Open Letter To Mr. Barack H. Obama President Of The United States Of America

Mr. Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
United States of America
Dear Mr. President,
It gladdens my heart once again, Mr. President to write to you about the situation in my native country and land of birth, Nigeria. I am writing to you as a Nigerian-American and to you as the President of the United States of America and Leader of the Free World. I want to bring to your attention the political events in Nigeria, which by now you are well aware of, but more importantly, the need to act so that the world will not have a mess on its hand as a result of the dire consequences and fall out from the dangerous political games currently being played by President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.

I do not need to rehash the strategic importance of Nigeria to the stability of Africa and the West African sub-region. More so, as the most populous nation in Africa, events in Nigeria deserve more than scant attention in the world. As many diplomats, policy analysts and observers have numerously noted, the way Nigeria goes is how the rest of the African Continent. Events in the last few months and weeks are pointing to a chain of events that would be calamitous to the Nigerian people and its neighbors, if urgent steps are not taken by the United States and our allies to arrest the drift.

Mr. President, the current ruling party, the People's Democratic Party-PDP- which controls the Federal Government of Nigeria has been in power since 1999 when the Nigerian military disengaged from governance. The struggle for democratic reforms nearly twenty years ago involved the imprisonment, detention and even death of many Nigerians, including this writer who spent 24 agonizing months in the Gulag of late Sani Abacha, Nigeria's famed last dictator. Many Nigerians, including this writer left Nigeria for the United States, because of the insensitivity and cruelty of the Nigerian Government. However, when the military disengaged in 1999 and installed a semblance of a democratic government, Nigerians at home and abroad heaved a sigh of relief that finally, Africa's embarrassing giant had finally gotten her acts together.

No democracy is perfect, and the Nigerian experiment cannot be an exception. Between 1999 and 2011, Nigeria had conducted four presidential and regional elections which had produced three presidents: Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, who won two terms in 1999 and 2003; late Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2007, but died in 2010 and the current president, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. In the four elections, the national government was controlled by the same political party-the PDP. Since Nigeria copied our Presidential System of Government in 1999, it means no sitting president can serve more than two-terms of four years each. This year 2015, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, who has served his first term of four years, is up for re-election and it is the forthcoming presidential election in Nigeria that I am writing to you about.

Again, Mr. President, I do not need to rehash the concatenation of events that led to the emergence of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan as acting president of Nigeria in 2010 and finally, as substantive president in the 2011 presidential election. You received Mr. Jonathan at The White House in 2010 when he fortuitously stepped into the shoes of Nigeria's deceased president and the enormous goodwill of the United States and our allies assisted Mr. Jonathan to keep Nigeria as one nation, against the backdrop of the crises generated by the passing on of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. Since 2010, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan has exhausted and frittered away the enormous goodwill of the Nigerian people and this year 2015, in accordance with the Nigerian Constitution, a majority of Nigerians at home and abroad do not want Mr. Goodluck Jonathan to return as president for a second term.

Our Ambassador and Embassy officials are on the ground in Nigeria and they can feel the pulse of the Nigerian people and the groundswell of opposition against Mr. Jonathan's re-election. The only means through which majority of Nigerians can express their opinion on who rules them for the next four years from this year 2015 to 2019 is through a credible, transparent, free and fair election. Mr. Goodluck Jonathan and his inner circle are hell-bent in thwarting and frustrating this legitimate and orderly transfer of power in accordance with the Nigerian Constitution. Mr. President, I want you to know that Mr. Jonathan has proved over and over again he's a bad customer, that the United States should and must not be dealing with any more.

The Jonathan Administration has taken many anti-democratic actions that have put Nigeria on the edge. Opposition leaders are being harassed and the Nigerian media; especially print media men and women are being muzzled and prevented from conducting their legitimate duties as the fourth estate of the realm. According to media reports; “For three straight days, the private residence of the national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, has been under surveillance by battle-ready and helmet-wearing soldiers. Numbering close to thirty and riding in three patrol vans and an army truck stationed close to the entrance of the gate to Tinubu's house along Bourdillon Road in Ikoyi, Lagos they have become a permanent feature. Their obvious target; Tinubu himself and perhaps the hordes of politicians and visitors that visit his Bourdillon residence.The soldiers were first noticed on Sunday-February 15, 2015, a few minutes to 11pm in an army truck. They stationed about 500 meters away from Tinubu's gate.

Later they moved close to his gate as if making efforts to enter. The stern looking soldiers were around for hours on Sunday-February 15, 2015 and returned on Monday February 16, 2105 to continue their surveillance. On Monday night about 10.45pm, they returned to the residence in two army vans and were there throughout the night. Some of the soldiers discharged from the van and walked back and forth in front of the house and around the house in what is clearly some casing effort.”Messrs. Odigie Oyegun, Lai Mohammad and Shehu Garba; chairman, secretary-general and spokesperson respectively of the opposition APC have also been similarly harassed and intimidated by the Nigerian military on the orders of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The freedom of assembly and free association by Nigerians have been outlawed; the Nigerian military which is headed by Mr. Jonathan's brother-in-law is being used to harass members of the opposition party; the All Progressive Congress-APC-while Mr. Jonathan and his henchmen are deploying state police and other state security agencies to intimidate and cauterize all dissenting and contrary views. Earlier this year, the presidential election which was initially slated for Saturday February 14, 2015 was peremptorily shifted to Saturday March 28, 2015, ostensibly because of security concerns in northeastern part of Nigeria over Nigeria's battle with the misanthropic terrorists known as Boko Haram. The Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry traveled to Lagos, Nigeria earlier this year to impress it on Mr. Jonathan and his main challenger; Gen Muhammadu Buahri, the need for the election to go forward as earlier scheduled. Now, plans afoot by Mr. Jonathan to push the election forward again and even remove the head of Nigeria's election commission, Mr. Attahiru Jega.

Since 2010 when Mr. Jonathan became acting and later substantive president, Nigeria has been in crises. The abduction of over 200 school girls under Mr. Jonathan's “watch” is still reverberating around the world. Lawlessness, impunity, corruption and insecurity, gangland activities and kidnaping have become features of the Jonathan Administration. The Nigerian people are a resourceful and resilient people,but they have been deprived of a long responsive and responsible government.

Like other citizens of other democratic nations, Nigerians at home and abroad yearn for a government that represents their legitimate and genuine aspirations. They desire a government that works; a nation governed by the rule of law; where security of lives and properties are guaranteed and every citizen will have the liberty and freedom to pursue their individual God-given talents and live in harmony with one another. The only way all these lofty aspirations can be achieved is when citizens are empowered to choose their leaders and representatives through free and fair elections. Right now, the Jonathan Administration, by its actions and the utterances of its apparatchiks do not want free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria. As our former ambassador to Nigeria, Dr John Campbell once observed, Nigeria is currently on the brink, but I hasten to add that events in the last few week have put Nigeria and the Nigerian people on the precipice.

Right now, President Jonathan is deliberately going for broke in Nigeria by clandestine moves to undermine the nation's electoral process through judicial corruption and other anti-democratic means. In five years in office, Mr. Jonathan hit the ground running backwardson corruption, including granting a state pardon to a state governor jailed on corruption and stealing in the UK. Mr. Jonathan referred to the convicted criminalas his godfather and foremost benefactor. Mr. President, it is not politically correctfor Mr. Jonathan or any leader even in Africa or anywhere for that matter, to use soldiers and policemen paid by the taxes of the Nigerian people to harass, and intimidate its citizens. The current level of intimidation in Nigeria under Mr. Jonathan has compelled the celebrated Nigeria-African writer and Nobel Laureate, Mr. Wole Soyinka to describe Mr. Jonathan as the biblical character of Nebuchadnezzar.

Mr. Jonathan is also toying with the idea of tenure extension ostensibly on the current security situation posed byBoko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria which is being ineptly tackled by the Jonathan Administration. Mr. President, the United States cannot continue to pay scant attention to political events in Nigeria. It is our moral responsibility to ensure Mr. Jonathan does not tinkerwith the forthcoming Nigerian election. Nigeria is currently sitting ona keg of gunpowder and the United States and our allies must be mobilized to ensure that Mr. Jonathan is not allowed to plunge Africa's most populous nation intounnecessary crises and avoidable chaos. If Nigeria tumbles over, and God forbid, ignite a domino effect, the repercussions will reverberate beyond the West African sub-region nay Africa.

The United States must make it unmistakably clear to the Jonathan Administration that there will be serious consequences for him and his cronies, including being tried for war crimes at The Hague after leaving office, if they undermine the will of the Nigerian people. It is not enough to send Secretary Kerry to Nigeria to tell Mr. Jonathan to behave well and respect the wishes of the Nigerian people but we should do more. We should tell the Nigerian Ambassador in Washington, Mr. Adebowale Adefuye that Nigeria risks economic sanctions, if Mr. Jonathan subverts the legitimate aspirations and will of the Nigerian people on March 28, 2015. The forthcoming Nigerian election is pivotal to the survival of Nigeria as a united and an indivisible nation.

The ingenuity of the generality of the Nigerian people is incredible but unfortunately the nation is being diminished by bad leadership. We owe it to the poor 200 Nigerian schools girls abducted under the dithering eyes of President Jonathan, the great ideals of the United States, to humanity and our conscience to support a responsive and responsible governance in Nigeria. If Nigeria fails, the implications will be dire and the far-reaching consequences will affect us here in the United States. The nation will become a fertile ground for a neo-Al Qaeda terrorist group that will threaten not only the peace of African sub-region but also imperil continental and global stability.We can do something, to urgently kibosh this looming train wreck in Africa's most populous nation.

The abduction and kidnap of 200 schools girls by Boko Haram under Mr. Jonathan's watch; displacement of home-grown Nigerian refugees, corruption, disdain for the rule of law, impunity by the Jonathan Administration, misdirected economic policies, lack of capacity building and other failures are some of the reasons the Nigerian people demand a change this year. The man who symbolizes that change is opposition leader, Gen Muhammadu Buhari. But in his moped state to cling unto power at all costs like Mr. Laurent Gbago, former President of Cote D'Ivoire, Mr. Jonathan has predilection to sway with the outcome of the election results in his favor.

The United States and the civilized world must not allow Mr. Jonathan to get away with it. It is not enough for us to threaten visa ban on Mr. Jonathan and his erring henchmen undermining Nigeria's upcoming elections, but we must make them aware there will be serious consequences on their investments in the West as well. The same message should go to the families of Jonathan, his inner circle and the political thugs he has surrounded himself with in voter fraud and election fixing. Nigeria is currently perching precariously and dangerously on the precipice.

Mr. Jonathan is pushing the opposition and intimidating the civil society using the Nigerian Armed Forces headed by his brother in-law. All these coming in the wake of postponed presidential election slated for Saturday March 28, 2015. These actions of Mr. Jonathan do not bode well for a credible, fair and free election promise that Secretary Kerry extracted from President Jonathan during the latter's visit to Nigeria in January 2015.

The United States, under your able leadership should ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan doesn't plunge Africa's most populous nation into chaos, instability and unnecessary crises because of his morbid and inordinate ambition to cling unto power against the legitimate consent of the Nigerian people. Mr. President, the signs are ominous and the United States cannot stand idly by and watch until Nigeria slide into another civil war.Nigerians in Diaspora here in the United States thank you for heeding our earlier request for excluding Nigeria from your last official visit to Africa. Thank you Mr. President. On behalf of Nigerians in Diaspora, I wish you God's Protection, Grace and Wisdom as President of the United States of America and Leader of the Free World.

Yours Sincerely
Moshood Ademola Fayemiwo, PhD Founder, Chairman, Chief Convener and President, Nigerians in Diaspora For Buhari-NIDOB-2015, CEO, Alternative Lifestyle Communication, DBA Chicago, IL USA.

CC:
Vice-President Joe Biden, The White House Speaker John Boehner, Capitol Washington Senator Jeff Flake, Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy Sen. Robert Menendez

Sen. Barbara Boxer
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin
Sen. Richard J. Durbin
Sen. Christopher A. Coons Sen. Johnny Isakson Sen. Rand Paul Sen. John Barrasso Sen. Marc Rubio Sen. Tom UdallSen. Edward Markey Rep. Edward R. Royce Rep. Christopher H. Smith Rep. Robin L. KellyRep. Darrell E. IssaRep. Gregory W. MeeksRep. Mark Meadows Rep. Curt Clawson Rep. Scott Desjarlars Rep. Tom EmmerRep. Karen Bass Rep. David Cicilline Rep. Ami BeraMr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General, The United Nations (Attn: Stephan Dujarric).