An Open Letter To The President Of Nigeria; His Excellency Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
Your Excellency sir, I first of all want to commend your effort on every good thing you've done since your assumption of the presidential seat a few years ago. I also want to commend your strength, your good-will, your perseverance, and your positive intentions towards Nigeria, and her citizens. As a matter of fact, if I'm asked to voice my personal assessment of you sir, I would not simply write you off as a clanging cymbal, neither will I have the slightest thought of you in any way as a bad leader, the way a lot of Nigerian citizens do. You have actually been a man of your words(soft, subtle, but always full of the presidential actions and vigor whenever the needs to flaunt them arise)....
In my own opinion sir, I think every well-meaning Nigerian is proud of you, and will always be ready to have you on that seat over and over; but in all of these, among the countless needs of Nigerians, is this highly pressing need.
...an issue that has left tears in the eyes of the compatriots
...a situation that has taken the lives of our dear country folks, and also taken away sleep from the eyes of the living.
...Nigerians have been unduly denied the peace and freedom they should be entitled to
...orphans erupting on daily basis from every corner....widows....widowers...people loosing their loved ones
...my beloved Nigerians left to suffer the painful fangs of gross agony....
...insecurity, trailing the paths of the defenseless masses
With every sense of modesty sir, I wish to remind you that these people that die like chickens by the road-sides as a result of the government's lackadaisical attitude to adequate security provision in Nigeria, are the same people that gave their all (money, health,stregth,time and dedication) and also embarrassed determination, to withstand all sorts of unfavorable weather conditions, just to make sure that they cast their votes for you to ascend as their president
Your Excellency, Nigerians have constantly cried out for employment, and when its obvious that no-one is listening to them even with all the degrees that they fight so hard to acquire, they humbly resort to road-side businesses, and other odd jobs, just to make ends meet
Nigerians have at different times begged and cried for basic amenities(power supply, pipe-borne water, good roads, health-care services etc) and when its still appears impossible to receive them from our rich government, we let sleeping dogs lie....and in the process, many loose their lives too, and the living, fend for themselves by paying heavily for these services that were meant to be the dividends of a democratic government.
Now security................
Your Excellency, do you not think like I think that the last thing the citizens of a country like Nigeria should beg for is security?
The ordinary man in Nigeria has been denied of everything, and he doesn't complain, yet he is still left vulnerable in the mercy of insurrectionists, who in turn will not have mercy on him, but to slay every single member of his family before his very eyes, and he's abandoned in the ocean of his tears, and the weight of his heavy heart, with no shoulder to lean on....oh! what a world
I wont forget to say that these things that the compatriots beg, crawl and cry for, are constantly being misused, by the prominent Nigerians and their families(esp. politicians) thereby going a VERY long way to confirm the saying that the rich get richer, while the poor is always seen at the descending end of the ladder......
Just recently, there was a case of an unimaginable bomb explosion in a crowded area of the federal capital city(ABUJA) claiming lots of lives, and many others terribly wounded......... and Nigerians are asking a question that "if this can actually happen in Abuja, where else can one really count safe!!!!!
The federal secretariat was deserted, and the federal house of assembly too, all in the name of bomb scare.
Before we could regain from the bomb blast shock the insurgents again, went ahead to abduct our darling daughters, right inside their school compound.......and it came to the notice of Nigerians that while the heat of all these was still very hot, our dear president,....our number one citizen CASUALLY/BRIEFLY visited the wounded victims, and scampered off at ones to Kano state, where he had already scheduled a campaign, in preparation for the 2015 elections...wow!
Your Excellency sir, we all know that there is nothing you could have done to revive the dead victims actually, but courtesy still demands that the death of 200 (or more) citizens of your country should be enough to dissuade some moves(especially moves like the Kano campaign trip, which you could have rescheduled without running at a loss), if not bring 80% or more of the national activities to a stand-still at least for 24hours, just to acknowledge the fact that there is still something called "last respect", especially for the fact that it happened in the same city, where you live.
No wonder the Kano state governor, his Excellency Alhaji(Engr)Ibrahim Rabiu Kwankwaso judiciously grabbed the opportunity to blast his long reserved armory of words at you when he said "PRESIDENT JONATHAN IS HEARTLESS AND INSENSITIVE TO THE NATIONAL PLIGHTS(as published by Nigeria information zone online blog)
Also, the well admired Nobel Laureate....Professor Wole Soyinka also fired at you, when he said during an opening speech at the Port-Harcourt UNESCO book world capital that not only did he condemn your continuing with your Kano political rally, but also your hammering on how Alhaji Kwankwaso embezzled your campaign funds, and how you rounded off your outing with a dance that would put Michael Jackson to shame(in his words) at a time when the whole nation was still mourning(as published by 24/7 Nigeria news update on 24/4/2014)
I sometimes imagine that had it been this blast was at otueke market square(the president's home), would the president flippantly refer to it as a temporary menace and speed of to kano for campaign against the forth coming election?........ would he not have found a way to disunite and disarm or even publicly bring to book the perpetrators of this rather nefarious acts?
In a nutshell sir, I'm aware that the Nigerian security agents have been on the trail of these goons, but its very obvious that they've not done enough........
Our soldiers are scattered all over Liberia, Sudan, Mali, and other places keeping peace whereas our own country is an abysmal security quagmire. Let them all return home, and put hands and heads together to closely tackle this security issue ones and for all, and it'll be wise to also patronize the services of some internationally standard security agents to assist in restoring peace in Nigeria.
I do hope that my humble contribution/suggestion to a secure Nigeria would be taken in good fate.
Long live the federal republic of Nigeria!!
Long live our amiable president (His Excellency Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan)!!!
Long live the writer of this piece (Valentine Opute)!!!
08037953944