Open memo to Wole Soyinka on the New Nigeria
Sir, it is with humility that I write you this open memo. I want to congratulate you for your recent efforts on behalf of the Save Nigeria Group at ensuring that the future generation of Nigerians is not again a wasted generation. You have made sacrifices, risked your life and
put forward your integrity, experience and resources into this collective effort to save Nigeria and I know that the Lord God will reward you abundantly.
It is gratifying to know that someone will always stand in the gap for Nigeria at the most crucial of moments as we have just come through. You can imagine if Nigeria's image was to be left at the mercy of the Attorney General of the junta who unashamedly distorted facts about the grave situation in Nigeria to the CNN interviewer Ms Ammanpour recently. You carried the hopes and aspirations of the ordinary Nigerian and you made us proud. You did not require a huge budget to rebrand Nigeria away from the fake usurpers and their shameless manipulative positions, instead of taking away like those who forge signatures of our country's appropriation bill, you gave. For a moment you established the way the new Nigeria should go. No one queried whether you were Yoruba or Igbo, but you held your ground because you represented the kind of leadership a merit driven society should seek.
As you spoke to CNN, you liberated Nigeria from all shackles of mediocrity by refusing to endorse the widespread wrong notion that there is a North South divide, or Christian Moslem political agreement as the PDP has foisted on the world. You proved that the problem is that those who should stay behind to learn have forced themselves unto the front, thereby encountering the problems of incapacity and not knowing how to grapple with it, begins to look backwards for scapegoats such as tribe ,Religion, etc. It is always only the willingness of those with higher leadership capacity to serve under those with incapacity that allowed this abnormally to perpetuate itself in Nigeria. To this end there is sense in your group's decision that henceforth Nigerians should resist mediocrity and its attendant evil by not recognizing it where and whenever it becomes necessary.
The essence of government as a means to an end not an end in itself is to further and promote good, not to spread falsehood because our children may be watching. Leadership is not to deceive the people but to tell them the truth about situations that affect them so that they could prepare in time to defend themselves. The custodian of our law who goes to spread falsehood about his country does not love his people nor the country. The irony is that this example illustrates clearly the point about the two Nigeria's and the rule of law. It must be made clear that light and darkness cannot mix. In the course of this revolution, as you hinted in the CNN interview, what will happen is that the true Nigeria must remain separate from the uncertainty of the false Nigeria. The effort is to educate and encourage the false to progress towards the true. Each triumph of the false can only come insofar as it had achieved a considerable progress towards the conditions set firmly by the true Nigeria. So it becomes clear that the movement cannot be the other way round without returning Nigeria to the dark days from where we are just about emerging.
Sir, this brings me to the recent decision of the National assembly to heed to your groups call to endorse the Vice President as Acting President. This is one of the major achievements of this revolution because it provides opportunity afresh for the false Nigeria to change itself in line with expectation of its own people and the World. I am confident that the Vice President having passed through the bitter pills lately would understand that there is so much to be done with little time to do them. Now everyone will blame him for any lapses even those resulting from sabotage from within his cabinet. In spite of this optimism the success of President Jonathan will depend on the leadership provided by your group. Like you hinted in your interview any slacking by the group will affect the Presidents push for fundamental changes within government and outside it. As you are aware, the journey has only begun for the President, he has yet to acquire enough power from within his party to change things even as he would want and everywhere lays the dangers of internal subversion unless he can act with swift strokes to let Nigerians know where he wishes to be counted. Please Sir, permit me to use this medium to underscore the need to follow this government bumper to bumper so that they may be sufficiently empowered to make desired changes that would steer Nigeria away from future violent changes.
What it calls for is the establishment of a shadow cabinet to monitor and make suggestions through this critical period. Willing and able Nigerians must come together to volunteer their services on all fields of endeavor. For instance CNN should be able to speak to your group's Attorney General to counter whatever misconceptions the other one is weaving on Nigeria at each time. If it is a question of oil production, someone from the group in charge of this ministry should be able to volunteer information instead of withholding it. Each volunteer will contribute something without awaiting a share. This cabinet may be based anywhere and will be funded by philanthropic Nigerians and well-wishers. They will be there always to provide the bulwark needed by the Jonathan administration to guide Nigeria through the modicum of change needed to avoid a violent revolution in Nigeria in the foreseeable future.
Sir, it is important that your group's strategy does not deviate from peaceful revolution into skirmishes which will only diminish the vision you gave to the world. The false Nigeria is a master of violence and confusion. Your group must not attempt to compete with them in this regard no matter the provocation because to you is given the ultimate victory if only you can look inwards at crucial moments of the struggle. This is why it is important that you do your thing the way you want it. You don't need to establish offices in Nigeria because 80% of Nigerian leaders and intelligentsias are residing abroad and cannot tolerate conditions within this fake arrangement. We need to create a homeland for them that they can return to and be useful and if possible become the true giant of Africa.
Sir, it is important that we do not compromise quality for any consideration so a foreign initial base for this effort is suggested until the conditions in Nigeria has improved sufficiently. As you already know, the merit driven society is the only answer to Nigeria's multifarious problems and it is the overwhelming expectation of Nigerians that your group will arrive at how it will be made possible. Thank you for your patience, and remember that our collective prayers go out to you all.
Mr. By Nwokedi Nworisara was sponsored to the Presidential Primaries of the Social Democratic Party [SDP] by Surulere Ward G2 of Lagos State in 1992