Your Excellency, let me start
by congratulating you on a
keenly contested Presidential
Primary of your party APC
which you won resoundingly.
Even if I’m not a member of
your party, I’m a recent
convert to Buharism, as
previously explained
elsewhere, and I believe
every member of the
opposition must join forces
to work for your victory in
2015. It is for this reason and
purpose that I wish to give
you a few words of advice
and encouragement as one of
your humble disciples. I’ve
come to realise that many
leaders often fail because
most of their followers are
usually too timid or terribly
selfish that they can’t tell
them the truth. It is one of
the reasons I’ve refused to
join any of the mainstream
parties in which I may not be
able to express myself freely.
I assure you sir, that I seek
nothing but the good of our
dear beloved country in
return for my modest
support.
Please, permit me to say,
categorically, that no man
can claim glory for your
victory. The only one to
thank is your God who gave
you the uncommon
attributes of integrity,
modesty and tenacity. I’m
aware that success has too
many family members but
you must be very careful to
know your true blood
relations. I can imagine the
pressure you must be getting
from every direction at this
great moment in a nation of
amazing politicians who
already see your likely
chances at the polls. It is our
standard practice in Nigeria
but you must be careful not
to waste this incredible
momentum.
I’ve been monitoring all the
hullaballoo since you became
victorious. I plead with you
and your party operatives to
act fact and hit the ground
running. Your campaign
must start urgently because
there are so many bridges to
cross. I have no doubt in my
mind that the propaganda of
your opponent is
evaporating so rapidly and
you’ve obviously ignited a
passion in our youths who
seemed to have finally
connected to your message
of change and hope. The last
time I witnessed such an
upsurge of emotion and
excitement was in 1993 when
Chief Moshood Abiola
emerged the Presidential
flag-bearer of SDP in Jos.
Trust me, you gave us a fresh
hope two days ago.
As a media man, I’m always
wary of wasting moments of
glory. You cannot imagine
how we kept sleepless nights
because of you. Ordinary
Nigerians like me kept faith
with and vigil for you. I
won’t be surprised if some
even fasted. It was that
serious. I saw Christians and
Muslims pray together. It
was surreal and magical to
say the least. We all waited
with bated breath for the
results. When finally it was
time to count the ballot,
most of us were in suspense.
We counted every vote along
with Senator Babafemi Ojudu
and company. And we were
very impressed with the
ability of the Convention
committee led by Dr Kayode
Fayemi, who taught INEC
how to run a good election.
Our joy knew no bounds as
you came out victorious.
Sir, I wish to assure you that
the outcome of that keenly
contested election was not a
fluke. You all worked hard
and made your party and our
country proud. We were
happy to see a Nigerian
politician concede defeat
even as votes were still being
counted. Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar’s tweet was a
masterstroke. It showed
clearly that Democracy has
germinated in our clime and
we can begin to look
forward for bountiful
harvests in the not too
distant future. We were
impressed with the collective
performances of Governor
Rabiu Kwankwaso, Govenor
Rochas Okorocha and our
Brother Publisher, Sam Nda-
Isiah. I pray this team spirit
holds to the end. It is an
attitude to encourage
because it demonstrates the
preparedness of those who
are serious about the 2015
elections. Even the ambience
surrounding the event venue
was just too sweet.
My honest and humble
suggestion is that you must
do what you’ve promised to
do, carry your party along
with you and you will find
the task ahead a LOT easier.
You’ve criss-crossed the
length and breadth of Nigeria
in the past bonding with
your party members and
fellow Nigerians. This is your
fourth attempt and hopefully
the last shot at returning to
finish the job which you
were wickedly prevented
from finishing in 1985. In
your past outings, you tried
all you could but got
frustrated all the way by
forces beyond your control.
Never mind, the time has
come for you to reap the
rewards of that Odysseus
journey.
In your previous outings, Sir,
you must have suffered a
huge trauma. You were
called many unprintable
names because of your
bluntness and inability to
pretend and lie about your
faith and beliefs. The one
ugly label that stuck to you
like a leech is that of being
an Islamic fundamentalist.
Even recently, you were
subliminally accused of being
the prime promoter of the
much-dreaded Boko Haram.
But no one had the guts to
frontally arrest you and
prosecute you for crimes
against your country and
humanity. I still wonder till
this day how you managed to
bear all the insults and
assaults against you with
such unusual equanimity.
In the process of trying to
prove your innocence, you
went to great lengths and
chose all manner of
characters as your running-
mates. I remember you
chose a prominent and
highly-cerebral Igbo Chief,
Dr Chuba Okadigbo, as your
Vice Presidential candidate,
but that was not good
enough for our people to
vote for you. Instead, you
were described as an
incurable irredentist. Most
recently, and probably out of
desperation to shed off the
toga of religious bigotry, you
chose the fiery preacher,
Pastor Tunde Bakare of The
Latter Rain Assembly, as
your soul-mate, but you
were still not able to wash
off your hands clean like
Pontius Pilate. I must confess
that your skin must be
tougher than that of a
porcupine. If there is one
lesson we must all learn
from you, it is that we must
never give up in the face of
daunting challenges. You are
truly resilient and
indomitable.
My dream is to see your
party come together to form
a kind of shadow cabinet as
soon as possible. This will
also show your teeming
supporters how committed
you are. The composition of
your squad will reveal the
kind of personalities that will
eventually form your dream
team in Government. From
now on members of that
crew will be formulating
policies and commenting on
issues of national economic
and social importance and
showing Nigerians what they
should come to expect from
May 29 2015. I’ve always
been an advocate of such
because it additionally helps
you to gather a combined
synergy. Instead of relying
on your personal popularity,
it would be possible to tap
into the energy of other
members and millions of
youths who are happy to
volunteer for your
campaign. For the first time
since you started contesting
in 2003, you have a
nationwide spread of
supporters behind you. It is
almost supernatural that the
Governors in your party
control the chunkiest parts
in Nigeria. But your biggest
assets are the masses who
believe in you. They must
never be taken for granted
because they are the voice of
God.
If the APC can sustain the
classy craftsmanship we saw
at the Lagos Convention, I’ve
no doubt that your campaign
would catch the attention of
most Nigerians everywhere
and change the lacklustre
way of organising political
rallies. Your campaign must
be issue based. I loved your
letter to the APC Delegates.
It was so soul-lifting that it
went viral. It would be nice
to write from time to time to
Nigerians intimating them on
how you plan to tackle the
many problems afflicting our
country. In addition you
must not fear to regularly
interact with Nigerians face
to face when matters of
national importance arise. It
is a poor leader who leaves
such matters to publicists
and spokesperson. It reveals
that they are insecure and
unsure of themselves. More
importantly, it displays a
significant disconnect
between the leader and his
constituents as well as a
distinct lack of compassion.
We have suffered too many
unfulfilled promises and too
many shocking denials of
matters which critically
affect our people. The people
have become virtually
paranoid of politicians and
their sugar-coated and
phantasmagorical lies.
There are too many brilliant
Nigerians across the world
desperate to see a better
Nigeria before they die. They
will support you
unconditionally once they
key into your dream for the
country. The situation of the
country is so bad that
everyone is expecting a
miracle from God. This is the
time to prove that Nigeria is
not a cursed country but a
truly blessed race. I’m
already impressed with the
calibre of people I see
around you and I’m
persuaded they are capable
of not only helping you to
win the election but also to
run an effective government.
I wish you the best of luck
Sir.
LET THE RACE BEGIN MR
PRESIDENT
I have no personal animosity
against you, Mr President. As
a matter of fact, I think you
have been just unfortunate
to have assumed power at a
most terrible period in the
history of our country. I
cannot write you off in the
next Presidential contest.
You are the incumbent with
all the Federal might at your
disposal. But it is going to be
the biggest battle that you,
PDP and indeed the
conservatives have ever
fought since coming to
power in 1999.
If you, as the President fail in
your second term bid, it
would be due to several
reasons. The first is that PDP
has not lived up to its billing
despite all the vast resources
at its disposal. The money
spent since then would have
turned a more prudent
country into a paradise on
earth. But in our own case,
the more you look, the less
you see. Education has
collapsed totally.
Infrastructural decay is
abysmal. Insecurity is
atrocious. Corruption has
shot through the roof. It is a
long tale of woes.
Even those much vaunted
areas that your Government
promotes in our media are
now being shown to be
nothing more than
propaganda stunts. We still
have no power despite all
the amounts that have been
burnt in the purported
attempt to provide light for
our people. Our economy is
in shambles. Our
international economists
have totally lost the grip. I
still cannot understand how
the price of crude has fallen
to the level that it has and
yet the domestic price of
petrol and petroleum
products has not fallen a
kobo. It is sacrilegious. The
one thing that is clear is that
there is now no subsidy of
any description so the so-
called deficits in the budget
should not be there. Our
voodoo economists however
will tell us the contrary. Ask
them to tell you the truth
because the die is cast.
The major challenge is that
your supporters are also
fond of threatening hell-fire
against your opponents
instead of trying to sell your
best attributes. I can see this
strategy failing already.
Please, don’t deviate from
your belief that the blood of
Nigerians is not worth
dropping for politics. Be a
man of peace and not a man
of war. God has been too
kind to you. If He wishes, he
may still retain you in power.
source: Nigeria bulletin
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