Written by:
Yemi Adegbite
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
yemiadegbite@yahoo.ca

Goodluck Ebele. Jonathan: A Good Opportunity to Re-Position Nigeria
Dear Mr. President, I know someone around you would read this and bring the admonition/missive to your notice, even though you have legion of advisers around you, sometimes, a neutral person with no ulterior motive could do a better job with no string attached. As a Christian whom I believe you are, first pray to God to give you wisdom so that you can discern illusion from reality. Pray still so that God will give you power to match the right people with the right jobs, power to hatch ideas and turn things around, and then ability and will power to disperse the compradors (agberos) in government that find themselves in positions of trust. This is destiny that you are faced with, you can either fulfill it or betray it, but I wish you will choose the latter. Cast your lot with the ordinary people of Nigeria and do the right thing. I, like every Nigerian know that you have a very limited time to hold the mantle, notwithstanding, much could be achieved within a very limited time, and hence, time constraint will not be a valid excuse.

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, this is your time to show the whole world that we still have some upright people in the country. Like you rightly said during your last visit to North America, remember your pronouncements, you promised to find a lasting solution to the problem of perpetual darkness in the country, you also unequivocally said that, you will review and implement the proposed new electoral reforms, I implore you, do not deviate from these promises, they are the ways to go. When the votes are counted and made to count, the sanctity of elections will be restored, people will have confidence in the regime, and consequently, the fledgling democracy would be reinforced in the country. The removal of Maurice Iwu no doubt is a very bold step in the right direction. Stand your grand and take your time to look for a credible Nigerian which I know abounds in good quantity in the country. Having done that, the country will have a very good chance of being saved from attrition.

Another good thing you have done is the dropping of all those spurious, malicious and ridiculous charges preferred against one of the incorruptible and illustrious sons of Africa, the first Czar of the EFCC, I mean Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. Having done that, go a step further, give him a very prominent role in your government, he’s a very young man who has the interest of Nigeria at heart. As I went to the internet to look for the e-mail address of the News Editor of Odili.net, my eyes caught wonderful news that you, Mr. President has ordered the IG to restore the rank denied Ribadu (AIG), when the cabals got the better part of Yar’Dua, WELL DONE! Go further, after Okiro; make Ribadu the next IG, Nigeria and indeed the Police Force will be better for it. After that, change the name of Nigerian Police Force to Nigerian Police Service. We need police with human touch, human heart and human feelings. Worry not about the fifth columnists within the government, worry not about the cabals, they will have the masses to contend with. God and Nigerian masses are behind you.
Contrary to the ranting of Babangida, who during his hallucination said that he did not see anybody in Nigeria who can rule the country except himself, is ludicrous, a malarkey and parochial; it’s indeed a joke taken too far!

Ribadu has proved himself as a beacon of hope for this generation, and there are still 1000s Ribadus in the country. The issue of Babangida is for another time and another discourse, but suffices to say that, he had better forgotten his inordinate ambition to rule the country again; he has nothing good to offer any more, he has already destroyed his legacy. Those who are feeding off his loot and calling him the Messiah would be disappointed at the end, because Nigerians have come of age, the people will resist him to the death, he would taste the bitter pills and seed of thorn he had sown with his mindless, wicked and deliberate truncation of Nigeria’s success during the most elongated and most expensive transition he organized and then nullified at the very end of the process. The worst insult is that, this evil still goes around the country saying that he has no regret whatsoever about the annulment of the most expensive and incidentally the most, clean elections Nigeria ever had to-date!

Adieu Yar’Dua
Yar'Dua is finally set free! He was a nice man, I think he meant well for Nigeria, but his administration was high jacked by his cabal who used him to line their pockets. Until his demise, he remained slave to all the Psychopaths that he surrounded himself with.
These people didn’t do anything for altruistic reason; things were seen purely from a very selfish and myopic point of view all for their personal gains, they came in to steal, to squander and to destroy.

Now that he's gone, they will make move to re-align themselves with the new power block. The new circumstantial president must watch out to avoid similar fate. He must be firm, direct and resolute in carrying out the functions of the president, without fear or favour, he should not hesitate to deal decisively with those who came to government for only what is in it for them. He cannot rely on goodluck alone; he must make a conscious and concerted effort and try to make his mark to contribute his quota in utmost good faith. Look for people of virtue, with good heads on their shoulders, not those who will tell him what he wants to hear all the time, but those who are ready to incure his wrath, but tell the truth come what may. The job given to Dr Jonathan by providence is not easy, is like an uphill task, but is surely surmountable.

The issue of Yar’Dua’s indisposition caused a huge imbroglio and those who could have done better made a bad situation worse, the mercenaries that encircled him handled it very badly, it almost led to another north-south feud. Those mosquitoes around him (to use the language of Dr. Tunji Braithwaite of the then Nigerian Advance Party. NAP) behaved like chicken, they shrouded everything in secrecy to a very ridiculous extent, forgetting that the president of a country is no longer a private citizen, the public deserved to be informed about his or her where about, well being and otherwise every hour 24/7. The point is that, they did that not because they actually meant well for Ya’Dua or even the country for that matter, but for only personal reasons, they are willing to keep him half-dead, incapacitated and then have a field day looting the country, which they actually succeeded in doing. They rubbed the country blind, they lied, they cajoled and they even hypnotized just to keep on steeling, they threatened tsunami and hailstorms if Yar’dua is removed, I must say that, they actually achieved their aims and carried out their nefarious activities. They renderdered the Exsecutive Council invalid, at a stage, the members of the Exco were afraid of even their own shadows, until good sense prevailed and untie Dora broke rank, which eventually threw the Exco off balance. The first casualty of the power politics, the disgraced erstwhile AGF Mike Andoakaa was the field marshal of the shameless looters. In my opinion, the president should start the home cleaning exercise by investigating all the immediate past ministers, the role each of them played, what they did or didn’t do during those dark days and, bring the erring ones to book, made them atone for their sins individually. Nigeria should learn to make bad eggs in government a public spectacle, in this regard; I will recommend the “Chinese Option” for the big cats in government.

People continue to get into position of authority in Nigeria and wantonly deplete the public vault because they know full well that, there will be no repercussion or consequences whatsoever. That is unfortunately almost always the case in my country. There is no motivation to be upright because, the honest ones are always the bad losers! Like late Chief Gani Fawehimi once said, “It is illegal to be law abiding in a lawless society”

Colleagues in the “Save Nigeria Project”, we have a duty to lift Nigeria to the highest pedestal. A conference is coming up soon. All shall be kept posted.

God bless Nigeria.