SIR: I congratulate General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) on his emergence as Nigeria’s President-elect. Nigerians should congratulate themselves, seriously. In 2011, they voted to truncate rotational presidency.
Who will fault Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka that Nigerians voted for good luck but got ill luck? Mbaka is a Catholic priest; I am an ex-Catholic priest since September 2000. I saw that too many Nigerians lost their sense of judgment when they could not see the unfairness in the fact that by 2011, southern Nigeria had produced the President for 10 years, while the north had served for only two years, and that if we wanted unity and peace, it was not fair to support Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ). GEJ congratulated GMB to avoid national and international disgrace.
In 2011, GEJ begged Nigerians for additional four years, but later reneged. Rotational presidency is in tandem with Nigeria’s Federal Character Commission Charter. GMB should not fight Boko Haram. The former President Olusegun Obasanjo, raised the Joint Task Force against the Niger Delta militants, but it was the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s amnesty that brought peace.
GEJ’s ulterior motive negated seeking peace with Boko Haram. It allowed the group to grow wings. GMB should extend olive branch to Boko Haram, for Nigeria’s peace and progress. I hope GMB is listening. He shouldn’t go to France or elsewhere now, but stay at home and strategise on how to move Nigeria forward.
- Pius Oyeniran Abioje, PhD, University of Ilorin.