By Oby Ndukwe
Dear President Buhari, it is auspicious that I write this letter to you, not as Obasanjo or Soyinka writes, but as a concerned citizen of Nigeria.
It is going to be a short one, not to bore you with long history and epistles that may never be read by you nor the solutions implemented by your Advisers and foot soldiers.
I recall vividly what my convictions were, when after many arguments, I decided to throw my weight behind you, even very late in your 2014/2015 campaign.
I was more convinced when during one of the campaigns, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu spoke with vigour and strong rhetoric that when other nations of the world had their challenges, they sought and brought their Generals. He reeled out the countries that adopted this crucial approach, and they succeeded in rescuing their countries from the precipice.
That was the undeniable situation Nigeria found itself then. All the macro and micro economic indices were showing the red light. Worse still was the rampaging Insurgency which threatened the North East and was advancing into the Federal Capital Territory.
The national and international outcry against the abduction of young maidens known as “Chibok girls” from their school and the massacre of some male students in yet another school, no doubt became the sore points of our unity and peace as a sovereign nation.
Nigeria, according to Tinubu, needed their own General with war experience to rescue the situation. Yes, war cos we were at war!
The rest of the account of the unexpected exit of your predecessor and his party from power are all written in the accounts of our history.
Your Excellency, the same masses who joined forces with the likes of Tinubu and Chibuike Amaechi to form the first successful Masses Movement in Nigeria, since after the Aba Women’s Riot, are now under siege. They are forced to eat their words and regret their actions. Majority who have no hired security, public or private; conventional or local is now being browbeaten by the rising voices of dissent, who are rightly divided because of the rising insecurity challenges, hyperinflation and mounting social vices, all over the country.
The situation has become hydraheaded as insurgents have gone beyond the North East and spreading like wildfire to the Southern part of Nigeria under the guise of herders and bandits. The unfortunate Chibok saga has increased exponentially under your Command. Sadly, it is going on unabated, in spite of millions of dollars that have been appropriated for security over the years. Incidentally, no one, apart from Sambo Dasuki and Olisa Metuh have been held and for allegedly stealing from the Security Votes.
Those who raped the country’s treasuries and have wickedly exposed the lives of poor Nigerians and the fighting forces to unquantified deaths are still dancing on these graves. Some have cowered into safety in your party, APC, while others are hiding in safe havens overseas.
Let me spare you the other details which as the C-IN-C, you already know and possess the right information. While I commend your Administration’s great strides in the area of Infrastructure, may I remind you, Mr President, that good Roads, Bridges and new Rails have no impact when those whom they are meant for are scampering to safety in a self-imposed LockDown even when the rest of the world is opening up.
Of what use are the bailout funds to Governors who are deliberately sitting on monies meant to fight insecurity, otherwise known as Security Votes?
The revolution in Infrastructure under your Government has been seriously rubbished by the tales of death and destruction arising in different regions of the country.
I still wonder what assignment your image makers would be executing at such a time as this, when the evidence of our failures is glaring and staring us boldly in the face.
Those who have taken up Arms against the Nigerian State on their agitations for secession are gradually gaining grounds even as the Western world looks in their direction.
This is the right time for the General in you to take preeminence over your image of a repented Democrat. We may have been convinced that you were a Dictator, but we are yet to see the dictatorship in your actions against the rampaging killers who have held the nation hostage.
Your Excellency, this is the time to decide, whether to continue to adorn the garb of a Democrat who would not be accused of Human Rights abuses or to remove the toga of a gentleman and fight to rescue the nation.
It is the kairos time to assemble the right pegs and place them in the right holes. This is not a time for ethnic bias or political patronage. The situation requires a drastic approach in order to gain back the confidence of the Nigerian Citizens. It’s definitely not the time to issue empty threats to violators nor to prepare Press Releases to mourn with those who mourn.
Mr. President, your advancement in some sectors in the past six years have been washed away with the unending insecurity in the land.
Let the General in you thunder now, more than ever.
I remain your advocate and a voice of the citizens who may never be heard.
Obiaruko Christie Ndukwe
Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Email: beamnews@yahoo.com