Open Letter To Mr. President; As The Dreams Degenerate To Nightmares
Though I did not vote for you, not out of hatred
for your person but because I just could not see
in you the kind of leader I desire for my beloved
country at this age. In my sincere assessment of
you sir,except I that you were a gallant soldier,
you have never really championed a cause that
can altogether be described as noble.
To worsen the case sir, you set out to be
president at a time we were badly in need of a "
Lee Kuan Yew"(LKY). Yes a LKY, hear him "In the
autumn of 1968, I took a short sabbatical to
Harvard. I had been in the office for 9yrs and
needed to recharge my battery, get some fresh
ideas and reflect on the future" That was LKY for
you. In your own case and for 30yrs sir, your own
battery of ideas was left untouched, I feared it
must have completely run flat. For me, 30yrs
without any significant challenge to the brain
must have turned a person to wood from head to
toes. Yes, many perhaps out of ignorance or
blindness traceable to partisan reasoning insisted
that an electricity bill is all what a person needs
to win them over as a competent leader. Well, I
have a slightly different opinion, I prefer
something more reliable. These explain part of
the reasons why I could not trust you with my
vote and so far, no regret sir.
However, every citizen has a stake in his/ her
country and it is for this reason this letter
becomes necessary. If ever this letter finds its
way to you, kindly treat it as a word from a son
who genuinely cares for his father. Sycophants
hoverring all arround you have reduced you to
what an American of Reagan's era would call
Teflon president- a president to which no charges
ever stuck. This explain why a blame game and
bulk passing has become the most potent
weapon of your administration as Nigeria declines
both in power and prestige under your leadership.
You inherited problems of enormous complexity
from the previous administration no doubt, if I
must be honest with you sir, you have only
succeeded in creating more problems in the last
ten months of your reign. We have been
experiencing a terrible free-fall in all fronts, woeful
failures now stare us in the face in areas we have
succeeded in the recent past. From problematic
and inconclusive elections to Budget
embarrassment, Fulani herdsmen/ farmers
"genocide" to human right abuses, directionless
economic policies to futile corruption war, it
seems we are drifting away and faster than ever
before from light and towards darkness.
In case you forget sir, your promise to wage a
honest war against corruption accounted for more
than 30% of your total votes. However, perhaps
due to lack of diagnostic analysis or poorly
conducted one on the peculiarity of our brand of
corruption, your approach has been abysmally
poor. Infact, so poor that we now thirst for
Obasanjo's fashion of the war against this social
menace. In Nigeria, our culture breeds corruption
because ours is a kind of poverty that cannot be
cured by material abundance. For this reason, our
culture breeds scarcity mentality, a deep-rooted
sense of lack that no amount of material supply
can handle. This is the genesis of the fear of the
unknown which serves as the foundation for a
feeling that the security of my tommorrow and
that of my great grand children depend on the
magnitude of illicit wealth I can accumulate. It is
this hurrible culture Nigerians expect your war
against corruption to heal, but so far you have
failed sir. At this point,I will refer you to Dele
Momodu's recent letter to you on this case.
Similarly sir, moving slowly in coming up with
concrete economic policies to me is a sign of lack
of strong ideological conviction to deal with
situations. Also, your inceasant travelling around
the globe seeking for needless collaborations
suggests that you have an aid-dependent
mentality. I mean a begging bowl approach. May I
inform you sir that the world does not owe us a
living, we cannot afford to live by begging bowl.
As my late father (Chief I.O Arinloye) would say "
O MI TOORO HUN- UN JEE KIRI" ( You are
wretchedly begging for food all arround).
Suddenly, Nigeria has become a place where you
have a house but no home. Please sir, stay at
home, work and stop unnecessary jamboree
around the world. May God bless Nigeria.
Arinloye Sam Adebisi.
Open Letter To Mr. President.
As The Dreams Degenerate To Nightmares
Though I did not vote for you, not out of hatred
for your person but because I just could not see
in you the kind of leader I desire for my beloved
country at this age. In my sincere assessment of
you sir,except I that you were a gallant soldier,
you have never really championed a cause that
can altogether be described as noble.
To worsen the case sir, you set out to be
president at a time we were badly in need of a "
Lee Kuan Yew"(LKY). Yes a LKY, hear him "In the
autumn of 1968, I took a short sabbatical to
Harvard. I had been in the office for 9yrs and
needed to recharge my battery, get some fresh
ideas and reflect on the future" That was LKY for
you. In your own case and for 30yrs sir, your own
battery of ideas was left untouched, I feared it
must have completely run flat. For me, 30yrs
without any significant challenge to the brain
must have turned a person to wood from head to
toes. Yes, many perhaps out of ignorance or
blindness traceable to partisan reasoning insisted
that an electricity bill is all what a person needs
to win them over as a competent leader. Well, I
have a slightly different opinion, I prefer
something more reliable. These explain part of
the reasons why I could not trust you with my
vote and so far, no regret sir.
However, every citizen has a stake in his/ her
country and it is for this reason this letter
becomes necessary. If ever this letter finds its
way to you, kindly treat it as a word from a son
who genuinely cares for his father. Sycophants
hoverring all arround you have reduced you to
what an American of Reagan's era would call
Teflon president- a president to which no charges
ever stuck. This explain why a blame game and
bulk passing has become the most potent
weapon of your administration as Nigeria declines
both in power and prestige under your leadership.
You inherited problems of enormous complexity
from the previous administration no doubt, if I
must be honest with you sir, you have only
succeeded in creating more problems in the last
ten months of your reign. We have been
experiencing a terrible free-fall in all fronts, woeful
failures now stare us in the face in areas we have
succeeded in the recent past. From problematic
and inconclusive elections to Budget
embarrassment, Fulani herdsmen/ farmers
"genocide" to human right abuses, directionless
economic policies to futile corruption war, it
seems we are drifting away and faster than ever
before from light and towards darkness.
In case you forget sir, your promise to wage a
honest war against corruption accounted for more
than 30% of your total votes. However, perhaps
due to lack of diagnostic analysis or poorly
conducted one on the peculiarity of our brand of
corruption, your approach has been abysmally
poor. Infact, so poor that we now thirst for
Obasanjo's fashion of the war against this social
menace. In Nigeria, our culture breeds corruption
because ours is a kind of poverty that cannot be
cured by material abundance. For this reason, our
culture breeds scarcity mentality, a deep-rooted
sense of lack that no amount of material supply
can handle. This is the genesis of the fear of the
unknown which serves as the foundation for a
feeling that the security of my tommorrow and
that of my great grand children depend on the
magnitude of illicit wealth I can accumulate. It is
this hurrible culture Nigerians expect your war
against corruption to heal, but so far you have
failed sir. At this point,I will refer you to Dele
Momodu's recent letter to you on this case.
Similarly sir, moving slowly in coming up with
concrete economic policies to me is a sign of lack
of strong ideological conviction to deal with
situations. Also, your inceasant travelling around
the globe seeking for needless collaborations
suggests that you have an aid-dependent
mentality. I mean a begging bowl approach. May I
inform you sir that the world does not owe us a
living, we cannot afford to live by begging bowl.
As my late father (Chief I.O Arinloye) would say "
O MI TOORO HUN- UN JEE KIRI" ( You are
wretchedly begging for food all arround).
Suddenly, Nigeria has become a place where you
have a house but no home. Please sir, stay at
home, work and stop unnecessary jamboree
around the world. May God bless Nigeria.