'Lanre O. Amu Protests to Acting Nigerian President Prof Yemi Osinbajo NYSC Posting Rejection at State House Abuja

His Excellency
Professor ’Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON
Acting President
The Federal Republic of Nigeria
State House
Abuja, Nigeria
The Need for the Actions of this Administration to Speak Louder than Words

Your Excellency Sir:
1. First and foremost, I use this medium to pray for the quick recovery and safe

return of our President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR. I pray that God continue

to give the Buhari-Osinbajo Administration the wisdom to pilot the affairs of

this Nation aright.
2. My name is ’Lanre O. Amu, I am a Nigerian, and my CV is attached for

reference. Also attached is the newspaper article NYSC: Osinbajo warns

MDAs against rejecting corps members. Sir, in February 2017, I as an

NYSC corps member, was rejected by the State House Office of the President

of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (your office), and I was also rejected by

Simmons Cooper Partners (SCP) law firm (your law firm).

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3. Given my recent experience as summarized above, I read with dismay in the

Media your warning to MDAs against rejection of NYSC corps members. I

write to bring to your attention and ask for correction because Change, as you

said and I agree, Begins with Each and Every one of Us. Our Actions Should

Speak Louder than mere Words. We must actually practice what we preach.

4. It’s discouraging when the Office of the President or the Federal Government

that makes NYSC MANDATORY also irrationally rejects corpers. Charity

must begin from home Sir. I am a living example that your two offices did not

practice your pronouncements and I will to some extent detail why in this

letter. Nigeria cannot progress on mere lofty speeches with no corroborating

action to back up those lofty speeches.
5. I arrived in Nigeria in June 2015 after living in US for 34 years.

6. On arrival, I was told I needed the NYSC Clearance Certificate in Nigeria. I

went to the NYSC Office in Maitama, Abuja to obtain the Certificate. The

NYSC officials looked at my credentials and informed me that no waiver

applies to me, and that I must do the MANDATORY NYSC Service having

graduated at the age of 23 about thirty two (32) years ago in the US. Eager to

serve my country, at 54 years of age, I complied without hesitation, was

deployed. I went to the NYSC camp at Kubwa, Abuja, in January 2017.

7. After the three weeks at the NYSC camp came the Place of Primary

Assignment (PPA) postings.
8. On February 1, 2017, I applied to do my PPA at your law firm of Simmons

Cooper Partners (SCP law firm).
9. I chose SCP because of my educational background in Engineering, Business

and Law, and my interests align with the work of SCP. Also because your law

firm partner Mr. Babatunde Irukera and I came from Chicago, Illinois, USA. I

know Mr. Irukera as a lawyer in Chicago, and for some time, we both even

attended the same Redeemed Christian Church on North Avenue in Chicago.

Moreover, I was a schoolmate with you at Igbobi College Yaba, Lagos in the

1970s, you were four (4) or so years my senior. All of these converged to make

me apply to the SCP law firm.
10. In response to my application for NYSC service at SCP, the SCP law office

sent an email on February 6, 2017, stating that, ” SCP has filled the vacant

slots for NYSC placement and closed the process for 2017.” i.e., the

NYSC slot for 2017 at SCP law firm was already closed by the 30th day of

the year 2017.
11. This response from SCP when we are the very first NYSC posting in 2017?

Haba? When I asked when next will the NYSC acceptance be opened at the

SCP firm, the SCP law firm partners Mr. Babatunde Irukera, Pastor Dapo

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Akinosun, and Ms. Victoria Alonge refused to answer till today and refused to

respond to my subsequent written inquiries concerning the NYSC PPA posting

at SCP matter.
12. In fact my request to be affiliated with the SCP law firm predated 2017 making

their excuse further ridiculous. In fact, I had been to the SCP office in Victoria

Island in Lagos in 2015 after I arrived in Nigeria, met in person with Mr.

Irukera, and in fact Mr. Irukera had verbally accented to assist me a newly

arrived in Nigeria. It is clear that the claim of SCP that the NYSC posting had

closed for 2017 in February 2017 when we were the first set of corpers posted

for that year is a pretext. More so in light of the fact that they were aware of my

interest at SCP since 2015 well before 2017. It is clear that Mr. Irukera’s

promise to me to assist were mere empty promises he had no intentions of

fulfilling.
13. I contacted the three partners at SCP Pastor Dapo Akinosun, Mr. Babatunde

Irukera, and Ms. Victoria Alonge seeking reconsideration only to be further

ridiculed by them. It was clear that they were not acting in the Best

Interest of Nigeria or what they purport in the Media, but were acting

solely to perpetuate their own selfish interests or worse. I have come to

realize that like the mentality of those who import generators into Nigeria, that

unless some external force comes in, people doing wrong and being unpatriotic

will fail to reason right even if they are like Mr. Akinosun, Pastors of the

Church of God by calling. I could not stomach the response from the SCP law

firm alone, consistent with Matthew 18:15-17, I copied others who know both

myself and Mr. Irukera from our days in Chicago, Illinois, to see what I am

seeing. One of those I copied is Dr. Adekunle Tunde Okunuga in

Chicago who can be reached at +1 773 469 6315 or
[email protected].
14. Next, I was posted to the State House Abuja, Office of the President Federal

Republic of Nigeria. I have since learnt that at least three of us NYSC corpers

were posted to the State House in the February 2017 postings: your daughter

(or your ward), one male, and myself.
15. The only person taken to do NYSC PPA at the State House Sir, was your

daughter or ward. We were unceremoniously rejected and again with no logical

reason stated. Is it because we do not know anyone? No connections?

16. On February 22, 2017, I filed a Petition with the Permanent Secretary, State

House asking for a reconsideration of the rejection of my NYSC posting to the

State House. Sir, until today, that Petition has not seen the light of day.

17. The next I read was your warning to MDAs not to reject NYSC corpers, and I

quipped should charity not begin from home?
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18. Sir, of the three of us posted to the State House, your daughter or ward had

other options. I did not. Your daughter had the option of serving at SCP law

firm among many other places. I was rejected at the SCP law firm and also

rejected at the State House. Both options were open to your daughter but both

options were closed to me. Am I less Nigerian? Connections connection?

Where does this leave the average Nigerian on the street without connections?

Is that fair Sir? Is that consistent with your warning and speeches?

19. When we now look further at the rejection at SCP law firm, it becomes even

more disheartening:
20. Mr. Babatunde Irukera, your former law partner at SCP law firm, is a relatively

junior lawyer to me in the Nigerian/African Community in Chicago, Illinois

where we both lived, attended the same church, and practiced law for about a

decade. With all due respect to Mr. Irukera, he did not practice the level of law

I practiced in Illinois, and did not help a fraction of the Nigerians/African that

I helped in my legal practice in Chicago. He does not have the skill sets that I

have acquired in 34 years in the US. But apparently based on connections,

when he relocated to Nigeria about a decade ago, he can move rather swiftly up

the ladder. Again, man know man? In comparison, I cannot even do mere

NYSC posting in their SCP law firm in Nigeria now because I do not have

connections. Is this the Nigerian way? “man know man?”

21. In April 2017, President Buhari appointed Mr. Irukera to the Consumer

Protection Council, as such, he is leaving the SCP law firm. But sir, I cannot

even be allowed to serve 10 month NYSC posting at the SCP law firm he is

leaving to higher office in this same Nigeria. Prof, is this fair I ask you? Am I

less loyal? Am I less honest? Am I less Nigerian? Is this consistent with your

speeches Sir?
22. Your other partner Mr. Akinosun is a Redeemed Church Pastor. He holds a job

as a Pastor. He holds yet another job as a partner in the SCP law firm. With an

undergraduate degree in History and Law, and perhaps due to connections, he

goes oversees representing Nigerian interest in the Power energy industrysomething

he probably never dreamt of while studying history in school. Here

we have another Nigerian, ’Lanre O. Amu, newly arrived in Nigeria, with

degrees in Engineering, Business and Law, and seeking to serve a mere 10

month internship at the SCP law firm at no cost to SCP law firm, but rejected

outright and kept at bay. Is this patriotic? Is this in the Best Interest of the

Nigeria that Pastor Akinosun, a historian, represents on Power Energy matters?

When this Nigerian asked when there will be the next opening at SCP law firm,

there was no response from SCP Law Firm Partners. Is this action by SCP

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Socially Responsible? Is this action Patriotic? SCP does its business with state

and federal governments in Nigeria. Is it in the best interest of any state or

federal government with which SCP does business? Prof, is it consistent with

your speeches Sir?
23. By analogy Sir, unless government takes decisive action, those who import

generators into Nigeria will frustrate every effort to resolve the power problem

in Nigeria because they put their own selfish interest ahead of what is in the

Best Interest of Nigeria. We see here the same mentality on the part of those I

dealt with at the SCP law firm despite their public relations, ads, shows, etc., to

the contrary in Nigerian Media space where they nationally showcase all they

are doing to support Nigeria and its legal system.
24. Sir, with all due respect, I doubt there is anyone in your cabinet today that has

close to my level of education, and practical experience in the Power industry

and in Engineering practice, yet nobody cares. They will keep people like me at

bay just as SCP law firm kept me at bay while boasting how they help new law

graduates. The Honourable Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power,

Housing, and Works, with all due respect to him Sir, does not have the

qualifications, experience, or specific skill set to offer in any of the three

engineering ministries he is assigned as I have. The energy company I worked

for as an Engineer in Chicago, Sargent and Lundy, has built over 900 power

plants produced over 140,000MW of electricity. By comparison, today, Nigeria

does not have 4,000MW of constant grid based electricity. As an Engineer I

have worked for Engineering companies bigger than Julius Berger Nigeria. In

Igbobi College Yaba, where you, Mr. Fashola and I attended, as teenagers we

were the ones in the science laboratories learning science including electricity

while you were learning Literature, History and English Government in the

same school. Some of us continued that science and Engineering quest from

Nigeria overseas to acquire more skills in that discipline only to return to

Nigeria and be made redundant by corrupt means. Historians who got into

politics will simply direct the Chinese, Americans, German and other foreigners

Engineers what needs to be done engineering wise and be done with it. Fellow

Nigerians who spent their lives and sweat studying the disciplines are a threat

and must be kept at bay. Will this unpatriotic attitude develop Nigeria? Isn’t

this unpatriotic attitude wasting resources and lives in Nigeria? It is those who

studied History that turn themselves into “experts” after reading mere reports

to dictate what happens in Engineering ministries in a developing country yet

to build institutions. Haba? Those calling the shots policy wise are at the mercy

of foreigners who fly in to tell us what we need and must have and since the

leadership is clueless with no specific skill or training in the discipline involved,

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they simply sign on the dotted lines unaware that motives may not be totally

aligned in what foreigners are telling us we must do and must have. Nigerians

who are educated in the field or disciplined are sidelined because they are not

politicians and they constitute a threat.
25. Sir, an off shoot of that is what I read in the media that Nigeria needs Nuclear

Power plants and has started making plans to build two. We are yet to get out

of the woods with less complex technologies like iron and steel and refineries

after 30 plus years, now we must jump into more complex and more dangerous

nuclear power field? I have worked as an Engineer in a Nuclear Power Plant in

the United States and I know and think otherwise Sir. Who are those making

this policy for Nigeria? Are they professionals or engineers with relevant

practical knowledge and experience? Do they know anything in the field they

are talking about and binding us to? Nuclear Power plants when the Western

world, Japan, and everyone else that have the command of nuclear technology

that we lack are gradually moving away from Nuclear to safer renewable energy

sources? So is Nigeria the new testing ground for unsafe and outmoded

Nuclear technology they no longer want more of on their own soil I ask? With

our lack of maintenance culture, how do we deal with nuclear waste without

further dependency? How do we contain nuclear accidents? Will they ever give

us the latest technology? How will we know? Who do we talk to in the

Administration about these concerns? Nobody. We are kept at bay. How can

we effectively develop under these arrangement? Whatever foreigners with

perhaps ulterior or unmatched motives fly into Nigeria and tell our leaders we

need, they ignorantly buy into hook, line and sinker. They must for lack of

knowledge in the specific areas they are talking about. Are we who spent time

studying in the professions less Nigerian or less loyal for not knowing

politicians and for not becoming politicians in Nigeria? Where is the avenue for

us to emerge in the political scene?
26. With all due respect Sir, the values we are seeing are not the values you and I

were taught at secondary school at Igbobi College Yaba, Lagos. This is not our

concept of Nigeria. Man know man will destroy Nigeria in time. We

respectfully demand a Nigeria where every Nigerian is equal and treated as

equal regardless of status, connections, tribe or creed, and has equal access not

just in words or speeches but indeed. I am yet to see that here Sir.

27. No office or position in Nigeria including the Presidency is a birth right or

entitlement of anyone or any group. Any qualified Nigerian of any background,

tribe or creed must have access for there to be true peace, unity and progress in

this Country.
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28. Sir, is that SCP pastor’s conduct consistent with the Christianity he preaches?

Isn’t live and let live a Moral virtue not to be merely preached in church

sermons or public speeches but to be lived out in daily reality? is that pastor’s

conduct consistent with the patriotic spirit we need to advance in this country?

is that pastor’s conduct consistent with the warning you gave in your speech?

So we here see that without outside regulation, even the pastor with the church

“holiness” collar will put parochial self-interest above the Best Interest of

Nigeria while doing business with Nigeria.
29. As you must agree, the actions of these people like the mindset of the generator

importers puts self-preservation ahead of what is in the best interest of Nigeria

while reaping huge profits from Nigeria at the same time. SCP will rather retain

a dozen new graduate NYSC Corper and advertise same in the Media for

aggrandizement than allow someone experienced like me into their fold

because I pose a threat to the “generator importers” so to speak. But who does

Nigeria need most to add value to its existing or non-existing systems I ask?

SCP will take to the national Media to extol how it is helping out nationally by

hiring so many fresh law graduates while keeping mute on the fact that

experienced Nigerians are being rejected.
30. Then SCP can deny fellow Nigerian opportunity and then turn around and do

big business with state and federal governments? “Man know man?”

31. Sir, to whom much is given, much is expected. Someone gave you the

opportunity to move from a law office to Lagos State Commissioner for

Justice, etc., and to the Villa. Is there no duty to give an equally “unconnected”

but qualified Nigerians the same opportunity to serve 10 months in a law firm

or at the State House?
32. Sir, what we are seeing is that Nigeria is being turned into “man know man”,

and “connections” only system. Unless you know someone, you are out. Yet,

the lofty messages you are putting in the Media is quite the opposite of this

reality prompting this letter to your office.
33. Sir, Change begins with you, with Pastor Akinosun, with Mr. Babatunde

Irukera, with Ms. Victoria Alonge, with SCP law firm, with the State House,

and with me. That is why I am writing you to provoke the Change that loyalty

to Nigeria and acting in the Best Interest of Nigeria demands. We must not just

be seen to be talking the talk, but we must also walk the walk of out talk.

34. I am not a fool or ignorant in Nigerian affairs. We are school mates and wore

the same uniform in secondary school. We are not unmindful that dubious

people through dubious means unlawfully harnessed financial resources to win

elections to public office in Nigeria. Having won elections into public office,

they continue dubious means to corruptly harness and corner state financial

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resources to their private coffers. By so doing, acquiring wealth generations of

their descendants will never need at the expense of the Nigerian masses who

are in poverty. With State resources in their private coffers, they begin to

marshal those resources to dictate who and who can succeed them politically

and who and who can occupy positions of leadership in our country. These are

the people we celebrate in our political structure in Nigeria today as heroes of

democracy and king makers. I ask you Sir as a Pastor and a professed man of

God, before God and Man, is this the ideal for Nigeria? Must we perpetuate

this wrong? Can this approach bring progress in Nigeria? Does the end justify

the means? Prof, are we not able to formulate a better system?

35. Where is the place in Nigeria for those of us who will not bow down the knee

to Baal? Who have no connections? Where is the place in Nigeria for those of

us who will not join, associate with, or play along in this “fraud upon Nigeria”?

Are we less Nigerian for choosing to be upright and not go along in this fraud?

Are we cut off from participating in the advancement of our fatherland as a

result? How can this flawed system take Nigeria out of the woods?

36. As you and I can see, there is a need in this country for an independent

candidacy route to political office and leadership to sideline these problems and

to perhaps table and clearly articulate the issues to the Nigerian people and may

be correct these wrongs.
37. The systems in this Country is failing us and I have approached this

Administration for solutions but got no meaningful response. It’s like talking to

a brick wall. I am now bringing this to your attention Sir.

38. There is more to be said, but for now, I rest my case here Sir.

39. In conclusion Sir, I await to hear from you on why I, a fellow Nigerian, no

less loyal, no less honest, cannot do the NYSC PPA assignment at SCP Law

Firm and why I cannot do the NYSC PPA assignment at the State House like

your daughter or ward if Change truly begins with you, Ms. Victoria Alonge,

Pastor Dapo Akinosun, Mr. Babatunde Irukera, and I.

40. If you need more detailed information or have any questions, please contact

me. Prof, I would appreciate an opportunity to meet with you in person at the

Villa to discuss these matters and more in greater detail for the glory of Nigeria,

and the Glory of God.
41. May the Almighty God continue to Bless and Protect us all as we Faithfully,

Loyally, and Honestly discharge our duties to our Beloved Nation-Nigeria and

to Mankind. Please accept the assurances of my highest regard your Excellency.

Faithfully,
'Lanre O. Amu
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’Lanre O. Amu, B.C.E. (U of MN, '84), M.S.C.E. (U of MN, '86), M.B.A. (UIC, '89),

P.E. (Illinois '89), J.D. (1995)