The Nation Newspaper

Tag: letter

  • Open letter to the President

    SIR: I am supposed to be in the Boxing Gymnasium training very hard so I can win my next bout, earn a place in the Guinness World Record Book (GWRB) as the oldest boxer to successfully defend his title and win another title, earn a place for Nigeria in the GWRB as the host country and above all bring honour, glory and clean money to my fatherland. Instead, I am shadow-boxing with officials at NEXIM Bank who during the inauguration of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) promised to give 100 percent support but are now doing everything and anything possible to kill my vision for a better Nigeria.

    As directed by the federal government, I have had several meetings with officials of NEXIM Bank who are the coordinating bank with the Bank of Industry for the LOC.

    On May 3, I got this text message from NEXIM Bank “We apologise for our absence at the LOC meeting held on Friday, 2/05/14 at the usual venue. We shall be present at the next meeting. Please be reassured that NEXIM remains committed to the success of the GWR Championship Boxing Fight. Thanks.

    On May 4, Robert Orya, the Managing Director of NEXIM called me claiming that since the January 7, inauguration that he was yet to see a copy of the inaugural speech and the white paper from the NSC to the Presidency. May 5, I called to inform him I was on my way to meet with him at the bank. He was very happy and told me that he was expecting me but as soon as I got to the gate of the bank with the other members of the LOC and he was informed that I did not come alone, he was furious and ordered the security guard to lockout other members of the LOC but me.

    On September 1, the same thing happened but this time he ordered his security guard to push me out of the way while I and members of the LOC were at the gate waiting to see him.

    After accepting the invitation from the federal government to be inaugurated into the LOC, after having several meetings within and outside of NEXIM Bank to workout a master plan for the release of $30M and how NEXIM Bank would be part of the receivership of the $500M PPV Television profit for the sake of transparency and accountability, after sending several  text messages pledging total commitment to the success of the GWR fight and promising to be at the next LOC meeting, after almost 10 months of unsuccessfully trying to extort $110M USD from me, it then suddenly dawned on the management of NEXIM Bank that it does not sponsor sports.

    Is this a decent way to treat any Nigerian not to talk of Nigeria’s only World Boxing Champion, a national hero, a national honourS holder of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and above all a decent Nigerian who wants to bring honour, glory and clean money to Nigeria?

    My President, I know you are a decent man and a man of your words but why are you allowing these people to treat me like this?

    Since its inauguration till date, the LOC is indebted to the tune of over N50 million in logistics to various groups including the hotel that once served as the secretariat for the LOC. I was evicted from the hotel and my vehicle seized pending when the LOC is able to offset the hotel bill.

    I respectfully ask that you keep your promise to me. That you personally oversee or appoint a representative that will be in charge of the fight purse and the PPV TV profit. That because of the urgency of the moment, the overdue logistics money and the overdue fight approval fee is paid immediately so Nigeria does not lose the right to host to Germany.

    • Bash Ali, OON.                                                                                              

    Lagos

     

  • Letter to Chibok girls

    Dear Chibok girls, I write to apologise for our failure and to ask for forgiveness of the misdeed by the whole country for unable to rescue you from the Sambisa Forest, where you are being held by criminal elements that do not want you to go to school. I praise your sacrifice.

    It was six months yesterdays since your freedom was curtailed by Boko Haram, a sect that detests western education. For keeping you away from school and your families, you have not only been psychologically defiled, you are also being exposed to monstrous ideology of a group of barbaric elements.

    Your abduction was seen as the most shocking single kidnap in Nigeria’s annals because of your number – 219. There has been a sustained pain in my heart since you were herded into the bush. You have been kept in absolute confinement and servitude. Pain and fear are part of the realities you have been coping with. They botched your happiness and zeal to acquire formal education. No hope, no help, you had waited for so long for salvation to come but it seems the more you wait, the more the society forgets your tribulations.

    We thought our country is a civilised nation but your mass abduction indicates that we were still wallowing in the river of barbarity. We have disappointed you. We have failed our conscience; we have betrayed your trust, your love and dreams. Worse, the government has denied you of your right to live freely in any part of the country.

    Concerned parents have been out in the cold and intense heat, clamoring for your release. They created a hash tag “#BringBackOurGirls”, which went viral on the social media to draw attention to your plight. This achieved its purpose for a period but we were confounded when the people who are supposed to rescue you created a misnomer the hash tag and politicised its essence.

    While we were yet to come to term with the psychological depression you are subjected by your captors, Ebola, a dreaded disease, found its way into the country. The whole country was in a state of fair because of the rapidity of Ebola spread. We all thought about your wellbeing in the cave you are kept. “What if the disease breaks out in the forest where you are being held, where would the bloodthirsty terrorists get vaccine to treat you?”

    We prayed and hoped this should not happen. We lost eight lives to this deadly disease, including our heroine, Dr Stella Adadevoh.

    When all hands should be on deck to rescue you from the Boko Haram’s den, our leaders have stepped up their political games, forgetting that some 219 girls are in the trenches.

    Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) lost its moral conscience in the narrative. The umbrella body for the Christians is presently enmeshed in politics and a failed cash-for-arm deal. Pastors don’t preach about salvation again. For them, money lubricates the bicycle of gospel. They never preach from Bible again; they preach according to their thought.

    While we are yet to bring you back to your parents, but the Federal Government considered it necessary to shower its friends with national honors. Let us admit that there was an imperative for the government to hold the ceremony, but many of the honorees are underserving individuals whose actions contribute to the challenges facing the nation.

    Nobody remember Dr Adadevoh, who saved millions of Nigerians from Ebola disease by her heroic action to stop the late Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who brought the disease to the country. Majority of the awardees are members of the political hangers-on whose achievements only brought woes to the country.

    Although there are deserving people, such as Umeh Uusah, a taxi driver that returned N18 million left in his car by a foreigner and Solomon Dauda, a traffic warden, who dances when performing his job.

    Don’t you also deserve a national award in absentia for defying the guns and bombs and went to school in a community where girl-child education is seen as unnecessary?

    The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has released results and as usual many candidates failed. Whose fault? Of course, we should know the attitude of the government towards education. Education is no more that important sector needed for national growth. Standards have been on a free fall, while infrastructure is on steady decay.

    We have praised the bravery of our soldiers in their efforts to rescue you. Some of our best military officers have died in the battles and some were kidnapped in the process. All in the effort to restore your dignity and bring you back to your parents. We will continue to hope and pray for your safe return.

    We will never forget Chibok. This is an open wound on the nation’s conscience and humanity. We will remain guilty of negligence until the day we safely bring you back to the society.

    My heart is with, my sisters. I could hear the echo of your scream. God be with you till we meet again. Your resilience, zeal and courage will continue to be a reminder that about 219 of you are still being held in captive by enemies of our nation.

     

    Yours Sincerely,

     

    Ezekiel, 300-Level Pharmacy, UNIBEN

  • Open letter to Ndigbo

    At the risk of being tagged once again as anti Igbo by rabid, commissioned slave traders who see Ndigbo as easy wares to be marketed to their political masters, I write this open letter to my people. At the huge risk of being called names by my brothers and sisters, I make bold to write this piece to my people. I have been called names in the past for speaking out and I may be wrong but please forgive me. I write because I know that a story that must be told never forgives silence. I write despite all odds because I know that when a writer is silent he or she is lying. I write because I want things to be done differently because I know that the greatest part of hell will be reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of great moral crisis.

    I write knowing fully well that I am not the best God ever created and therefore mine cannot be the last word. Two incidents involving Stella Oduah who was removed as a minister for corruption and General Ihejirika who just retired from the Nigerian Army necessitated this open letter. Stella Oduah was removed as Minister of Aviation for issues bordering on corruption. She was accused of financial recklessness.

    When the lid was blown open, our people went to town to defend her.  All Igbo organizations went to town with the chorus Leave Stella Oduah alone. The shouts came from our people all over the world and it was loud and deafening. When Stella Oduah was eventually eased out by the presidency, one thought our people will learn the lesson but not Igbo. Our leaders went to town with a project to honour her and others with awards in Lagos. In preparation for the ceremony one of the leaders spoke to the press: “We are honouring our own Mrs Stella Oduah to show the world that even when Nigeria mocks our brightest and best for doing a good job at the Aviation Industry, we must tell the world that we love and celebrate our own”.

    She was given an instant title of ADA IGBO. As I write this, billboards are at strategic locations in Igboland celebrating her as ADAIGBO.

    Now enter General Ihejirika, former Chief of Army Staff. General Ihejirika just retired from the Army after serving for more than three decades. General Ihejirika is now eyeing the governorship seat in Abia State on the platform of PDP just few months after pulling out of the Nigerian Army. But just recently an Australian peace negotiator, Stephen Davis who was allegedly contracted by the federal government and who spent four months in Nigeria negotiating with Boko Haram to get the kidnapped Chibok girls out, told the world that the former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff and Ihejirika have hands in sponsoring Boko Haram. The moment Steven Davis’ statement hit the public space, hell was let loose once again. Our people went to town with the usual mantra: Leave Ihejirika alone. Almost all the Igbo organizations have issued press statement suggesting that General Ihejirika is being persecuted for staking his life to fight Boko Haram for Nigeria. Again the noise was so loud and deafening. According to our people, Ihejirika is being persecuted because he is Igbo. Even Igbo World Assembly (IWA) in far away United States was not left out in the drama. In the social media it is Igbo versus other Nigerians.

    Now the questions are: do we need to defend Stella Oduah and General Ihejirika? Are they not competent to defend themselves? Were our people with them when they were serving? Can we swear we know them very well to continue this noise? Do we really know the character of these persons? Why this prebendal politics?

    If we continue to defend our tribes only, who will then defend Nigeria? Who is working for Nigeria if I may ask? Is it not bad for Igbo to continue to defend what they know nothing about? Are we not making ourselves objects of ridicule in the eyes of other Nigerians? When we pour invectives on other Nigerians or people who are different from us, are we not endangering the lives and businesses of Ndigbo scattered all over Nigeria?

    Have we forgotten that our people are the most mobile in Nigeria? Do we know how other Nigerians rate us in this predictable defence? Do we consider the feelings of other Nigerians? What signals are we sending out?

    Don’t we have men and women who will say enough is enough in this madness of defending the indefensible?

    We know Igbo history, philosophy and sociology. When did it tolerate blind and unquestionable defence of someone who might have compromised his or herself while in office? When has Igbo become so ethically compromised that they do must defend even thieves from Igboland? Are these Igbo not aware that such fight, like in the case of Stella Oduah not only ridicules the Igbo but belittles them before others? What happens to the sanctimonious resolve of our fore fathers never to get involved in war of blame?

    When Professor Grace Grange, Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, and Speaker Patricia Etteh, were removed for corruption, did the Yoruba resort to this kind of blackmail? What is the North saying about Ali Modu Sherrif, the former Governor of Borno State implicated in Boko Haram insurgency with Ihejirika? These are just few cases I wanted to mention for emphasis.

    I do not think the way we are going now will help us politically. I do not think other Nigerians will trust us if we continue this way. I have slim hope that other Nigerians will take us serious in matters of Nigerian politics. I am not led to believe that we are getting it right, rather I think we are going the wrong way.

    For emphasis, Ihejirika may be guilty or not; but it is his to prove. I am not saying he is guilty for I do not know the details. He doesn’t need all the cahoots of persuaders now striving to show their support for him to do so. The best for Ihejirika is to step out and put a solid defence and shame his accusers. If he believes he will get the mob to extricate him, he is making a mistake and getting himself indicted by history and that is far more dangerous for him.

    I suggest that Igbo should stop creating enemies for itself in Nigeria. I suggest that Igbo should rise above ethnic preoccupation to help move Nigeria forward. If we are still one Nigeria, Igbo should consider the feelings of other Nigerians. This attitude of defeatism must give way to politics of ideas. This persecution complex must stop. This leadership complex must cease.

  • Aftermath of FIFA’s letter: Minister tells Maigari to resume office Monday

    Aftermath of FIFA’s letter: Minister tells Maigari to resume office Monday

    Barely 24 hours after world football governing body, FIFA ordered that the impeached President of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), Aminu Maigari should be reinstated, the Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission(NSC), Tammy Danagogo has hearkened to FIFA’s order and asked the NFF boss to resume work at his Wuse Zone 7 Secretariat office of the Federation on Monday.

    The Minister disclosed the mission of Maigari at the Abuja National Stadium office and added that the NFF boss’s visit was in continuation of his resolve to ensure that the crisis bedeviling Nigerian sports is over but also to ensure that all the stakeholders are brought together to have  free,fair and peaceful NFF elections.

    “He has come to pay a courtesy call on me.What all well-meaning stakeholders have been trying to do all this while is to ensure that all the problems we are talking about are resolved. We have got his commitment and his board members. You must be aware that I met with the other group a couple of days ago and they have resolved that they are going to work together peacefully and they are going to make sure that the electoral process goes on with more people giving the opportunity to have forms to contest to ensure that the best materials will emerge as the next leaders of our football federation without any form of bias or restrictions. That is what he has come to brief me and he has assured me that they are going to work together peacefully.”

    The Minister also approved of Maigari to run for the post of NFF President if he so wishes but was silent on whether the Bauchi indigene actually sent in his resignation letter as it was being reported.

    “As a man, he has the right to run or not to. It is his decision to make, he also has the right to resign or not to, it is not the minister that would decide for him. Whatever he would decide, he will announce it at the appropriate time.

    “Let us not be in a hurry to forsee what will happen tomorrow. Before FIFA wrote, there was stakeholders’ advice to both the President and the first vice president who was said to be acting to go and work together for the remaining few days before the next election.

    “He will resume on Monday and we expect that when he resumes, he will lead other members who are not present here back to my office,” he noted.

    Maigari, who was accompanied by two of his board members, Ahmed Yussuf Fresh and Ahmed Kawu, told sports reporters that he came to pay a courtesy visit to the Minister as routine.

    “Our visit today is a tradition which we have in the football family. We deemed it necessary to come and pay a courtesy visit to the minister and congratulate him for the brilliant performance of our Team Nigeria at the just concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as well as the performance of our girls in far away Canada. We came to appreciate and declare our loyalty. Our visit today is based on my capacity as the president of the NFF,” Maigari stated.

  • Tears as Ekwunife submits resignation letter to APGA

    Tears as Ekwunife submits resignation letter to APGA

    MEMBERS of Anambra State All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), especially the women, were in tears yesterday as the lawmaker representing Anaocha, Njikoka, Dunukofia Federal Constituency, Uche Ekwunife, submitted her resignation letter to the party.

    Ekwunife then announced her formal defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after many weeks of speculations.

    She is expected to be joined by Victor Ogene (Ogbaru Federal Constituency), Chris Azubogu (Nnewi North, South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency), Cyril Egwuatu (Onitsha North and South Federal Constituency) and Emeke Nwogbo (Awka North and South Federal Constituency).

    Their dumping of APGA is generating anxiety in the party’s state chapter, as it continues to dip in crisis.

    Ekwunife, whose supporters trooped out from the three local government areas to her party office on Enugu- Onitsha Expressway, told them that every political party belongs to Ndigbo. She added that no party “is specifically for Igbo.”

    She praised the people for their support and urged them to continue the same way, irrespective of party affiliation.

    Ekwunife said Igbo party should be founded in peace, equity and fairness and not marginalisation of some people.

    “This is the time for me to continue to pursue my political career. I’m still young and I will not want anybody to destroy my political career. I want to go to where I will express myself. I will not be in a place where I will be unhappy.

    “Political party is not a cult group, but only a vehicle where people can air their views. I will continue to be grateful to APGA, but the time to move on is now,” Ekwunife said.

    After submitting her resignation letter to the Nri Ward I Chairman yesterday, the women cried openly, begging her not to quit APGA, having done well for them and her constituency.

    Ekwunife, who consoled them, said life must go on, adding that she would not quarrel with any of them as they continue to be brothers and sisters.

  • Hearing on Obasanjo’s letter

    Hearing on Obasanjo’s letter

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said yesterday it will inaugurate a Panel  of Enquiry to conduct a hearing on allegations of state-sponsored killings, from 1995 till date.

    The panel is also to enquire into allegations in ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    NHRC this year, upon a request by the President, said it would conduct hearing on allegations in the letter.

    In February, NHRC invited memoranda from  the public.

    Ex-President Obasanjo , in his December 2, 2013 letter: “Before it is too late,” accused the President, among others, of training a killer squad.

    The President, following the interest generated, requested the commission to investigate the issue.

    NHRC’s Executive Secretary Prof. Bem Angwe   said memoranda should be submitted on or before September 2.

    He said “the public inquiry will be thorough and fair to all.”

  • Another letter to Brother J

    Dear Brother J,

    On St Valentine’s Day, I wrote my first letter to you over your appointment as the Rivers State Commissioner of Police by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), MD Abubakar. Three months after, there was an article which appeared in a Port Harcourt-based weekly, National Network, titled ‘A Word for Brother Johnson’. In it, the author, Manson Tordee (JP), who was described as a social commentator and public affairs analyst, attempted to tear me into pieces. From the first line of the error-riddled and badly proof-read piece, the Justice of Peace (JP) accused me of bias and ascribed meanings I never intended to parts of the piece. He was bitter that Yoruba like me, Prof Wole Soyinka, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and others were dabbling into the affairs of Rivers, which, he said, was not a ‘free town’ where non-indigenes could take up appointments.

    For instance, he said: “According to the bias (sic) analysis of Olukorede Yishau in his article “Brother Johnson” published under his usual column “Above Whispers” of The Nation on Friday, February 14, 2014, under comment and debate, page 36, I strongly condemn in totally the entire body of the article, especially the words “you are tomorrow, live above board by cleaning Mbu’s mess and if in the process you have to bow out of the force, do it”. Mr. Olukorede Yishau has failed to realise that every profession is guided by certain code of conduct, decorum and ethics which are based on the principle of discipline, obedience and absolute loyalty in line with hierarchical order of superiority.”

    He added: “As a journalist and media practitioner, he is at liberty of accessing and bringing or disseminating to the public whatever information at his disposal without fear or favour, and most importantly, without been bias (sic) or dictated for (sic) by a third party.”

    He had questions for me: “What MESS did Mbu left behind in Rivers State? How would he substantiate his claim that Mbu was selective in his operations with regards to his dealing with political activities in the State? Is it in strict adherence and compliance with the laid down rules and regulations or orders according to the police’s professional terms or in flouting deviant and complete disobedience to the police orders and laws?”

    My answers: under Mbu, rallies by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were allowed to hold without trouble. The opposition did not have that luxury. We were told they never got permission. The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, was cock sure Mbu would not disturb his rallies that he boasted no policeman could stop his rallies and no one did. This was at a time an orientation programme for newly recruited teachers was stopped by Mbu on the pretext that no permission was received before it was staged.

    Brother J, I am glad neither of these has happened under you. Yes, you have banned youth rallies or demonstrations which many of them have complained against. But, it was a blanket ban and not that you allowed PDP youths and disallowed APC youths.

    The JP said Governor Rotimi Amaechi is more Yoruba than Ikwerre. He needs to prove that. The only thing, to the best of my knowledge, that is Yoruba about the governor is his first name. But there are several people who bear names from other tribes for various reasons.

    Brother J, in case you never read the piece, the JP also had humble words for “Brother Johnson” – Mr. Johnson Tunde Ogunsakin, the new CP of Rivers State: “You are a qualified, experienced police professional just like Mbu and judging by your rich credentials, you have gone round the whole facets of the police force where the witty gritty (sic) of it are all on your finger tips. Perform your duty in accordance with all you know that goes with your sworn-oath of allegiance and office. You can never be dictated for (sic) by any Chief Security Officer or allies. Remember that every good policy or action of public officers must always step on the toes of powers bounded in oppressive tendency.”

    He did not stop there Brother J. He added: “Continue in the shoe (sic) of Mr. Mbu. Remember that you must be careful of the praises of men as too, many cook (sic) always spoil (sic) the soup. Mbu’s criticism is an eloquent testimony of his excellence performance. It is biblically stated that one should rejoice when been (sic) criticised over a job welldone for rewards are high up beyond the sky.

    “Mr. Ogunsakin you should endeavour to shun tribadistic (sic) ideology. Every citizen of this country comes from a state and no state is an infidel or dishonourable. For you to come from Ekiti State does not make you more honourable than every other person as presumed by Olukerede (sic) in his article. After all, CP Ogunsakin you are a public servant earning from tax-payers’ money which must be justified by a complementary services (sic). Tread (sic) the part (sic) of justice like your predecessor and God will bless your stay in Rivers State.”

    Need I say any more? Well, my final take: I leave you, Brother Johnson, to decide if Mbu’s path is worth threading. For no reason will it ever be okay for you to pander to the whims and caprices of Amaechi. It will also be bad for any other top shot from Rivers to dictate how you do your job. Policing has set rules about how things should be done in line with the Constitution. So, be guided always by this.

    I will never advise you to be pro-anybody. Just be pro-God, pro-constitution and pro-your-conscience. So far, Rivers has been peaceful and the tempo should be sustained.

    Now that we are daily getting closer to 2015, the pressure on you will mount and this really is the time to show you are different. From the little I know about you, you know how to handle pressure no matter the angle it is from.

    Bye for now sir.

  • Letter to the President

    SIR: I am compelled to write given the recent spate of attacks and spurious statements by your media aides and security operatives alleging the hijack of the BringBackOurGirls movement – a citizens collective effort to stay vigilant on the kidnapped girls. I belong to this movement in my capacity as a citizen of Nigeria, and I feel deeply insulted that some of your aides have either acted in their own capacity or succeeded in misleading you through deliberate misinformation about the movement.

    Last week, Ms Marilyn Ogar, in her characteristic manner, called this movement a franchise; a statement which I consider highly derogatory and unsavoury. Unfortunately, she cast serious aspersions on the integrity of those who constitute the movement in Nigeria and worldwide. The leadership of the Abuja chapter of the movement has clearly disproved these allegations but I keep wondering why you allow such untold misrepresentation to go on under your watch.

    Only recently, precisely 15th July, 2014; one of your senior media aides Dr. Doyin Okupe alleged that Ms Obiageli Ezekwesili instigated the families of the kidnapped girls from attending the meeting you scheduled, whom you had only recently deemed fit to meet after 92 days.  I am quite sure Ms Ezekwesili, who remains one Nigerian with incorruptible integrity and who desperately wants these girls rescued, will never resort to such act as portrayed by Dr Okupe. Moreover Mr President, history bears witness that it took you 3 weeks before you acknowledged these atrocious kidnap; and all of us are aware of the arrest that befell members of the movement after the scheduled meeting they had with your wife, the First Lady of Nigeria, Mrs Patience Jonathan. Personally, it is not far-fetched why they will ignore your meeting: the precedence of denial, intimation and arrests of members of the movement is telling.

    I find it utterly disrespectful that consistently, Dr. Okupe’s characteristic name-calling, character assassination and pedestrian outbursts keep mocking the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The letter, which was widely distributed in the media, was attributed to have been written by you; but I am certain the person of the President of Nigeria will never write such. Whatever the grievances Dr. Okupe has with Ms Ezekwesili, the office of the President should not be reduced to such dance of shame in the media. Honestly, I keep wondering how you will allow yourself and your noble office to be such ridiculed by such dramatis personae as aides.

    Regardless of the constant attack and publicity strategy of the establishment to frustrate, derail and divide us; we stay strong and committed to demanding that the girls be brought back alive. I am aware of the complexities that may be involved in securing the release of these girls, which consequently may have prevented an open and transparent citizens interaction. However, the fact that we disagree with the secrecy involved in the attempts at rescuing these girls that does not give any of your aides the right to castigate us and demean our persons using all of the channels of manipulations it has.

    Mr. President, you swore an oath to the security and welfare of the Nigerian people. Not only have you consistently failed in this regard, but Nigeria’s security incompetence during these trying times have occurred despite appropriating the highest resource in the budget to security (about N3tn in three years). Mr. President, based on the sustained captivity of the past three months following these girls kidnap, based on the insecurity challenges of the past years under your watch; no other institution of government has terrorized Nigerians psychologically than the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    • ‘Seun Fakuade,

    Lagos

  • Letter to Oby Ezekwesili

    Dear Oby, Please permit the easy familiarity and by way of introduction suffice it to say that I am older in natural age than your illustrious self and hence my sense of entitlement. This letter has been prompted in part by online posts I stumbled upon wherein one of the numerous anonymous online regime supporters labelled you as ‘ewu Hausa’ and yet another wondered why you were carrying the Chibok ‘abduction thing’, ‘on your head’ as if you were Hausa. I also get a feeling that this sentiment is gaining some currency in Nigeria’s increasingly polarized atmosphere.

    Ordinarily these kinds of comments, being so inane ought not to elicit any other reaction but disgust, indignation and pity for the authors’ small minded inhumanity. However we live in strange but by no means uncharted times. Times where reason appears to be taking flight from the souls of otherwise presumed reasonable people and where those who take directions from them have shut their eyes and rely only on their ears to follow a direction, which if only they opened their eyes, will discover is headed to an approaching cliff edge.

    Unknown to the small minded lot, by highlighting your involvement in an endeavour you could have easily ‘siddon look’, they are ensuring your place in the hallowed chamber reserved for those whose world view and consequent actions are guided by an understanding of the true essence of humanity. A hallowed chamber where greatness is a prerequisite- the greatness that is measured not in figures or plaques but in the enduring and sincere appreciation of humanity and including those not present at the time of your actions; in short, character and actions that will stand the test of time.

    In these times especially given the atmosphere of orchestrated dehumanization, it is tempting to feel discouraged for many reasons. Like me, you must sometimes wonder, how it is that it is so easy to fool people. At times you may even in confusion self-debate whether you are the one fooling yourself because how can so many people be so foolish, so myopic and hence so easy to beguile with self-serving and insincere partisan rhetoric. All sorts of inanities and yet there are willing ears to listen but sadly there is little appetite to allow the brain in between to process the plethora of ‘information’ and perhaps worst of all, the seemingly easy ability of people to subdue their conscience on the altar of foisted partisan sentiments.

    Please do not be discouraged and I will go into history to furnish examples that will hopefully hearten you in these trying times. You will of course know that in the heyday of racial segregation in America, some white folks stood with the blacks in condemning segregation and fighting for its abolition. Other whites sneeringly and malevolently derided them as ‘blacks lovers’ and other ‘abuse’ names. In the meantime there were several blacks who did not see the need to confront the system, especially those who felt well adjusted or those not living in the American south and indeed many saw segregation as a southern problem which did not really affect them directly ‘unbearably’. In the long run though, good will always be good and even the white people today are thankful that some of their number actually fought against what everybody now agrees as evil. They are thankful because you cannot, on account of racial segregation of the past, classify white people generally as evil since some white people also opposed that evil at that time. So tomorrow, the lot castigating you today will thank you for saving them from a general classification as condoners of evil because you are fighting evil on their behalf! I say condoners of evil because I also take the view that failure to recognize evil as evil and fight it with every might and conviction is tantamount to condoning same which only emboldens evil.

    If you were a white woman in that bus with Rosa Parks, you would have risen to her support and protested against your fellow whites who sought to oppress her. If there was a white woman like that in that bus what do you think humanity in general will make of her today? Will we have known her name? YES and for the right reasons. The others in that bus have since been consigned to the dustbin of history, a fate that undoubtedly awaits your persecutors.

    The struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa was not only fought by blacks. Neither was the apartheid system sustained by whites only. The bitter truth is that blacks participated actively in enforcing apartheid. Today we acknowledge the whites who fought the apartheid system as superior human beings. Superior in the sense that many of us know that whilst we abhor apartheid because we are black, we are thankful that we were not put to that test of exhibiting superior humanity if roles were reversed. Paradoxically, we recognize that those who support or fight causes on objective moral basis are cut from a different cloth. A cloth we all can have but which the promoters of divisiveness use every trick available to muddy its colour and make it unappealing to the weak in mind to adorn. The seeming ‘success’ of the promoters of hate, division and evil is however a pyrrhic one because when tomorrow comes, the truth will subdue propaganda. That tomorrow cannot be impeached or chased away – it must and will come and it is irrespective of whether you or myself or indeed the ‘other guys’ will be there.

    My comrade, when tomorrow comes, by which time all the propaganda and abuse will have faded, humanity will recognize that putting pressure on a government to do it’s job or pointing out the many failings of that government in other areas has nothing to do with religion, section or seeking to tarnish a regime’s image, it is about answering NO to that famous question posed by Ursula K LeGuin – ‘if you know that the beautiful manner of living you yourself enjoy is built on the foundation of misery deliberately imposed on innocents, can you in conscience do nothing? Those who persecute and harass you for following your conscience only do so today and unknowingly or not caring demean their humanity for tomorrow. When ‘they’ accuse you of all sorts of ulterior motives, ‘we’ know it is only a reflection of their world view and disposition. So please remain steadfast, we are not all fooled! And long may you live!

     

    • Ukpong is a legal practitioner

  • Open letter to Jonathan on state of education

    To begin with, I appreciate and praise, with open heart, some strides your administration is making especially with your transformation agenda. It will amount to developmental blindness and one will also be needlessly uncharitable to disparage the tremendous progress your administration and, ultimately above all, the country are making presently. At the same time, it will be a generational betrayal, genocide to the popular realities on ground, and a deceptive sycophancy to say your administration, thus far, is impeccable. There are many areas we expect you to do more or even have done better. The most important of them all, to me and many of my colleagues in the tertiary institutions, is the state of our education.

    With due respect, the education system in the country has not been productive as it should be. And if your Transformation Agenda, in my opinion, is to be completely successful, the nation’s human resources must be enriched. Of course, one of the factors responsible for this is the inadequate productivity of our tertiary institutions. There is partially no existence of real research in our tertiary institutions as plagiarism is the order of the day. This, inter alia, is because of the inadequacy of grants from the Federal Government. People now talk about basic learning facilities with delight only during the reminiscence of the heyday of Nigerian tertiary education. Incessant and protracted industrial actions that are avoidable are now considered normal in the system. Also pathetic is the astronomic increment in school fees, especially in Federal tertiary institutions.

    Besides, it saddens one’s heart when one realises that education is now being commercialised. It saddens one’s heart the more when one sees that school fees are increased at the expense of the poor which make up a large percentage of our population. One looks into the nation’s future and that of Africa with trepidation when one discovers that the poor people, who form parts of the building blocks of the ship that will navigate our dear nation and continent through the turbulent and unstable oceans, are consequently denied tertiary education.

    Moreover, a case that refuses to go out of my consciousness anytime the issue of increment is mentioned is the case of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I am a student of this great citadel of learning. It was to our dismay and consternation to discover that our poor parents will be made to pay some astronomical amounts of money. It was even more surprising to know that some increments were about 320 per cent. The fresh students’ fees were increased from N17,000 and N22,000 to about N100,000 without acceptance and accommodation fees. Some stale students who pay below 10,000 naira will now be made to pay close to N35,000. The post graduate students who pay N80,000 are now made to pay out of their coffers is the unjustified amount of N250,000.

    The management’s only justification is that the government is under-funding education. Although everyone knows your administration is making great strides in the education sector, there is still a need to allot 26 per cent of our budget to education for proper and adequate funding as directed by the United Nations and also to ensure the proper and efficient use of these funds. Despite that, I think it is of equal importance for me to say that the school has other sources of funds that can sustain it effectively over a considerable period of time.

    According to the comprehensive appraisal done by our Students’ Union leadership, some other sources of funds the school has, in addition to grants and donations from the Federal Government, the alumni association and other non-governmental bodies with which the school has been efficiently administered pre-2004, are the payments of about 40,000 students’ fees for registration and result checking for the post-UTME, the N15,000 registration fees for the pre-degree programme, of which close to 3000 students eventually admitted then paid close to N17,5000 each. Just a few months ago, the World Bank voted $8 million to finance projects in the school for being the 1st in Nigeria and the 8th in Africa.

    In addition, the school had already increased the acceptance fee before this from N2,000 to N20,000, which they have collected for three years and that is running into N300 million . There are also investments run by the school via its bread making and water factories. Then, about N7 billion has been allotted to the school as proceeds of the six-month ASUU strike. The list is just endless.

    Mr President, although we urge the government to go in line with the UN standard for education financing in the budget, we still do not see the need for an increment in our fees. Needless to say, we should not bear the burden of the underfunding because education is a right, not a privilege. I hope my colleagues and I will not be victimised for saying the truth and voicing out our sincere concerns. I’m writing this because I believe your administration is always concerned about the poor and will consequently lookinto this serious issue.

     

    Temitayo, 400-Level Psychology, OAU