The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Open letter

  • Open letter to President Jonathan

    IR: Dear President, please pardon me for writing you at this tense political moment in our country history, a time when you have serious political campaigning to do. Obviously this is not the best time to write this kind of letter but I feel compelled to write after the postponement of the general elections and the backlash that followed.

    In 2010, we watched you do your thing as leader of our republic; and as has been the reality over the past five years of your rule, there are as many people singing your praises as there were those excoriating you for all that is not right with our beloved country. We have been listening to speech after speech from you where you invariably promise us a better life, better leadership, corruption-busting, jobs, a better economy, freedom, justice and a “new” Nigeria where young people can aspire and prosper.

    Indeed, our hopes as Nigerians are that we would finally get to have a feel of the good life during your administration, and not endure the pain and indignity of watching our relatives, friends and acquaintances living in other countries doing well and showing off to us. Among other things we hoped for after your historic election in 2011 were: fixing the potholes on our roads, constant electricity supply your promised would be achieved within a few years, among others.

    But you failed to meet our aspiration and the pain of the populace has become unbearable, making your departure through the ballot box almost a certainty. But you should leave honourably instead of trying to buy time by postponing the election. The postponement will do you no favour; surely. If the army could not defeat the insurgents in six years, then only a fool would believe six weeks extension will be the answer. Even the super powers have not defeated any kind of rebellion in six weeks.

    Dear President, we all remember how you promised to create job opportunities for Nigerians. What you rather did was sending our beloved graduates to their early graves. The immigration recruitment tragedy is something that I will never forget, and the families of the departed souls can’t wait to avenge their loss through the ballot box come March 28. You may want to know that many of my colleagues who graduated same year you were elected president are still unemployed, and they have also failed to secure loans to start their own businesses. Their percentage on the total numbers of eligible voters may be small, but they have resolved to ensure it makes the needed difference come March 28.

    Rightly or wrongly, many people see you as the catalyst behind their success or failure, and I understand it could be difficult carrying the burden of having to make the wishes of over 170 million people come true. I do not have much to ask, but that you keep your promise of handing over come May 29, if you lose the election. Our desire is to try something new, something different from the PDP. And no amount of bribery can stop it; we need to save the future of our children and that of the unborn generation.

    All eyes are on you this year, as they have been for the past five years, hoping that we finally say goodbye to your government that has brought us so many agonizing and painful experiences; we have had enough of impunity, fake promises, insecurity, and unemployment that has become the trademark of your administration.

    • Comrade Ahmed OmeizaLukman,

    Kiev Ukraine

  • Open letter to Nigerian artistes

    The Nigerian music industry is enjoying a boom no doubt. Artistes are snapping up multi-million naira deals left right and centre and smiling to the bank. So strong is this new awakening that gone are the days when musicians were seen as never-do-wells. And guess what; schools are cashing on the opportunity by introducing music into their curriculum and the catch-them-young bug has bitten Nigerian parents as they now go the extra mile to purchase musical instruments for their children as the drive to replicate WizKid and Davido in their off springs goes into overdrive.

    And what is more? Corporate bodies are not left out of the scramble as brand managers have discovered the awesome power of music in driving their products and this has given birth to a multi-million naira industry. But the question is, how has the boom reflected on the goose that lays the golden egg? How has the boom impacted the lives and careers of the majority of Nigerian musicians?

    The Nigerian music industry has definitely come a long way against the backdrop of the dark ages of the late 80s to late 1990s which witnessed the total meltdown of structures which once made it the envy of the world as legends like James Brown, Paul McCartney and drummer, Jim Baker, either relocated to the country to pursue their careers or came here to record platinum selling albums in their search for African sound. Those were the years when Oliver De Coque’s album, Identity, sold over two million copies and Fela rejected an offer of $100,000 USD to remix his songs by his American manager, Jim Bishop.

    However, with the downturn in Nigeria’s economic fortunes in the early 80s, the music industry was one of the first casualties as it was hard hit and this gave rise to piracy which ultimately led to the exit of the big three labels, Sony Music, Premier Music and Polygram from Nigeria. Their exit created a shock which culminated in runaway piracy which crippled the industry and led to the relocation of a lot of artistes to the West while some like Bongos Ikwue quit outright and found success as a building contractor.

    However, nature abhors vacuum. The vacuum created by the exit of the big three created a leeway for the rise of Ajegunle music which produced stars like Daddy Showkey, Daddy Fresh and African China to mention a few. It led to the rise of what is now known as the afro-hip hop revolution of the late 1990s thanks to Kennis Music, Ray Power and AIT. Ever since, the industry has continued to grow, attracting talents from the Diaspora, patronage from blue-chip companies and telecoms giants with Nigerian sound dominating the African stage and going global, winning rave reviews and numerous awards in the process and above all, laundering Nigeria’s battered image!

    Despite these giant strides, majority of Nigerian artistes are still living in squalor and poverty. Nigerian artistes have no unifying platform – a sad development.

    It is pertinent to note that the need for a strong and virile union for artistes cannot be over-emphasised because without a union, there can be no industry. Remember the African saying which posits that while one can break a broom stick effortlessly, the reverse is the case for a bunch of broomsticks. The baseline is that for artistes to enjoy the growth of recent years, they need to throw away their egos and belong to a strong and virile union which will protect their interests. A close look at the industry will reveal that only a fraction of artistes are beneficiaries of the boom. Is it not ridiculous that multinationals like Guinness, Hennessey among a host of others are declaring billions of dollars annually as profits but this is not reflecting on the majority of Nigerian musicians?

    The Nigerian music industry is replete with tales of talented musicians who made millions of naira and then went bust before finally succumbing to terminal diseases that could have been treated. Why is it that whenever artistes are sick, they have to go cap in hand begging for a lifeline when in their active years they worked in a multi-billion naira industry? The reason is not far-fetched. It is the absence of a virile union which will not only protect the industry but also set up structures for its continuous sustenance and growth.

    Rewind to 2004: Star Mega Jam and 50 Cent is in town. Before we could say Jackie Robinson, all hell is let loose as Eedris Abdul Kareem insists on being treated fairly like his American counterpart. Though he got the beating of his life and his career never recovered from the move, today, his fellow musicians are reaping the benefits of that sacrifice. All this would never have been achieved but for the sacrifice Eedris Abdul Kareem made when he put his career on the line to demand for equal treatment for Nigerian artistes. While various stories have emerged about what motivated Eedris to make that move, we cannot deny the fact that it kick-started a new awareness which culminated in the betterment of the fortunes of musicians. It is pertinent to note that before this, Nigerian artistes travelled by road to shows across the country in rented buses while their foreign counterparts flew first class! That singular move Eedris made sent a signal to brand managers that the Nigerian artiste had come of age and so should be treated right. However, it is not yet Uhuru as a lot still needs to be done to harness, consolidate and finally, maximise the potentials of the industry.

    Today millions of naira is lost to digital downloads at bus stops and shops across the country. Alaba International Market, which used to be the hub of piracy, has bowed to the sheer power of the internet due to free downloads and this has created a new wave of pirates. Armed with a laptop and a modem, this new wave of pirates are robbing artistes blind, fleecing them off millions of naira on a daily basis but the question is, who will bell the cat? Your answer is as good as mine. It is these artistes whose intellectual works are being abused and this only further underpins the need for strong and virile unions which will regulate digital downloads and by extension, improve the lot of Nigerian musicians.

    But the question is, are Nigerian artistes ready for change? Imagine what would happen if D’banj, Wizkid, Davido, P Square, 2face and some others stage a march on the Lagos House of Assembly to demand for the implementation of anti-piracy laws. The results would be awesome because of the influence they wield!

    Twelve years after the release of Shakomor, the song widely believed to be responsible for the musical renaissance of the last 16 years, the Nigerian music space continues to grow employing millions of Nigerians and laundering Nigeria’s image abroad but majority of our artistes are living from hand to mouth. Consequently, the need for unity in Nigerian entertainment industry cannot be overemphasised. Artistes must put their egos aside and agree to work for a united industry.

    A stitch in time saves nine so goes the popular English saying. The gains of the last decade and half could be totally lost unless artistes unite. Once more, the time is here, an opportunity is on the horizon for Nigerian artistes to unite and move the industry forward and bring back the glory of the 60s and 70s. But first, they must throw away their garments of pride and unite for that change which they all so desire.

    • Gabriel is chairman, PMAN caretaker committee

  • Open letter to Asari Dokubo

    SIR: This letter in not unconnected with your recent media conference following a bomb blast in  Kaduna in which two of our adorable elders and fathers escaped unhurt by the grace of God and so many other innocent friends and brothers lost their lives. As believers, we find solace that they died in the holy month of Ramadan; most of them who were pursuing a worthy cause. May Allah forgive them their trespasses and admit them into the highest place of abode, Amen.

    I would ordinary not respond to idle talk from ignorant men, but because of my perceived impression that you ought not to fall within these categories of people, I am tempted to respond to your outburst. I am also not unmindful of the fact that, while your outburst attracted the media and made some headlines, my response may not equally get the same to warrant same treatment for some reasons. You are more a public figure than me by virtue of your pedigree in the history of this nation, the interest of whom you seem to be protecting and the fact that you have all the funds to invite all that you want to invite to be heard.

    You accused General Muhammed Buhari (Rtd) as a conspirator and a liar, a situation that prompted me to question where you got your “Tarbiya) from? (I mean your home training). I know as a fact that, no matter the provocation and our political and religious inclination, some words are heavy words that we will hardly use on elders, most especially on a person old enough to be our father (to be modest). The event in this nation over the last one year is enough for the northerners to start name-callings and raining insults on some individuals from the part of the country you come from, but because we are disciplined and are always admonished to restrain ourselves from the ugly consequences of anger, we have kept our lips shut and watching albeit with keen interest on all the happenings around.

    God forbid, do you think even if the Nigerian armoury and soldiers are mobilized to the North, they can stop anything from happening if these two men were killed? Please Mujahid, do not be led by empty confidence that you have stashed enough weapons to fight anybody; even if you do; we are inclined to believe that no one lives forever. I believe we are at best as one Nigeria.

    Is it not funny to consider a man who fought to preserve the unity of a country a liar? A former minister and Head of State; a man with a genuine followership, a man with a clue on how a country should be run. Let us pray to remain consequential like the general even at this our youth-full like age because many at his age have lost track of the history and prospect of this nation.

    You will agree with me that the prospect of democracy hinges on the viability of opposition. General Buhari’s pedigree has given impetus and meaning to the Nigeria opposition parties. I am sure if General Buhari and the opposition do not exist, the image launderers and the likes will have less patronage by the ruling party.

    I know we represent an important segment of the population (youth?). Our utterances should be guarded. Why should you and I forsake our future of being Nigeria President because we have toed the path of ethnic jingoists?

    Yours truly in the Nigeria project,

     

    • Dr Abdullahi Baba Abdul,

  • Open letter to Governor Amosun

    SIR: I want to, first of all, commend you for your unparalleled dedication in providing social amenities – in Ogun State since assuming office – despite the paucity of funds. Whilst working as a Residence Verification Officer for one of the major banks in our country, I was opportune to scout around Ogun State, amongst other states. And having juxtaposed the rates of infrastructural development, I must confess that your government is doing excellently well to improve the living conditions of her people.

    However, after exercising ample forbearance, it has become necessary to draw your attention to the sufferings of your people residing in Ibafo as I think Ibafo to be one of the prominent towns in Ogun State since it is a suburb.

    The inhabitants of Ibafo feel alienated from the on-going development process in the state, as they can hardly boast of enjoying a single basic amenity in their environ. Ranging from the lack of good roads, to the unavailability of pipe borne water and electricity, it appears that the attention of Your Excellency may have been diverted from the Ibafo region; following the good works at Magboro and other neighbouring towns.

    In the wake of the recent intensive rainfall, the issue of bad road has become a pertinent matter – requiring urgent lasting solution – as floods threaten to destroy our homes and properties. The sound of a rushing rainfall remains an impediment to the well-being of your people – who call on your help.

    As per electricity, the term already sounds abstruse to Ibafo residents, particularly the kids. Since the beginning of this year, 2014, we’ve only seen electricity once; and that was sometime in early January. Nigerian citizens, living in Ibafo, generate power for themselves on daily basis.

    The residents of Ibafo crave for your mercy, should they have offended your government in any way. They plead for Your Excellency’s leniency and desire you provide them with some basic amenities, with special regards to good road and electricity.

    I earnestly appeal to the development-oriented governor to remember the people of Ibafo.

    May God continue to grant you the vision for prosperity, even as you act in equity.

    • Prince C. Ifoh,

    Ibafo, Ogun State

     

  • Open letter to President Jonathan

    SIR: Permit the liberty I take in addressing this open letter to our President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. I am a bona fide Nigerian and a senior citizen. I am by the grace of God past 84 years.

    I have been active in politics since I was 16 years old from the secondary school. I was a very active member of the disciplined Zikist Movement. I was a local president of the NCNC/NEPU alliance in Bukuru on the Plateau in the 1950s. I was a very effective and successful Trade Union leader as a young adult on the Plateau. I have made great contributions in both participating in sport and in the development of youth through sport.

    Forgive my talking a bit of myself. I do so only to justify the liberty I take to address this letter to my President because I am going to base this letter to the President on my Christian faith and understanding of politics and governance.

    My understanding and only accepted definition of politics is that it is the proper management of the affairs of men. Nigeria for decades has been indulging in politics and governance that uphold the politics of steal, kill, and destroy Nigeria’s economy and in consequence, the Nigerian people. I had hoped that you might incline your pattern of politics and governance to providing life and life more abundantly for our economy and people.

    Your Excellency’s government and politics to my understanding, inadvertently mingles and battles to sustain the policy and practice of hurting Nigeria.  I therefore deem it a bounding duty and responsibility to draw your Excellency’s attention to my personal views on events and developments since you became president.

    Corruption is not just the dynamic manifestations of the sordid acts of scoundrels and kleptomaniacs; it is the calculated ruining of that which is good by any individual, group of people, or government. In the polity, corruption has developed to a very dynamic and powerful major national religion. It is an admixture of religions in Nigeria championed and piloted by Christians and Muslims. Corruption as number one religion of Nigeria, craftily eschews tribe, gender and religion as qualification for membership. The only qualification for membership is that one can steal, kill and destroy the economy of Nigeria and in consequence what sustains Nigeria’s greatness. Governments and some leaders in Nigeria are ‘unconsciously’ obligated to make a bee-line for membership of the religion of corruption because of the attendant benefits of filthy lucre.

    Dear President, the goings on in Nigeria polity under your leadership is progressively taking on new, worrisome and dangerous dimensions. It is beginning to appear that President Goodluck Jonathan is either re-elected in 2015 to rule us for another four -year term or there will be no Nigeria.  May it not be so please Mr. President! The prevailing pattern of politics and governance in Nigeria is awkward, very irresponsible, heartless and treacherous.  It sustains a season of falsehood, deceit and confusion. These add up to one word: – TERRORISM.

    You met us as one Nigeria – even though currently a very sick country. You can facilitate our healing and improve our lot by applying the “Balm of Gilead”. If you cannot heal and improve our lot, please apply a soothing balm: The “balm of Gilead”. The ongoing politics is perilous and portends nothing but intent towards the destruction of a nation.

    Dear President, I persuade you not to run for election in 2015. You are already President and as ex-President, your privileges will be immense and kept alive for as long as you live. You will also have the privilege of being a positive reference point for politicians because of your noble act in contributing to the preservation of your country Nigeria.

    The most unfortunate thing that has happened to Nigeria during your regime is the unfettered advantage and privilege given to hypocrites, evil doers, godless and dangerous folks who found their way into your choice team of senior advisers. They are vehicles of destruction. They are hell-bent on amassing wealth and destroying Nigeria. They desperately need another four years to accomplish their devilment.

    Like the First Lady once rightly exclaimed, “There is God o!” Let the mischief makers realize that there is a God Almighty – the final arbiter who can kill both body and soul in hell.

    Do not contest the elections in 2015. God bless you Mr. President!  Save Nigeria and you will have a worthy name.

     

    • Rev. Dr. Moses Iloh

    Lagos

  • 2015: Open letter to Prof Jega

    SIR: When you were first appointed as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), by President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerians went berserk with joy and elation because of your

    record as the chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the fact that you were able to face the threat of the then military government of Ibrahim Babangida in the early 1990s. Nigerians saw you as an astute intellectual with a strong sense of ethics, morality and a man of his words.

    As a Nigerian, I believe you are very conversant with what is happening in the country. Nigerians are being oppressed everyday by politicians who do not have anything to offer to move Nigeria forward.

    They want to win elections by all means and thus, could be looking to put pressure on you to compromise and go against the wish of Nigerians.

    Many groups had written to you to redeploy the top management and other officials who had been

    accused of electoral misconducts and bring in people of your calibre who can be trusted but you paid deaf ear and opted to work with the old firewoods which your predecessor left.

    That was not actually the problem; the problem was that you made a lot of pledges and that no misconduct would be tolerated. The notable one was the pledge you made that if the number of vote supersedes the number of voters registered in any state, such vote would be cancelled but sir, there were cases like that especially in the presidential election. Why did you not cancel the vote?

    The election that took place in Anambra state, in 2013 was marred with irregularities that even you, the electoral umpire publicly admitted, why did you not cancel the election and conduct fresh

    one?

    In 2011, your INEC was given an elephantine amount of money based on your request, and when you were asked to provide the ballot papers in the election petitions tribunal for cross examination, you could not. Ordinarily, if the money were channelled to some sectors of the economy, perhaps, education, it would have helped improve it tremendously if properly utilized.

    Sir, I hereby use this avenue to call on you to rise up to the big task ahead of you. The politicians are desperate; the president and his party are desperate too; all that Nigerians require of you is to create

    a level play ground for all parties that may be involved.

    Nigerians are hoping that you get it right come 2015; that may be the only chance you could get to re-polish your image and reputation which you took many years to build.

     

    • Waziri Mohammed,

    IBB University Lapai, Niger State.

     

  • Beyond Obasanjo’s open letter

    Beyond Obasanjo’s open letter

    I had decided not to meddle when open letters flies from all corners of the country. And I took the decision for two reasons. One, I do not want to get on the bandwagon and two; I subscribe that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is responsible for our national woes. My silence was broken by requests from the youths in my constituency, to whom I owe a sense of duty. I, therefore, do not want to contribute to the analysis of the content of letter, but to look at the implications of the revelations in the letters on the Nigerian state in the nearest future, and how it will affect the youths.

    Tomorrow’s leaders, who should rather be under responsible leadership and moral training, will most likely be handed the leadership of a failed state with no value reference frame to guide them. Rather than commence their leadership task to mobilise citizens for concerted national development, the Nigerian youths, when handed leadership, would probably expend valuable time and resources in the most tedious task of educating the citizens on wrong values being inherited from the present leaders.

    While our mates in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are gainfully engaging themselves in national development, we are spending time on molding our minds in dishonesty, destructive greed, tribalism, terrorism, hooliganism, etc. Before we can start to think of setting national development goals, we have to talk about personal values.

    A recent report by the World Bank says 11million youths will be jobless by 2024 in sub-Sahara Africa. That is four years after Vision 20:2020 would have been realised or failed. The content of the letters do not fail to inform us again that our leaders are morally bankrupt, treacherous and mischievous. And above all, they lord it over us foolishly. They have no remorse over their leadership style; they have no character to checkmate the damage being done on our future by the uncontrolled abuse of our rights.

    But, if the objective of the Obasanjo’s letter is to change the direction of the leadership and leadership orientation, the mess is worth it. I, therefore, want to address former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Every great nation has got leaders who have the will and wit to galvanise the human potentials in the direction of development and service. It has never been enough for leaders to execute projects and count achievements. As Abraham Lincoln puts it: “Success is when you are there while prosperity is when you have left”.

    Chief Obasanjo has got the opportunity more than anybody else to provide progressive leadership for the younger generations and recruit leaders who would not have compelled him to write open letters whether appropriate or not. As a president for eight years, if he had done it right, we won’t be in this mess that needs his intervention.

    Leaders, who have similar opportunities, had utilised them not only to uplift the standard of living of their people, but to build leaders who won’t lower the standard.

    I am sure Chief Obasanjo understands this well because he established the African Leadership Forum (ALF) for the same objective. What worries me is why an ex-officio with an “operational objective” could be moving in opposite direction to his objective?

    ALF is a fluke if Senator Iyabo Obasanjo will represent what Baba detests in his letters and boldly ‘scolded’ her biological father as if she has the integrity to enlighten us. Charity is expected to begin from home. And if the leaders groomed by ALF is what his ordained president, Goodluck Jonathan, represents, as painted in the general’s letter, then Baba has failed his fatherland.

    He has failed to provide the youths with the leadership template that will make him to retire in peace from politics and consequently retire from planet earth a celebrated hero. If the realisation of an urgent need to undo certain misdeeds is the driving force of the letter, I may to suggest to the youths that ours is not yet a hopeless situation.

    “Circumstances have changed people more than sermons have,” Winston Churchill famously noted.

    Perhaps, this same impression informed the progressives’ leaders visit to Ota farmer and the quest for ‘navigation’. The positivity or negativity of these impressions could only be judged by time, going by the records.

    In writing to charge the youths to effect change, I also crave Chief Obasanjo to follow up the open letter by restructuring the ALF, evolving pragmatic agro-business project that will strategically absorb growing unemployed youths into the mainstream agricultural sector. These should be done before it’s too late.

    A Yoruba adage says: “The dead goes only back to its stead; the father of a child is always the owner of the child.”

    We do not have another fatherland to claim. The mistakes, ineptitude and (mis)-management of our leaders, take an irreversible toll on our future, and if we do not have another fatherland, our future must be secured by our action today.

     

    Habeeb is a student of Nigerian Law School, Abuja

  • Open letter to Gov. Ajimobi

    SIR: The visible positive changes in Ogun State today are indicative of the mindset of Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his cabinet towards the people of the state and I have deemed it necessary to contribute my quota to her progress as a real son of the soil of the state studying out of the state.

    There is no gainsaying that all states of the federation see through the eyes of the federal government in the area of database for housing and population. But if the federal eye is blind, how can the states see? The population and housing census conducted by the National Population Commission was between the 21st and 27th March, 2006, followed by a Post-Enumeration Survey in June, 2006.

    Thanks to Freedom of Information Act, the details of the breakdown of provisional population total published in the federal government’s Extraordinary Gazette No. 24 volume 94 of May 15, 2009 as statutory instrument No. 23 of 2007 reveals that Oyo State final population total was 5,580,894.

    By this, the state’s population was double those of Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Kwara, Taraba, and Yobe states; triple those of Bayelsa State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and almost triple Nasarawa’s by 9,079. The question is: Does it reflect the true total population of Oyo State as at 2006? If it does, then, where are the housing totals? If it does not matter then, every plan based on such a wrong population figure would be wrong. Then, one can say that the state government has been planning on housing at random all this while.

    But who is deceiving who? Politics of populations and housing has done and will continue to do Nigerians no good if we fail to do the right things. Another question is: “What are these right things”? The right things will reveal the true current situation of education, health, agriculture and food security, housing, reproduction, people with disabilities, labour force, revenue, refugees, etc such that we can truly proffer solutions to problems in the system and reliably project into the future.

    One of those right things for a wise state is to independently build a demographic database of population and housing of residents to reveal the foregoing. Oyo State needs to conduct an independent population and housing census.

    Your Excellency, my mind bubbles with answers to the questions of why, when, how, to conduct such a census.

     

    • Gbemisola Olufemi,

    Student, Department of Demography and Social Statistics,

    Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

     

  • Open letter to Governor Suswam

    SIR: As an admirer and keen observer of your activities and performance in Benue State, I have not been very pleased with the assignment you’ve been given or awarded to yourself since the beginning of the current political imbroglio. You’ve been sending wrong signals to your great fans over there, the Tiv nation and Nigeria as whole.

    The good people of Benue State elected you to serve and promote the best interests of Benue people and not to run errands for the President. You can do your job very well and leave a worthy legacy without getting involved in the pettiness being foisted on our country from the presidency.

    The impression from certain quarters is that despite the re-election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as Nigeria Governors Forum chairman, simply because it is against the wishes of the President, you are all out to run him out of office. If I may ask, what shall it profit you if President Goodluck Jonathan achieves his ambition of removing Amaechi as NGF chairman?

    What will it add to your own curriculum vitae (CV), if the governor is impeached?

    Truth is always bitter. I believe you have gone too far and too deep into this matter. President Jonathan is big enough and has all the machineries to fight his own battles. As a great son of ‘Tiv Awange’, you are too big and far important to be used as human King Kong.

    You stand to lose more than what you can possibly gain if you persist and continue on this dangerous road. You’re eroding and wasting your equity on a worthless venture.

    No matter how much you portray yourself to be humble and absolutely loyal to the President, it is a wasted effort. Any one discerning enough would know you’re heading somewhere; don’t be deceived that the President is fooled about your voluptuous desire. You’re an irrepressible soul. And when time comes the Nigeria mafia will try to cut you down to size.

    Please,permit me to refresh your memory a bit Your Excellency. Once upon a time,there was a powerful minister who wielded stupendous power. This minister was elevated to a point were he felt comfortably secure but after the death of his master, he was surgically removed and clinically eliminated from the system by the cabal. If any one had foretold the tragedies that would befall Michael Kaase Aondoakaa some years back, he would have called the person a fake prophet.

    There are bigger targets to fix your gaze on. Forget about going to the senate in 2015 and forcing your way through. As a matter of fact, such moves have been the trend and are just too predictable.

     

    • John Akevi

    Bauchi

     

  • Open letter to Governor Orji

    Open letter to Governor Orji

    Your Excellency, I feel honoured to write you this letter. I guess you are having a nice time in the Government House or in any of the exquisite suites located in highbrow areas of Abuja. I would not have made this letter an open one but for some obvious reasons. I was at your office recently to present an issue to you, but I was informed you were in Abuja for a “peace meeting” following the recent move by members of your party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    I called your Press Secretary and he told me he was not around too. I would have dropped the letter with him. But I changed my mind, knowing full well that dropping it with any of those your aides because of the sensitive nature of the issues contained in the letter, which I am sure may not be pleasant to some of them.

    Firstly, I want to commend you for the laudable achievements of your administration, especially in the education sector. Every effort you have put forward to change the face of education in the state is commendable.

    You recently approved bursary for Abia State students in tertiary institutions. That was a good gesture, which has continued to generate bubbles of excitement among students. It has been like the long-awaited manna from heaven which comes at the right time. It was seen a pipe dream but we are happy that it has become a reality.

    Well, I am not bothered about the timing of the bursary. As a student, I never enjoyed it. When I was in the hostel, I heard my colleagues from other states such as Lagos, Delta and Edo who were always excited each time they got bursary payment from their states’ governments. Then, we would hear rumour that Abia State would soon commence its payment. But it never came. That is by the way.

    When I heard the news that the bursary had been released, I sensed something shady. According to the announcement, the bursary would be paid using on a particular “database” of students. I ask: when was the “database” generated? Who generated the list? Does the state government have a list of all the Abia State students schooling in Nigeria and foreign institutions?

    I am sure you may have assigned the task of paying the bursary to some people working for your administration. That is expected. But we must realise that a good meal could be rendered distasteful at the point of serving. It is not enough to give instructions but the instructions must be properly monitored to ensure compliance. It will not be good if you allow this sweet meal to get repulsive in the hands of unscrupulous messengers, denting the good image your administration has created in the state.

    I recall that the last time a database was created for bursary in 2007. That was the last time bursary was paid to Abia State students, too. If I may ask, is it the 2007 bursary database that will be used for the current present payment? It is obvious that those who were in school then would have graduated by now. All of them have ceased to be students.

    Some may have even married by now, who knows? The present undergraduates were in secondary schools in 2007 when the said list was created. So, how did they find their names in a list that was created before their admission into tertiary institutions?

    His Excellency, I think there is more to the so-called “database” than meets the eye. Has the list been generated or about to be generated? If the list has been generated, who is behind the “database”? Where did it originate from? If it is the 2007 database that will be used, it means there is something wrong somewhere. It will be totally unacceptable, unjust and deceptive.

    Abia State is “God’s own state” and we are God’s own people. That is the creed that binds us together as one indivisible community. It will be unkind for the government to work with a list that is outdated. It should not be done at all in a democratic society like ours.

    I don’t want your good name to be dragged in the mud. You should know that it is not everybody around you that have the same passion you have for the state. Some of your aides may have a different agenda. They may appear to be saints, scrambling to outsmart one another in a sycophantic manner. I advise you to watch very well.

    If the state government wants to pay bursary to students, it should not be now that schools are on strike. The body responsible for paying the bursary should partner with the different institutions in Nigeria to make the project credible. The students should be asked to register in Students’ Affairs Division in their various schools to get the updated list of beneficiaries.

    Bursary is not a closed-door affair. It is my interest that you continue to succeed. I request that you look into the bursary payment process and take urgent action to save your good name. Thank you sir for your time.

     

    •Emmanuel, recently graduated from Political Science, UNICAL