Open Letter to President Buhari..... by Cardinal Okojie
assumed office, the chant of “Change,”
your campaign slogan, ushered you into
the Presidential Villa. Today, cries of “hunger”
could be heard across the length and breadth of
our vast country.
Nigerians hunger, not only for food, but also for
good leadership, for peace, security, and
justice. This letter is to appeal to you to do
something fast, and, if you are already doing
something, to redouble your effort.
May it not be written on the pages of history
that Nigerians die of starvation under your
watch. As President, you are the chief servant
of the nation. I, therefore, urge you to live up to
the huge expectation of millions of Nigerians.
A stitch in time saves nine.
This is the second year of your administration.
You and your party promised to lead the masses
to the Promised Land. It is not an easy task to
lead. But by campaigning for this office, you
offered to take the enormous task of leadership
upon yourself. Nigerians are waiting for you to
fulfill the promises you made during the
campaign.
They voted you into office because of those
promises. The introduction of town hall
meetings is a commendable idea. But in
practice, you, not just your ministers, must
converse with Nigerians. You are the President.
You must be accountable to them. The buck
stops on your desk.
Even if your administration has no magic wand
at least give some words of encouragement.
On this same score, please instruct your
ministers, and insist that they be sincere and
polite at those town meetings. Their sophistry
will neither serve you nor Nigerians.
Mr. President, if you want to leave a credible
legacy come 2019, in all sincerity, please retool
your administration. Change is desirable. But it
must be a change for the better. Let this
change be real. Change is not real when old
things that we ought to discard refuse to pass
away.
You will need to take a critical look at your
cabinet, at the policies and programs of your
administration, and at those who help you to
formulate and execute them. You will need to
take a critical look at the manner of
appointments you have been making.
It is true that commonsense dictates that you
appoint men and women you can trust. But if
most of the people you trust are from one
section of the country and practice the same
religion, then you and all of us are living in
insecurity. The Nigerian economy has never
been in a state as terrible as this
You as President are like the pilot of an aircraft
flying in turbulence. Turbulent times bring the
best or the worst out of a pilot. We can no
longer blame the turbulence on past
administrations. You know quite well that some
of the officials of your administration served in
previous dispensations.
Blame for what we have been experiencing is, in
fact, bipartisan in character. The entire political
class needs to come together, irrespective of
party differences, to acknowledge its collective
guilt and to seek ways of saving the sinking
ship that our country has become.
This cannot be done if some officials of your
administration demonize and alienate members
of the opposition. If a large portion of the
blame for the present situation is to be laid on
the doorsteps of the entire political class, the
search for a solution must involve everyone.
That is why no one should be alienated. All
hands must be on deck. This is the time to
revitalize moribund industries, reinvigorate our
agriculture, make our country tourist and
investor friendly, and enable our young men and
women to find fulfillment by contributing to the
common good.
None of these lofty goals can be achieved
without good education. On this particular
issue, recent appointments you have made in
the education sector raise a question: have you
really appointed the best? Still, on education, it
is important that our universities be allowed to
use their own criteria to admit students.
It is a gross violation of the principles of
federalism and academic freedom for the
federal government to insist that only a federal
parastatal can decide on who gains admission
into our universities. It is the role of the
university senate, not of government
bureaucrats, to decide on who gets admitted
and who is awarded a certificate.
Mr. President, your desire to wage a war on
corruption is just and noble. But a just war must
be waged with just means. Those who have
stolen the wealth of this country have broken
the laws of our country. They must be treated
according to the law and not outside the law,
and the outcome of the judicial process must
be respected by the government.
Even accused persons have rights. Where those
rights are violated, we risk a descent to
anarchy. It is our candid opinion that corruption
is not found in only one party. No political party
in Nigeria has a monopoly of looters. That is
why we need an EFCC that is thoroughly
independent of the presidency, and an Attorney
General without party affiliation working in
partnership with various independent accounting
institutes.
This will ensure that we come up with an
objective list of those who plundered our
treasury. Mr. President, pardon me if I sound
like a gratuitous counselor. I owe you the truth
and nothing but the truth. In my life as a public
figure and a religious leader, I have offered my
counsel, for whatever its worth, to quite a
number of Presidents in this country.
I do this because I desire that you succeed. For
the success of the leader is the success of the
citizens. If there is no solution to Nigeria’s
problem, there may be endless war. You strike
one town, you gain it, and you come again to
regain it. Remember that you cannot put a
crown on your head.
It is the people who put it on you. Otherwise
one day, you will get tired of it. Please listen to
the legitimate cries of your fellow citizens.
Cardinal Anthony Okogie, the emeritus Archbishop
of Lagos, writes from Lagos.
Comments
Post a Comment