Mr.
President, you will recall that I wrote you an open letter on December 28th,
2015 which I sincerely hope that you found most gratifying, illuminating and
helpful. That was two days before your presidential media chat which took place
on December 30th. I hereby humbly crave your indulgence to add an addendum to
that open letter. That is what this contribution represents.
I hope
and pray that this second letter, which will be the last, will further
enlighten you and impart a little more wise counsel to you that will result in
assisting you to properly appreciate the complexities of our times.
Mr.
President, it is pertinent to note that approximately two hundred and sixty
five years ago one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Mr.
Benjamin Franklin, said “rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God”. I am sure
that you will agree with me when I say that he was absolutely right.
Just in
case you do not know who Benjamin Franklin was, permit me to point out the fact
that he is a man that is reverred by the American people and much of the
civilised world up until today and he is the individual whose face appears on
the one hundred U.S. dollar bills that are used till date.
He was
a great statesman, diplomat, politician and intellectual and, most important of
all, he was a deeply courageous man who was motivated by his deepest
convictions and his christian values and who was prepared to risk life and
liberty and stand up to tyranny.
I guess most Nigerian leaders have
much to learn from him, especially at times like this. Yet, thankfully all is
not lost and at least a few of our politicians are beginning to find their
voice and speak out against the evil in the land. Permit me to share one
example with you.
A few days
ago, Chief Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of our great party,
the PDP, exposed the fact that there was an orchestrated attempt by your government
to intimidate, silence and utterly decimate and crush the opposition.
In open
defiance to what can best be described as this insidious and sinister agenda,
he told the world that, “President Buhari is not God and we will not worship
him”. Whether he knows it or not, Metuh has not only spoken for the PDP but
also for the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian people.
This brings me to another issue which is a
cause for grave concern. Your stated resolve not to obey court orders and to
deny Nigerians their right to bail after the courts have given it to them is
not only an affront and gratuitous insult to the Judiciary but it is also a
violation of the constitution.
Permit me
to add the following words to his timely contribution. Woe unto those that tremble
before men of power and that worship false gods. Destruction and perdition
awaits those who bow before Baal, who exalt the servants of Belial, who kiss
the ring of the Baphomet, who say “Buhari is God” and who crawl at the feet of
the Lord of the Flies.
Mr.
President the point is simple and clear: you are not God and even though we
respect your office, we will never bow before you, we will never worship you,
we will not relent in our efforts to oppose you and, regardless of your
constant threats and wicked intentions, we have absolutely no fear of you.
This is
because our fate and destiny and the future of our beloved country lies in the
hands of the Living God and not in the hands of a misguided and tyrannical
dictator like your good self. Injustice, persecution and tyranny last only for
a season.
At the
appointed time, the Lord will step in and He will deliver and vindicate the
falsely accused and the righteous captive. He will also avenge the spilling of
innocent blood and He will fight the cause of the martyrs.
With this
in mind and regardless of the dangerous counsel of the hardliners and
extremists that surround you, I urge you to please take note of the following:
Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky, Colonel Sambo Dasuki and Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, who are
all political prisoners, must NOT die under mysterious circumstances whilst
they are in your custody.
No matter
what your advisers and those in your inner circle tell you if, God forbid, this
were to happen, the fall-out and consequences for your reputation and your
administration would be too much to bear.
This
brings me to another issue which is a cause for grave concern. Your stated
resolve not to obey court orders and to deny Nigerians their right to bail
after the courts have given it to them is not only an affront and gratuitous
insult to the Judiciary but it is also a violation of the constitution.
I say this
because, unlike military dictatorships, democracy enjoys and derives its power
and legitimacy from the inviolable and sacred principle of “separation of
powers”.
In the same vein, you have no right to try to
stop members of the opposition or the general public from criticising you or
condemning your obvious failings. Mr. President criticism, opposition and
dissent are the lifeblood of democracy and without accommodating and tolerating
them, you cannot claim to be a democrat.
What this
means is that the Executive arm of Government, which by the grace of God you
head today, is distinct and separate from the Legislature and the Judiciary.
As head of
the Executive and President of the Federal Republic, you have absolutely no
power or right to interfere in the processes of the Legislature (which is the
National Assembly) or the Judiciary. Both have their own rules, regulations and
leadership and the constitution guides them and guarantees them total and
complete independence from you.
As a
matter of fact, they are charged by the laws of our land and the constitution
to act as a check and balance on you as president and to ensure that you do not
abuse your power or subject your people to tyranny.
Mr.
President, I watched you on your media chat the other day and I am constrained
to tell you that you not only abused your power but you also crossed the line
with some of the things that you said. For example you have no right to tell
the courts how to administer justice and who and who not to grant bail. Again,
you have no business to tell the legislature which laws to pass and how to run
their affairs.
Again you
have no right and neither do you have the power to pronounce any Nigerian
citizen guilty of any crime unless and until a duly constituted court of law
has done so. You cannot be the prosecutor, judge and jury in any criminal
proceeding, and this is especially so when you initiated those proceedings and
you are the accuser.
To attempt
to do so is not only unacceptable and irresponsible but it is also heartless
and unkind. The fact that most of our senior and respected lawyers have refused
to tell you this simply because they are scared of you or because they are
looking for patronage from your government does not mean that what you are
doing is lawful or acceptable. What you are doing is morally and legally
reprehensible and it is unacceptable in any democratic and civilised society.
In the
same vein, you have no right to try to stop members of the opposition or the
general public from criticising you or condemning your obvious failings. Mr.
President criticism, opposition and dissent are the lifeblood of democracy and
without accommodating and tolerating them, you cannot claim to be a democrat.
You have
no right to attempt to cower or intimidate the fourth estate of the realm,
which is the media, or attempt to pervert and corrupt the Nigerian public with
daily doses of lies, falsehood, deceit and propaganda which is being duly and
dutifully administered by your Minister of Information and your numerous media
aides.
What the Igbo want is fairness, equal rights,
equal representation, equity and respect. They also believe that they have the
right to determine their own future and make their own choices.
All these
things give me and millions of your other subjects concern, yet it doesn’t stop
there. Perhaps the most disturbing example of your sheer insensitivity was your
reaction to the question about Igbo marginalisation during the media chat. In
response to that question you asked, “Who is marginalising who?” And you went
further to ask, “What do the Igbo want?”
Mr.
President, I wish to remind you that it is an incontrovertible fact that in
just seven months your government has succeeded in marginalising the Igbo more
than any other Federal Government in living memory and certainly since the
civil war.
This is a
record that you ought not to be proud of. What the Igbo want is fairness, equal
rights, equal representation, equity and respect. They also believe that they
have the right to determine their own future and make their own choices.
Mr.
President, I do not believe that this is this too much for them to ask, given
the fact that they have contributed, perhaps more than most, to national
development and integration in the last forty five years.
It is not
too much to ask, given the fact that no less than three million of their
people, including one million innocent children, were slaughtered during our
civil war in the name of keeping Nigeria one?
I have no
doubt that you will remember this very well Mr. President, given the fact that
you were one of those that prosecuted that war and fought in it.
You will
also remember the brutal mass murder and the war crimes and crimes against
humanity that were perpetrated against the unarmed and defenceless Igbo
civilian population of Asaba in 1968 when over one thousand of them were
rounded up, taken to the town square and shot to death for no just cause.
The
soldiers that carried out that unspeakable act of cowardice, brutality and
barbarity were under the command of your professional colleague, the late Head
of State, General Murtala Mohammed. Mr. President that was a dark, shameful and
ignoble chapter in our history which still cries out for justice and
reparations.
…Mr. President and if that were to happen,
rest assured that the Yoruba would take a cue from it and so would the people
of the Niger Delta. It would effectively signify the beginning of the
balkanisation of Nigeria.
Needless
to say the pain of such horrendous events and numerous others that the Igbo
have been subjected to by the Nigerian state and those that control it over the
last fifty five years still haunts them.
The truth
is that regardless of the obvious contempt that you have for them, the Igbo
will continue to insist on justice, fairness and on having their rights
respected in our country.
If you
refuse to address their numerous and legitimate grievances and you refuse to
treat them with the understanding, sensitivity and compassion that they
deserve, the agitation for self-determination, secession and the yearning for
the establishment of a new nation called Biafra will wax stronger and stronger
until it reaches dangerous and irresistible proportions.
That is
what you are toying with Mr. President and if that were to happen, rest assured
that the Yoruba would take a cue from it and so would the people of the Niger
Delta. It would effectively signify the beginning of the balkanisation of
Nigeria.
Whether
you and those with your world view like to hear it or not, that is the bitter
truth. May the Ancient of Days grant you the wisdom, knowledge and
understanding to accept it and to do something about it. May the Lord of the
Universe give you the foresight and the insight to appreciate the fact that
Nigeria cannot survive a second civil war.
Mr.
President I sincerely hope that you do not take offence at my admonitions and
counsel. I speak only out of concern for the fortunes of your administration,
your reputation and out of love for my country. God bless Nigeria.
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