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| Dele Momodu |
Dele Momodu,
Veteran Journalist and Ovation Magazine Publisher, who was one of the voices
that championed Buhari’s victory into the Presidency and tirelessly faulted
former President Goodluck Jonathan
administration and his party, PDP, has written a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, expressing his disappointment
on his style of leadership so far.
During
the Presidential campaign, Mr. Dele Momodu has painstakingly and convincingly
educated many Nigerians on a weekly basis on why the country needs Buhari, and
why former President Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience needed to be withdraw back to their Otuoke home.
It
does look like, Mr. Dele Momodu is somehow disappointed in the man he vouched
for, and apparently, not happy at the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus
who he thinks might undermine Nigeria's chance at prospering again.
He
urged President Buhari to step on toes if need be in order to apply the true
‘Change’ Nigerians voted for him for and tasked the President to put his
cabinet together without further delay, as Nigerians are running out of
patience and seems to be losing confidence in the man they thought is Nigeria’s
messiah.
Here
is his memo to the President in full:
"Your Excellency, I write to you today with a heavy
heart. The reason should be obvious. I was one of those latter day converts to
Buharism, a political philosophy that believes in the reincarnation of former
leaders in the days of tribulation.
You were never the first man to resurrect from retirement
and near political oblivion. General Olusegun Obasanjo bounced back from prison
to Aso Rock Villa.
In nearby Benin Republic, former military dictator and
strongman, Mathieu Kerekou who had served as maximum ruler for about 17
incredible years, came back to defeat incumbent President, Nicephore Soglo in a
1990 election. He led his country for another ten years and almost got
another five-year term but for the age barrier that disqualified him.
It is normal for Africans to run towards the wise elders of
the village when trouble comes knocking. That is one of the major reasons
Nigerians in their millions voted with their feet and thumbs to elect you
President. Many of those who supported you did so for several other
reasons and you must understand that they were mainly not members of your
political party, APC.
So, apart from your age, they backed you because they
believed in your impeccable pedigree as an incorruptible and honourable man, a
strict disciplinarian, a Scrooge who would not fritter away our meagre
resources, a scourge of rogues and prodigal sons, a metamorphosed tyrant now a
born-again democrat, and so on and so forth. Nigerians ardently placed their
hopes in you and fervently prayed you won’t disappoint them.
This is the principal reason I have decided to send you this
desperate memo today before some despicable politicians tarnish your
hard-earned reputation and truncate this beautiful chance again.
Sir, let me say right away that the goodwill garnered during
your campaigns and the jubilation that heralded your recent victory are fast
fading and you need to, as a matter of urgency, convince the people of Nigeria
that you’re now ready to hit the ground running.
They are not going to listen to excuses since you had 30
years after quitting the high office to onerously prepare for the job again.
For them it is immaterial that you met an empty treasury or that you are mostly
surrounded by selfish, corruptive influences and impostors.
As I mentioned in my earlier epistles to you, Nigerians have
become totally impatient and what they expect of you is tantamount to
performing the miracle of turning water into wine or raising Lazarus from the
dead. You cannot afford to waste any second before displaying the sterner stuff
you’re reputed to be made of.
I had encouraged you not to be afraid of taking charge
of the Party that brought you to power or tackling the politicians that claimed
to have helped you in the process.
I had imagined that you know the ways of our politicians by
now and thought you knew how to handle them. I had told you matter-of-factly
that you may have to step on some powerful toes in order to achieve anything
tangible.
The worst that may likely happen is for people to say and
accuse you of dictatorial proclivity which won’t be new in your lexicon or to
be threatened with impeachment and all-what-not. But trust me, no evil shall
befall you for as long as you carry the people along in your crusade and do not
pander to the whims and caprices of members of the privilegentsia.
There is no doubt that the present imbroglio in your Party
is as a result of your lukewarm attitude to Party issues thinking you could
merely concentrate on nation-building while others deal with political
intrigues.
However, it is not always as simple as that. As you can now
see, you don’t seem to be on the same page with your Party. While you were busy
agonising over the myriad of problems besetting Nigeria, many of your presumed
disciples were busy fighting over positions and control of power the way babies
squabble over lollipops.
They have studiously forgotten the change mantra and the
huge expectations that made the electorate to troop out in droves and cast
their votes for you and the Party.
The moment you became the President-elect, you should have
readied your manacles for all would-be trouble makers. You should have sent out
a powerful message to those politicians who may wish to act above the law. But
the moment you appeared ready to abdicate some of your leadership
responsibilities to them, the obvious lacuna gave them the needed impetus to
take charge and cut you adrift. Your political advisers, if any, should have
prepared you for the offensive.
There is no way you are going to fight and survive the
battle ahead if the political class see you as a man they can easily bully. You
cannot sit on the fence. Whilst your decision not to interfere in the
affairs of another arm of Government, the legislature, is commendable and
indeed your constitutional duty, you must make it clear to your Party that the
same non-interference must apply to them.
Our people may have voted for your Party but they also voted
for the individuals that the Party entrusted its mandate to including
you. Just as there is a limit to how the Party can control you in the
exercise of your executive functions and those you choose to assist you in the
fulfilment of those functions, so also must you tell the Party chieftains that
there is a limit as to how much the leadership structure and duties of the
legislative arm can be controlled.
If you are ambiguous about this, then you are inviting
your Party leadership to write a letter to you categorically stating not only
those you must appoint as your Ministers and Special Advisers but also those
that you must not work with under any guise. I am sure you would not tolerate
that. In the same vein you must not tolerate Party interference in the
legislature. Change has come, please imbibe it!
In essence it is incumbent on you to deal with the
issues arising from tensions created by party supremacy, parliamentary democracy
and above all constitutionality. There is a delicate balance to be struck
between these competing interests though constitutionality must eventually
prevail. However, even constitutionality is subordinated to national
interest, because that is the most important interest of all.
Your Party has a lot to learn from the tragedy which was
invited upon itself by advertence of the former ruling Party, PDP. As a mark of
respect to your status and office, your Party should have adopted your instinct
and temperament immediately you conceded that the elections of principal
officers at the National Assembly were “somewhat constitutional.”
Even if internally aggrieved, like mortals may invariably
be, your Party hierarchy should not have washed their dirty linen in public
knowing the full implications of the backlash that might splash and smear your
collective image.
APC should have done what PDP failed to do when Governor
Rotimi Amaechi won the Chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum by
instantly recognising the leadership of the National Assembly while seeking
ways to ameliorate the unfortunate saga. No reasonable parent would voluntarily
kill a recalcitrant child. There is always another opportunity for penitence
and atonement.
I expected the crisis to escalate once the warring
factions stuck arrogantly to their positions and neither was ready to bulge.
Had APC accepted its fate with equanimity, I’m certain this peculiar mess would
have been exterminated. Had Saraki and Dogara shown magnanimity in victory some
of the truculent malice expressed by certain leaders may have also been
mellowed.
Say what you will, the PDP had its fair dose of political
migraine and rambunctiousness but it accepted certain realities and moved on.
The ones they failed to accept led to their cataclysmic fall. The mutually
destructive suspicion in APC should have been nipped in the bud for your sake.
The burden you currently carry is heavier than an elephant
and I don’t think you need or deserve this kind of nuisance distraction. The leadership
of the National Assembly should also calm down by reaching out to their angry
Party chieftains. There is nothing to gain in fighting a perennial war.
Once upon a time, they were all friends and members of the
same family. It is never too late to embrace peace and reunite. Now that we
know what the bone of contention is, no one should be victimised for belonging
to whatever factions that exist.
I have read endless arguments for and against the pugilists
in APC and my candid advice is that you need to appoint your cabinet and aides
now. The sooner you assemble and send forth your foot-soldiers the better for
our polity to begin the healing process. Right now our nation appears to be
rudderless and floundering and this should not be the case.
What is left for you to do is to quickly bring all the
gladiators together and see how you can apply some balm on frayed nerves.
The Federal Government has humongous largesse to disburse so
it should not be too difficult to appease the juggernauts. When that is sorted,
you should draw your own plans and let your people know your roadmap.
Your job would be much easier if you surround yourself with
people who can look at you straight in the eye and say the truth no matter how
bitter. Most of our leaders failed because they fell victims of sweet-talking
scammers.
It is very essential that your Party sees and embrace
you as their father and not the other way round. Whether you like it or not,
and whether others in your Party want to accept it or not, you are the de facto
national leader of your Party.
You are the President and Commander in Chief of our country.
Yes, you ARE the capo di tutti capi. You therefore cannot be subservient to any
other person.
You must immediately take upon this role and assume that
mantle. Please feel free to lay down the law and if occasion demands, enforce
our law. That is what leaders do. Ambivalence or hesitancy will simply
not do! You have the next four years minus one month and time is ticking away
dutifully.
Equally important is the fact that you are more of a social
crusader than a politician and your Party ought to note this fact and
understand that it can’t be business as usual. Your Party leveraged on your
uncommon reputation to gain POWER. Sir, you can’t afford to evaporate such
stupendous equity just like that. You have demonstrated enough tolerance but
the time has come to repudiate our propensity for rascality.
The task ahead is so gargantuan and it would require all
hands to be on deck. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I reiterate
that the first priority, apart from national security, should be how to reduce
the atrocious costs of running government in Nigeria.
Until you achieve that sir, the Muhammed Alis of Nigeria
will never stop their boxing tournaments in parliaments and elsewhere. The
fight is for cash and not for any selfless services.
Many won’t bother to contest if they think it is not
lucrative. I don’t know how you plan to do this but it has to be done somehow
and thankfully there are many methods that you can deploy. I’m glad you hope to
retrieve some of the stolen billions. You need some serious cash, Sir. The
challenges ahead would dissipate if you can raise the finances needed to tackle
them.
I trust that God has deliberately raised you up at this time
as a veritable example to mankind that being honest is not a crime and we have
a lot to learn and cheer from your miraculous victory. May God help you to
carry this cross successfully".
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