical replica of the former, one must ardently hope and pray that we would not come to assume the theoretical replica of the latter. For, this is God’s own change for Nigeria.

In Adamu Adamu’s testimony which he titled “Unfurling the spangled”, released after Nigeria’s glorious “bloodless revolution”, he asserted that “if the elections had failed, this country would have become engulfed in a series of wars without borders-between regions and within them; between faiths and within them; and between the haves and the have-nots. And each of them would have been a fight to the finish-and so, there would have been three finishes; and Boko Haram would have waited for sides to get tired killing each other before it would come in for the final kill, and that would have been the fourth finish. ” I’d say it’s the absolute profound truth as it was told.

But to an ignorant wonderer, the question would be, “what went wrong, where, when and how”, for Adamu Adamu’s seeming horrific testimony to have been the only ends to an unjustified means? I had best answer this in Hannatu Musawa’s words as she had brilliantly aligned it in her beautiful poesy; “the fanfare in the past started with president’s address, followed by a march pass to mark our fabulous mess! Undoubtedly each party will claim “history, victory” oblivious as always of the people’s misery. Corruption is said has been fought with all might. Yet the return of the looters is plainly in sight… when 15 years ago we were promised democracy we welcomed the end of the military hypocrisy. But little did we know that a democratic dictatorship would smell even worse than a rotten potato chip!” and from thence it continued, but this time in the words of Abubakar Gimba; “Treachery and betrayal by tricksters have been turned into great attributes of wisdom smartness and intelligence. Cheating, a mean vice is venerated as a fine art of strategic thinking. Lying and dishonesty are applauded as witty maneuvering. Greed is dressed in an appealing costume as legitimate ambition and vision. Inconsiderate selfishness is hailed as a self-drive towards self-realization and fulfillment.” In Aminu Ala’s song “Bakar Malafa” (the Black Bowler-hat), he had this to submit; “Jari hujja akeyi mana mukami nasaman doka, da masu kudi da masu mulki se yadda sukayi akan doka. An yunkura maida mu bayi kana bauta da ‘yancinka… an zabi ruba-ruba namu da sunan wai wakiltarka. A basu kudi su mika mu hannu kwarya hannu bakka. Tunanin su iyalansu, su tara abinda ba tabka. Suna tsoron talau cewa, suna shakkar zama talakka.” (We face an unjustly treacherous rule, (where political) positions are above the law. The rich and the powerful do as they please regardless of the law. We are being enslaved (in our land), as one is a slave despite one’s freedom… the rotten and corrupt amongst us are chosen in the name to represent us. They collect money (bribes) to abandon us, with one hand in their plates and the other in their pockets. All their thoughts (care) are of their families, (and for them) to make what they did not earn. They are afraid of bankrupting; they are terrified of becoming poor). And this is where Hannatu would come to agreeing with Adamu by testifying that (his assertions), “will be the outcome if this conduct lasts.” And regretfully, it would have been.

Dr. George Gallup once said “if democracy is about the will of the people, then someone should go and find out what that will is.” I earnestly seek to know whether you had him (Dr. Gallup) in mind when you uttered in your Chatham House speech, “…it is globally agreed that democracy is not an event but a journey, and that the destination of this journey is democracy consolidation; the state where democracy has become so rooted and so rooting and widely accepted by all actors…,” my apprehension of your words do not only give distinguishing honor to the locus classicus specimen of leadership you possess, but it also tells extensively of your sublime efficacy. In this case then, you stand being the ‘liberator of Nigeria’s democracy’, thus, thanks to Dr. Gallup, we have found our will. You again argued that, “it’s much important that democracy must deliver on the promise of choice of freedoms, of security of lives and properties, of transparency and accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared prosperity.” All I can say here Sir, is ‘my respect’.

Your answer to the three questions which a development economist threw; “what is happening to poverty; what is happening to unemployment; and what is happening to inequality?” in regards to Nigeria, is quite mesmerizing. You submitted “in Nigeria it shows that the current administration has created two economies in one country, a story tale of two nations in one country; 1) economy for a few who have so much in their tiny islands of prosperity and the other economy for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery.” I trust with this level of intellectual interpretation, Nigerians can attest that their economy is now in good hands.

“Let me assure you,” your words at Chatham House, “that if I am elected as President, the world will have no cost worry about Nigeria as it has so recently. That Nigeria will return to its stabilizing role in West-Africa and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy…” I am sure I mince no words when I relay that Nigeria’s security today is far better than it was some 6 months back.

They tried to have us believe that you were no good for the seat. They told us you were a religious bigot. They said you had no certificates. They even alleged you to be the sponsor of the terrorism you are today so dedicated to annihilating. All of this they did for the fear of justice, competence and accountability. But Mr. Gimba tells us in his book, “Leadership is not conferred on those who beat their chests with pride as having the longest chain of certificates from the academia.” We sure witnessed how a doctor (PhD) sent this country to the stands of destitute. But “Recent quests of change and transformation in the world tore the masks from the faces of many and revealed their true identities, they also momentarily lifted the veil from our eyes and thus the true essence of everybody and everything became clear to our view.” Thanks to M. Fethullah Guillen for having it aptly aligned for us to comprehend.

In an address after the great “French Revolution”, Marquis de Lafayette gave a touching speech at the French congress, and from his words I excerpted these few lines to cohere the situation then with that which had opposite means but same justified ends with the previous revolution that took place in this country. “…for a nation to love liberty, it is sufficient that she knows it, and to be free, it is sufficient that she wills it… may this great monument raised to liberty serve as a lesson to the oppressors and an example to the oppressed.” Today Nigerians would arbitrarily (per say) adopt the “Main resolution of the 5^th Pan-African congress,” for we too “shall complain, appeal and arraign. We will make the world listen to the facts of our conditions. We will fight in every way we can for freedom, democracy and social betterment.” And God help us we will.

“Returned to Nigeria with new eyes, because he had seen people who lived without fear, who obeyed the law as part of their nature, who knew individual liberty.” Your great predecessor (Malam Abubakar Tafawa Balewa) wrote this in his report on his first return from England. President Muhammadu Buhari, I reckon you were not bluffing when you said at Chatham House “I am running for president to lead Nigeria to prosperity not adversity.” For that I think George Patmo was referring to you when he said “your country needs you for the rebuilding of your homeland.” Well, even if he wasn’t, we need you Sir, to reverse our land’s vicissitudes to those days where moral and ethical laws are proudly and humbly respected, as Adamu Ciroma once said “Any law which has no moral or ethical basis is not a law which will be acceptable to ordinary people.” I trust with the abundant acumen you so graciously exhibit you will bring those days to existence in our land.

Your nick name as of the moment is “Baba Go-slow”. I wonder what they will call you after you change entirely the contemporary ways things happen in this country. They fail to understand that “Buhari cannot make miracles, but can make wonders by being at his best all day.” As my brother Mukhtar Jarmajo so honestly confessed in a piece he called “A Work plan for Buhari”. I must say that I am profoundly disappointed in some respected opinionists for failing to exercise the simple prudence to envisage beyond your choice of appointments to that of the will which you have intended. Either ways Mr. Gimba explained it vividly, “men of rectitude rarely get generous applause at least at the onset of their mission.”

I was watching a movie (Grand Budapest) the other day when I heard the star actor say something that set my mind ruminating over the current happenings in this country. He (the star; Zero Mustafa) said “When the destiny of a great fortune is at stake, men’s greed spread like poison in the blood stream.” That actually made me realize why those acclaimed “Peace Committee” came to plead with you to stop the probe of past corrupt leaders. Well I must confess to you Sir, that they will not so easily let you probe them. They will fight you. They will resist you. They will try to distract you. Some will discourage you. Beware there are those of whom pose as your cartels; they might be (in the struggle to victory and glory for some selfish sentiments) but never at will and intentions. You must “resist, however the temptation to be stubborn in your resistance to the forces which would want to sweep you aside. But… resist with a bow…” Abubakar Gimba’s advice to you Sir, I understand you do exercise that virtue. He (Gimba) had these iron words to also relay onto you; “Remain who you are, or are trying to be. They and their ways represent a road and you and your ways (also) represent a road, much sooner than later, people would have to make a choice of which road to follow for societal redemption.”

So “Courage, guts, perseverance and prayers are the very essential provisions you must have for the daunting journey of transformation of our nation. Courage to dare to even start, guts to face the challenges along the route, perseverance in the pain and sacrifices occasioned by the struggles the journey entails, and prayers for providential support.” Abubakar Gimba suggests. But you and I both would agree that for a man who said “I Muhammadu Buhari will always lead from the front.” Must have these “essential provisions” indelibly inserted in him.

“… I cannot change the past.” You said, “but I can change the present and the future.” You said you couldn’t quit contesting because, “the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I still think that change is possible, this time through the ballot. And most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of.”

In time men are born, in greatness men are made and in circumstances men are defined. I seldom hear greatness maketh men, but I have so often seen and read men whom made greatness. I refer to you as “the Man of time” because since time, there have been men whom pose as monumental historians of their times. These men get to eventually either rescue their people from their adversities, or elevate their social statuses. You Sir happen to fit the descriptions of uttered words and scriptures of men whom existed both in your time and the bygone. You are indeed a paragon of virtue. And for that you are Nigeria’s “MAN OF TIME”.

President Muhammadu Buhari, you have a great destiny at your stake, so go ahead and make posterity recognize you. And may Allah almighty be with you all the time.

                                                                      Yours’ Sincerely

                                                              Abdul-Rahman Baban Saibo

Letter to the “New Governor of Bauchi State”

By; Abdul-Rahman Baban Saibo

babansaibo@gmail.com

Dear Governor Muhammad A. Abubakar Esquire,

I hope your first week in office is as hectic as never before in your previous ones, and would never come to be in your future ones as well. I know well the state in which you assumed your current seat is not a bit neither cozy nor comfortable, so, it is assumed natural that you find it worrisome, even disturbing.

As much as I am humbled to write these few pages to you Sir, that is as much as I am obliged.

Let me start by confessing to you Sir, that, I am not a pro-you and neither am I an anti-you, at least not yet. I am although a member of the APC, and yes, I am a progressive. For this reason I chose to sit on the fence, at least till the end of your first hundred days in office. But something tells me a hundred days is quiet too much a time for someone in your stand. The rumor already has it that you are still undecided as to whom you would appoint as the next Secretary to the State Government. That I think says a lot about the thirty days to come, where all focus will be strained to observing who you appoint as your executives, whereas those thirty days will have to define the sixty days to follow, wherein the people’s enthusiasm will be stuck in between what projects you launch, and how tenacious and efficient a leader you could be in supervising the assignments you oblige your Civil Servants with. As it always has been, the first ninety days of every leader in office, determines whether his tenure would be a successful one or not. At this juncture then, I will wish you the very bests of lucks in your first thirty days as the Chief Servant of my State.

Sir, you might have known well that your ascension to power came almost exactly as your predecessor’s. For, if not for the time, circumstances, and characters that took roles in making your victory a possibility, I would have declared it an exact scenario to that of Governor Isa Yuguda’s in 2007.

When you decamped to APC from the PDP just three months to the commencement of the party’s primary elections, you quiet clearly distorted the party’s political settings knowing well that the party was still juvenile and disoriented by the internal sentimental politicking being played. In seeing that, you ceased the advantage of taking charge using your former party’s tradition, it was said that you bought almost the entire party’s officials in about just a month. That in my opinion qualifies you to being an ‘opportunist,’ which in due regards to certain past events also aligns you with your predecessor.

I came to learn that after you became a member of the party, an offer, though secretly, was made to you to contest for the seat of Senator (Bauchi South)-to which you declined. I think that was rude. Those were people whom conduced a lot in the creation of this party both in the National and State levels, for that I think it was too much a generous offer to be declined. You as a politician must know that a courtesy of due regards is always relayed on to the people who marveled in such a formidable act.

Prior to your primary elections Sir, speculations were circulated that you are, but an element implanted by the PDP to cause confusion and distortions within the party. That same speculation I recall was spread about your deputy in 2011 when he came to contest for the seat of Governor under the flag of the defunct CPC Party. If the rumors were true, then your deputy must be considered successful for achieving your former party’s primary objective. You on the other hand would be regarded unsuccessful by your former party. And again, I would personally regard your victory as a “paradox of success” where dual purposes were achieved to sooth one interest. But of course that interest would be wholly yours, since your former party had its primary interests too. But that of course would depend only on if the speculations were true.

I wouldn’t stress wondering what school of thought your choice of picking Engr. Nuhu Gidado as your running mate might have created, knowing quiet well that a preponderance of the Bauchi State populace still have little or no confidence in him. Since in essence to his past political records, your pair could only at best be reckoned as “birds of the same feather”.

Subsequent to your victory in the gubernatorial primaries though, I must clarify to you Sir, two schools of thoughts were created. There were those who perceived that you had an agreement with Governor Isa Yuguda, where it was asserted that he will clear all grounds for you so your victory would come trouble-free. But that of course would go contrary to his interests, except, it was said that you guaranteed him that his administration would go un-probed if you happened to emerge the winner in the general elections. And that is where the former school’s pretext surmounts’ over the latter’s. The latter school believes that all these speculations were rumors architected by your fellow counterparts to diminish your credibility. A rather obscure third school was formed, although almost abstract. They perceived that these propagandas were spread by those who loss to you in the primary elections. Albeit none of these assertions was confidently supported by facts, neither of the aforementioned schools was wholly convincing. Thus the third school only aided in setting the ambiance of the polity in a ridiculous uncertainty.

I find it rather obliging to also remind you of the chaos your victory as Bauchi APC gubernatorial flag bearer brought about. After the primary elections it was speculated that you rigged your ways during the primaries to victory. I also think you did. My findings brought me to the awareness that the National Party officials asked your counterparts to let go off the case for if the situation surpasses, the State might come to lose the general bid to PDP, again, as it did in 2011 when your Deputy came to contest.

In 2007 though, then you were the INEC Commissioner for Rivers State, it was said that you announced the general elections results on an airplane. That I couldn’t believe. I mean, how could that be? One thing though, the election was undoubtedly rigged, and you still announced the results anyways. That is one reason why the people of Bauchi State still don’t find you trustworthy. You know Bauchi people and the man “Baba Buhari”, once they hear about someone going against him… I think you should take caution from what happened to your predecessor.

Sir, you should also recall that thence the primary elections you were heard almost not. Everyone, including myself was asking, “Is he still in the race?” Someone told me that you were waiting for “Baba Buhari” to come and raise your hand to the people of Bauchi State. At the end it appeared true. I mean it was obvious that your campaign went numb until after “Baba” came and granted your wish. Besides, that’s what succored the polity out of the “ridiculous uncertainty” it was in. With all due respect Sir, I think that says ill of someone whom wills to lead a people.

My sincerest concerns Sir are of you not making your best in deeds to see that you gain your people’s trust. You still are that ‘vague, uncertain, un-trustworthy, I am just lucky to be here’ person to the people of Bauchi State. Your actions are neither encouraging nor oomph boosting. Most people think you will at the end turn out to be the same person your immediate predecessor was.

I think you need a rethink on what to do to win the people’s confidence. My best advice to you would be Sir; to screen the people around you, then rid your cabinet from those people with bad past records, they possess potential threats that might come to cause distortions to your Governance. “I am a moderately successful lawyer”, so you told BATV in an interview. Making a moderately successful Governor won’t be bad either.

It is natural for every man to have weakness, yours’ as it appears is the ignorance of the consequences to your desires. You wanted to become a Governor, you have, but you still can’t settle for what’s next. Perhaps, you don’t even know what is next. Now everyone complains over why you are yet to appoint a Secretary for the State. I think that is the result to not having a blue print before coming to contest. But of course, for if not, how else do we define “Rebranding Bauchi State” program? I fear your phenomenon will come to be known as “a sudden swift rise of a long slow fall”.

When you declared that your basic salary and your deputy’s be halved, you quiet well took some people aback. But my interests are to know what, where and how the money can benefit the people. You ordered the State’s accounts be frozen. All questions are at their crucial, “why”? It can be investigated what happened in the past and yet still be open for regular operations. In my opinion, you are faced with two challenges at the same time. In consideration to what you inherited-two straight month’s salary being refused to be paid to the Civil Servants, you need to find the means to settle that debt, for that is now your burden. And again, regarding the condition to which receded the State back to this limit of economic depression, you need to put foremost the consideration to quicken the creation of revenues for the State. That I think might also walk us out of the troubles of unemployment in the State.

I learnt also Sir, that you took role in the sanitation that took place the last Saturday of last month. I’d be glad if a new law would be passed to stop the people from dumping their refuses on the streets. That being amongst the past administration’s biggest achievements in the State, it could also just come to being one of your best.

In conclusion, those who might have come across the appreciatory speech “To God be the Glory” I wrote in your name prior to the general elections, might wonder as to why I am still the same person to write this piece to you. I wish to clarify to them that what I did then I did for the sake of my party, and I find it absolutely compelling to offer to you my quota in advice where it appears necessary for this is my State, which I dear most. You are a leader, and like most leaders before you, you assumed a detrimentally rotten seat but that must not be an excuse for you to falter in your administration. You complained a couple of times over the debts and the ills that the immediate past administration left behind. Forgive my intrusion, but you need not complain Sir, you need just act, and if possible, with absolute immediate effects.

For that simple reason I wish to remind you again Sir, this time in the words of Thomas Paine; “If we consider what the principles are that first condense men into society, and what the motives that regulates their mutual intercourse afterwards, we shall find, by the time we arrive at what is called Government, that nearly the whole of the business is performed by the natural operation of the parts upon each other.” I see potential greatness in you Sir; I see more than four million populace willing to ascend themselves to greatness-no matter the cost; I see opportunities waiting for a well determined leadership to be made; I see hopes, hopes anxiously waiting to be attained in the most responsible manners. You’ve had your ills and weaknesses in the past, pardon me when I say they helped in bringing you to a stand of responsibility. You are here now, and by many, you are expected to fail. I expect you to excel. So at this point in time, allow me, though with all due humility, to order you to take charge!

I hope you find the due time to read this, and also the due time to reply. I shall await your response with a fervent expectancy. Thank you.

                                                                        Yours’ sincerely,

                                                               Abdul-Rahman Baban Saibo

In Nigeria III; President a Liar and a Betrayed Nation

By; Abdul-Rahman Baban Saibo

babansaibo@gmail.com

Prologue (Blasphemy);

“My husband is a messiah,” -first lady Patience Jonathan. “People do not understand the burdens this President is bearing. He’s like Jesus Christ. He’s bearing the burden of everybody.”- Doyin Okupe, Senior Special assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan. This is the same man, must I remind, whom claimed himself  a “Bastard” if the then newly born opposition Party APC (now governing party) do not disintegrate within a year “If they don’t crumble and disappear before 2014, don’t call me Okupe... call me Bastard”. Why he chose to be a bastard if that happens? Only people of his caliber could tell.

During that same program Mr. Doyin Okupe (Bastard) also asserted that, “I can’t see GEJ losing this election. It’s not possible.” I wonder what he would say had gone wrong today! Or may be “Lord” GEJ had sacrificed his ambition for the betterment of Nigerians just the way “Jesus Christ” did, Who knows?!

Also, a lawmaker from Rivers state Mr. Bipi Evans claims that Mrs. Patience Jonathan Nigeria’s first lady is his Jesus Christ. One must come to curiously ask, how on earth could these people be compared with this holy personality? Considering the fact that this same peoples’ acclaimed faiths regards him to be God, how then could one confidently compare him with these ill beings? Perhaps, those who see the first family as “Lords” hath faith only in power and wealth, as of result, the only thing they worship is it.

But hence, I’d say it has come to its ends, for those whom obeys not but ‘Power’ and ‘Money’ will so rot in jail as the vanquisher of ill acts and corrupt deeds have thus unveiled.

 
“Nigeria we hail thee, Albeit thy children fail thee, in mercy God’ll bail thee, Before thou thus derail thee.”- Hannatu Musawa      

President a Liar;

President Goodluck Jonathan’s fund of lies to Nigerians and to the world is rather becoming an act of disrespect to the people, as he continuous to undermine not alone his integrity and dignity, but also that of the country’s as well. Though as it appears both the Nigerians and the international communities, do apprehend the man’s endless shameless-shameful acts. But the question remains, ‘are Nigerians doing the ‘much’ in need to reintegrate their national integrity in proving they have a fragment of it left?’

“But if I’m voted into power within the next four years the issue of power will become a thing of the past. Four years is enough for anyone in power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period, it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for the next four years.”- President Goodluck said on February 1^st 2011 in Addis-Ababa. How cunning, and yet the man’s despair to return to power took him the entire nine yards just to ensure all democratic processions are neglected and curbed to becoming absolutely irrelevances. Today the PDP as a ruling party grew to neglect entirely what are known to be democratic orders. The coming together of the sitting Governors of the ruling party to agree on a consensus that the presidency’s primary elections should be annulled and the incumbent is to be granted an automatic ticket proves it all. The party’s executives’ (chairmen) processes to office are rather such of which democracy entirely tabooed.

“Up till two months ago Mr. President you told me that you have not told anybody that you will contest in 2015. I quickly pointed out to you that the signs and the measures on the ground do not tally with your statement… and only a fool would believe that statement you made to me judging by what is going on.” Former president Olusegun wrote in his letter to President Goodluck Jonathan. But allow me to say Mr. Former President, but President Goodluck Jonathan honestly thinks of you and Nigerians as fools.

“Four years is more than enough to make all invaluable changes to a nation,” were the words of President Goodluck during his 2011 campaigns. O my! But allow me to say those are the words of a man whom had the privilege to govern the country for more than five consecutive years with no single diminutive achievement to offer his people. Or perhaps, Nigerians have heard of enough projects only Mr. President and his political dogs know about, Of course, for if they were real? Nigeria would be regarded amongst 1^st world nations.

I recall the Presidents’ interview with Christian Amanpour in 2013, the President did actually humiliated himself and Nigerians on global television when he was asked what he had to say about power (electricity) stabilizing in Nigeria for when he assumed office the first time he had her assured that power is Nigeria’s number one problem and he would do all in his strength to curb it. But three years after, in a second interview, President Jonathan had this to say to Amanpour, “I would have loved that you asked an ordinary Nigerian in the streets of Lagos and Abuja or another other city this question about power. That is one area that Nigerians are quite pleased with government, that our commitment to improve power is working. That is one area that even civil society members agree that government has kept faith with its promises.” “What should I tell the people who keep contacting us and saying they hope they have electricity just to watch this interview on their televisions…? Amanpour asked in response to the presidents’ submission, but the president assumed the stands of an “ordinary Nigerian” (himself) instead, and said, “We have not gotten to where we should be. The power infrastructure is one investment that must complete the chain before the bulb can light”. I have to be honest about this, I was stupidly abashed.

A week later the CNN correspondents walked the streets of Lagos and Abuja just to confirm from “ordinary Nigerians” as the president wished. Unfortunately all of those interviewed had not but to attest that the president indeed lied, and perhaps there’s no “area that Nigerians are quite pleased with the government.”

Regrettably, that degrading talk with Nigeria’s leader furthered to a point of self-contradiction. Christiane determined to continue with the president’s assessment of the Boko Haram insurgency, “Others believe Boko Haram is about resisting misrule and corruption.” But of course as a Nigerian leader, the person in question must retort contra to such attack even if the allegation comes true, “No! No! No! Boko Haram is not as a result of misrule. Sometimes people feel it’s as a result of poverty, definitely not. We should not play politics with Boko Haram.”

Wasn’t it during the June 5^th 2014 National Executive Council’s meeting of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) that president Goodluck whole heartedly blamed the opposition party (APC) Governors for Boko Haram’s dilating crisis? “There is no insurgency in PDP states because the Governors are performing.” That quite sounded to me like politics being played with Boko Haram by the president. And what was that again the president mentioned when Christiane asked “do you admit that there is a problem in the security dealing with it?” of course the president retorted “that is not correct. That is not correct. I have said it severally; those are insinuations by some interest groups.” “One of those interest groups is the state department of the United States.” Amanpour replied the president. “No! No! No!” (Again!?) “People get wrong information to the state department of United States.” Need I do remind of President Jonathan’s #AmericaWillKnow media chat? I still wonder as to what changed his mind.

A year now, since the Chibok girls were abducted by Boko Haram. I recall vividly when the President claimed to know the whereabouts of the missing girls that’s some 10 months back, but then on another submission, of course surprisingly, his own words were, “all the information that was volunteered to us (about their location we’ve used) and we have searched the places… and we have scanned but we have nothing.” Permit me to admit, this is my country’s leader.

But if I could meet the president, I’d sure would ask him, ‘and Mr. president, why should Nigerians trust in your coming back to office when your own words were “it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for the next four years.” And you told even your predecessor that you do not intend to?’ does it then mean that the last four years you spent in office did not suffice you to make “significant improvements” and you still can’t and won’t “improve on power within the coming period”? Earnestly, what exactly do you intend to improve on? Or perhaps, “four years is too short a time for someone to make an impact,” as yourself accorded.

“I am concerned about your legacy and your climb down which you alone can best be the manager of, whenever you so decide… You may wish to pursue a more credible and more honorable path.”- Former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan.

A Betrayed Nation;

During his 2011 campaign, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan made some unscrupulous promises regarding the problems the country was facing. Mr. Goodluck’s toughest challenge being the serious insecurity bothering the nation, he assured Nigerians that curbing Boko Haram would be his 1^st project. But lest one reminds that at the end, all through his stay in office had never for once visited the states where the insurgency was badly corroding until a few weeks to the country’s national elections. The President’s excuse as he claimed during his 3^rd media chat in 2013 was because the Borno State airport was not functional at the moment he planned to visit, “And we did not want to land somewhere and fly into Maiduguri with a helicopter for obvious reasons.” “Obvious reasons” indeed, for that’s a President whom promised to secure his people no matter what it takes.

During that chat the President was asked why he had to travel to Brazil when Nigeria was in a serious delicate insecurity situation. The President’s responded, “The day the international community gets to know that the president of Nigeria couldn’t travel because of Boko Haram, then we are finished,” (finished!?) I think the president is confusing leadership with acting (my take).

Just a day to his declaration ‘ceremony’, President Goodluck Jonathan’s chief of army staff Mr. Alex Badeh announced that a ceasefire accord had been reached between the Nigerian Government and the Boko Haram terrorists. To further strengthen the hopes of the people, he announced even that the terrorists agreed to release the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls in exchange with their captured fellows. To Nigerians greatest dismay, it’s just a week to the long awaited Presidential elections (of which a majority of the populace regards as “Change”) but yet, there’s still no news of the whereabouts of the missing girls.

On the 20^th of this month, the BBC had an interview with the President, talking on the hopes to finding the missing schoolgirls, the BBC correspondent asked the president if he’d know where the missing girls are, regarding that the military saying that they have “no clues at all as to where they (Chibok schoolgirls) are.” The President response to that assertion was (am sorry to say) rather stupid, “if that’s what the military tells you then of course you have to take it.” He said, “But we ask that question every day, we are looking up too, we have not seen dead girls, that is a good news. So I believe they are still alive, I believe we’ll get them.” “Many people are questioning how on earth has it been that during this last just few weeks,” the interviewer went on, “less than six weeks, the whole picture has changed in the North-East, this towns and villages have been taken back, and they’re wondering why that couldn’t have happened months or years ago, why it’s happened right now?” the President replied, “Yes I agree that in the beginning of Boko Haram, we never expected that they will build up that kind of capacity, we underrated the external influence.” I think at that juncture, President Jonathan himself agrees that we are finished, and he in a sense did finish us.

“We shouldn’t have waited for a practically ‘non-existing’ government to give us the go ahead before mounting a humanitarian effort to rescue those girls.”- Senator John McCain of the Republican party of USA said in an interview. How I wish they didn’t?

“I would have loved that the Nigerians in Diaspora vote this year but to be frank with you that is going to be difficult now. Presently, the law does not allow the voting outside Nigeria and so this year Nigerians in Diaspora will not vote but I will work towards it by 2015 ‘even though I will not be running for election.”- President Goodluck Jonathan said in 2011. But Mr. President, if you honestly didn’t want to contest in this election, then why did you strongly and repeatedly emphasized on not contesting? O! Of course, “four years is too short a time for someone to make an impact.” Indeed.

In my remorseful opinion, a country can only be at its breaking point when its leaders whom hath not the tiniest fragment of shame, boldly face its people and ask them to vote for them ‘again’ when the only legacies they are about to leave them are but endless lies and seemingly unending disasters of which they (the leaders) deliberately allowed to hatch (if not incubated).

“Mr. President, there’s an election coming, can you win it?” the BBC correspondent asked his final question. I honestly adored the earnest with which the President replied that question. “I will surely win it.” Although the challenges faced by Mr. President were solemnly raveling, he still assumed he’d emerged the winner after all.

“If I go Nigerians will miss me.”- President Goodluck said in one of his media chats. Truth is many Nigerians (my-self included) will really miss this man and his company of lies and deceit.

“In a sick country, every attempt to cure it is an affront to those who feed on its sickness,”- Bernard Malamud

Epilogue (Defeat);

At 5:15pm the evening of Nigeria’s presidential elections, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan called General Muhammadu Buhari to congratulate him on his victory in the ongoing elections of which the final result was yet to be officially announced. That honorable gesture made by President Goodluck took almost the entire world aback. “An incumbent African President concedes defeat at an early hour, is this the first time this is happening?” the world seem to have never witnessed such!

Although as I said, that was an “honorable gesture”, could it have qualified as heroic? Many Nigerians regarded that doing as heroic, but I (for one) see it as an “ethic of leadership”. But profoundly, I see it more as a self vindication from the eyes of the international community, of whose eyes were interestingly glued to the country’s political uproar and a democratic transgression.

Prior to the presidential elections, I recall, two peace agreements were gladly signed by the presidential contestants of the two major parties PDP and APC, both agreements were signed in front of both domestic and international witnesses. Yet again, US secretary of states, John Kerry had visited earlier the country and had a one-on-one discussion with both candidates (separately).

Let the truth be told here, if President Goodluck Jonathan hadn’t have conceded defeat the result would have still been announced as him being the defeated and still the country would still have remained in peace. Why then would that little “honorable gesture” be regarded as “Heroic”?

In the arts of leadership (governance) power and politics are always the game tools, wherein the people are the players. But nature and time will always be the judges as well as the decision makers in their own respective perspectives.