Rilwan Balogun

Dear President Buhari,

Let me commence by stating that, I did not intend to achieve any parochial or cynical interest for making this a public consumption, no matter how minute it may be conjure up. Rather, I write in trepidation, perturbation and outrage, just like every average Nigerian, who are patriotic to the development of this nation. Withoutany modicum of doubt, certain voice needs be added to the existing cacophony of voices and torrent of criticisms, unheard in every nook and cranny, as regard the state of the nation.

Your excellency sir, permit me to state from the onset that this writer is not a member of any political party, and that points to the fact that, I stand with the dictates of objectivism and constructiveness, thus, I am not driven by any self-interest. My stakes are in two folds. Firstly, I have always been a patriotic Nigerian whose right to express himself is fully guaranteed under section 39 of the 1999 constitution; the grund norm that legitimatize your administration as the president of Nigeria. Secondly, I am a young legal practitioner, who in the formative years of his career is bemused by the goings in this country; particularly in the judiciary,which surely may or are tragically affecting my career’s peregrination.

Mr. President, sir, two things also dictated my reasoning to cause this letter to be made public. 1. I am a “common” Nigerian who would never be allowed to get close, 50-meters to where you are, to deliver this letter in hard copy, let alone your office. 2. Should I resolve to convey this via electronic mail,through the office of the chief of staff (that is if really, I know the email address), the letter might be jettisoned and consigned to the archive or labyrinth of letters,authoured by“busy-body” Nigerian politicians, thus, making it a still birth, perhaps, that may be buried at gestation. However, in spite of these human  impediments, I chose to make it public, pro bono publico, because of the fact that not only that it will get to your oval-shaped office in Aso Rock villaid est by publishing it in the media, but also your sycophants, rabble rousers and political detractors,not only will lack power to distort the message contained therein,a fortiori, they willhave one or two nuggets to tap in it.On this premise, I am of the strong conviction that posterity shall vindicate me, that there liveth a detribalized and patriotic Nigerian, whose voice advocated for a better Nigeria but was pooh-poohed by the power that be, which yielded not.

Admittedly, notable figures have expressed their dissatisfactions at different points in time concerning the state of our failing nation and perhaps,in oceanic quantity, drops of ink had been spilled on the pages of newspapers over and over, but thisepistle is a voice of reasoning calling your attention to stand up to your responsibilities and correct seemingly incorrigible anomalies, making waves like never before under your “democratic” leadership as the president of this country.

Your administration has charged youths to be of active participant in the political activities of this country. We have been imbued with the spirit that the youths are the architects of modern Nigeria. But, of course, we are submerged, silhouetted and hounded by the innocuous passage into law of the impending hate speech bill.Where the youths are denied their fundamental right to fair trial, where we live in a state that becoming a president at under 40 years of age is paradoxically a realistic farce and coveted aberration. Where we have been disunited by the greed and cynical interests of relatively few old ones, in fact, a society where we are stifled by the unpopular stack canon of gerontocracy.

As far as I am concerned, those forming your inner cabinet are egregiously concealing the truths and factual perception of people’s acceptance of your governmentat the expense of good governance. Theyindeed, are the sinister“public relation officers” who are deadly political bacteria, undermining and sabotaging your good intents, in your patriotic mission to rebuild our damaged nation. The factual situation in the county is that more than half of Nigerians are very disappointed to the marrow, with the lackluster attitudes of the widely believed messiah they voted for in 2015 and 2019 general elections. Perhaps, it is difficult to declare that your administration had since been hijacked by some cabals, it is in the interest of the public to state here that more than 70% of Nigerians who saw to your emergence as the president do not know what, who, and where the cabals are; maybe in the navel of the soul.

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It is in this current administration that budget was padded without prosecution of the culprits, insecurity has continued unabated but covered with a finger by your service chiefs, kites of banditry and kidnapping are flying higher on daily basis with no respite forthcoming, Nigerians are killed home and abroad without any justification, then all these anomalies continue untamed, in a geometric progression.There we wake to 2023 after the expiration of your good eight years. By then, we will be hapless with no restitution at sight, but it will surely be chronicled in the archive of Nigeria’s history, that there existed a government led by a fulani extraction from the sedate city of Daura, under whose reign impunity was condone at the highest order!

For innumerable number of times, I have pondered over and over on what system of government is Nigeria currently practising? Democracy? Ok, conceding but not convinced, then, I questioned further that, are there different versions of democracy? Amidst theindecisiveness, I was left with none but a coinage or portmanteau of concepts called Demo-Military; a democratically elected government wielding powers in disguise with full military interregnum. The concepts of democracy and kakistocracy are two bipolar systems of government that are distance apart, just like the sky and the earth. There is no two ways to this: it is either you choose to follow God or the devil. The former living in the light while the latter thriving in the darkness. The fact is, our political system has degenerated from the Democratic government we voted for in 2019 to a stifling kakistocracy, camouflaging democracy! A despotic totalitarianism cum plutocracy. Where the rule of law is subverted and immersed, the consequence is undeniably-a state of irredeemable disintegration.

The continued detention of Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Services, DSS, under your “interregnum”, despite two different court orders is a tell-tale indictment and authentication to the widely claim, that your government is totally anti-democracy, anti-rule of law and generally considered anti populism. It is selfish and ironical, that the judiciary that gave several orders in your favour, in the legal battlechallenging your victory on the 2019 elections,is the same that your government treats with scorn.It is asinine to see that the court verdicts on your electoral victory, whose orders were generally accepted with equanimity, as binding authorities,is the same institution that your government and its agencies, under yourlacklustre watch, conveniently flout its orders and treat with utter contempt. This I must say, is a sad day for our chequered democratic peregrination.

In a despicable manner, a revered judge was forced to scamper and caused to vacate a sacred court room, all in a bid to re-arrest an accused who had just been released by the order of same court, all within ticks of 24 hours!With flagrant disobedience of court order and the unabated wave of scofflaws, the end, God forbid, maybe a journey towards consuming conflagration and social unrest, where the citizens would be forced to revolt against all government(s) sitting comfortably on the throne of suppression and all other vices. In the long run, the arrow head of blame shall be directed to none but the head of government.

That brings to my memory, the Yoruba aged-saying which does say: “bi di babaje, tioni di nii da”. And that’s the more reason why you, as the head of government, commander in chief of armed forces, should with alacrity and exigency of posterity, call to order, the sycophant agencies who have been going beyond the permissibility, thumbing the government’s nose against international best practice of democratic system of government, all in a bid to (dis)please baba.

This act is totally condemnable, despicable and horrendous, I dare say!What the Department of State Services, DSS, intend to achieve is nothing but grandiose accolades for being “good” servants. The bitter truth, however is that, in the long run, they ended up scandalizing your government on whose authority and command, an average Nigerian believes they are acting.For unjustifiable reason, many political adversaries with perceived anti-APC idealism had been confined to solitary and outlawed. They are excruciating in pang of torture indetention, with no right to fair trial and justice delayed till thy kingdom comes. In your administration, the nation has been labelled as the anti-human right republic.

Balogun writes from Lagos