Africa
What Next After 10 ‘days of rage’?, by Richard Odusanya
Let’s begin with the profound words of Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo GCFR, a Nigerian nationalist and politician who played a key role in Nigeria’s independence movement (1957–1960). Awo remarked as follows: “We have won the civil war. Yes, indeed. But we must recognize the real enemies to win the war for peace. Otherwise, all our efforts would be misdirected and dissipated.”
Awo continued: “As far as I can understand, the aggressors against peace and stability in Nigeria are abject poverty, hunger, disease, squalor, and ignorance. They are more devastating in their ravages, more insidious, more thorough, and more resistant in their operations, than armed rebellion. They are the enemies which must now be crushed ruthlessly.”
To build a little context, I crave the indulgence of our esteemed readers to reproduce below a personal letter to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu the President C-in-C of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is for the benefit of our compatriots at home and abroad:
His Excellency,
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR)
President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, State House, Aso Presidential Villa
Abuja, FCT.
Your Excellency, Sir!
I have been following the turn of events in our beloved country Nigeria; following the first day of the nationwide protest. If there are established protocols regarding this mode of communicating to you Sir, with your permission, I wish to dispense with them. This is because the subject matter of this letter is so obviously urgent and compelling that it requires going straight to the point rather than expending time on preambles.
Your Excellency, I write to you with a deep sense of passion, pure patriotism, and good intent for Nigeria. Today being the second day of the protest, things may look calm in Lagos and Abuja, this should not be seen as the end. It’s a window that Your Excellency can use to call for a meeting of the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE or critical stakeholders.
Mr. President should excuse most of the Ministers or SSAs or SAs but just some trusted personal aides. This will help reduce what’s discussed and the President would be able to hear things first-hand as it is. Likewise, ministers coming on air to defend the government are belated exercises. Therefore, key government Ministers and appointment holders must refrain from further inflammatory statements.
In addition, as the days go by, I suggest Mr. President call former presidential candidates of the major political parties, and chairmen of the parties, for a stakeholders meeting. Such a meeting will include the conveners and lawyers of the current protest ongoing to an urgent closed-door meeting. This could help mitigate the current unpleasant situation.
This is the time to show empathy, stand with the people, persuade, dialogue, assure, and regain trust. Hence, there is a need for a State of the Nation national broadcast. It’s time to address Nigeria as the father of the nation. It’s time for rapprochement and dialogue.
Your Excellency Sir! I am writing you this letter because I am concerned about the economy, national security, the well-being of our people, and the growth of our beloved country in the comity of Nations. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Your Excellency Sir! Please accept the assurance of my Esteemed Regards.
Yours Sincerely
Citizen Richard Odusanya
For: AFRICA COVENANT RESCUE INITIATIVE (ACRI).
From the onset, let me be clear: without crossing the worst situations, no one can touch the best corners of life. Yes! We’re going through a very tough time, the foundation of which was laid in the previous years of maladministration, profligacy, recklessness, carelessness, corruption, and built-in political system for the personal aggrandizement of successive leaders except President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of the blessed memory.
Sadly, most other leaders are completely disconnected from the reality ordinary Nigerians face. For many years, we have evolved and fully developed a culture of “self first. Others can go to hell”. Almost Everyone (leaders and followers) desperately seeks power, wealth, and inordinate ambitions strictly for self and cronies.
Furthermore, most Nigerian leaders, past and present, see power as a fulfillment of ambition. They are ill-prepared to serve, make all kinds of promises, complete their terms, and take off. That, for me, is the fundamental problem that should be addressed. Therefore, it has become imperative to address the issues of good governance and responsible citizenship together for a resounding victory and good results.
In conclusion, Permit me, on behalf of millions of our compatriots to say that: I feel Nigerians genuinely do not care about ‘on paper’ success. They want tangible, visible, and real improvements to their lives.
Finally, as a nation, we need public accountability and character reformation in Nigeria. These protests should be the beginning of the much talk about “Mind Restructuring Advocacy” a series of articles that occupied more than one hundred pages in one of my books, a 425-page “NIGERIA NEEDS A NEW NATIONAL MODEL” published by Lambert Academic Publishing company in Germany. I honestly believe that the system we practice in Nigeria is the root cause of our predicaments as a nation.
Richard Odusanya
