From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Former presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2023 general elections, Sam Ohuabunwa, has written to President Muhammadu Buhari, lamenting that Nigeria is on the precipice.
Ohuabunwa who is the convener of the New Nigeria Group, stated that the country was more economically devastated and otherwise degenerated under Buhari, urging him to as a matter of urgency, do everything within his power to save the nation from further collapse.
In the letter yesterday titled: “State of the Nation: Independence Day Open Letter to the President-Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR”, he regretted that Buhari had not proved to Nigerians that he was capable of leading them for the past eight years, after contesting for the number one seat severally and failed.
The letter read in part: “Your Excellency, Today is Nigeria’s 62nd Independence Day anniversary, the last under your watch as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. How I wish I was writing you this piece under more pleasant circumstances. However, given the terrifying descent of our dear nation further down the path of multi-faceted disasters, I feel obligated to use the opportunity of Nigeria’s 62nd Independence anniversary to send you this feedback, with a hope and prayer that you can still do something to leave a good legacy.
“In 2015, after you were elected President, I wrote you twice expressing my expectations of your tenure. Primarily, I had asserted that given your repeated efforts to become Nigeria’s civilian president after your earlier but unconstitutional tenure as Military Head of State that you must have some very important things you wanted to do for our country. I then urged you to go right ahead and do those things without wasting time. A man could not run for the office of president of a nation four times, one of which led to the death of many Nigerian citizens without a real desperation to make some significant changes to the fortunes of the nation.
“But nearly eight years after, many of us cannot see the really significant change you have brought to our nation to justify the desperate efforts you made to become president.”
Ohuabunwa, however, acknowledged that the Buhari-led administration had built a few roads, bridges and shared cash to some people. These, he said, did not justify the cost.
He further stated that the current challenges portend grave danger and need urgent interventions even now and should not wait till May 2023.
He listed the prostrate economy and insecurity as deserving immediate attention.
“Your Excellency, you and your aides may not find the tone and temper of this letter palatable, but the truth, however bitter, must still be told. Sometimes, I wonder if you are ever allowed to have a feel of what it is like to be an ordinary Nigerian in contemporary harsh Nigeria. How I wish you and your aspiring successors can take a ride on the road around Nigeria! Many of our leaders are completely aliens to the real Nigeria!!
“Indeed, what is evident does not need evidence. Nigeria’s rapid slide to a state of degeneration is self-evident. In the run up to the presidential primaries, I visited the 36 states of Nigeria twice and saw Nigeria’s devastation first hand. You would recall that during your campaign for president in 2015, you made two cardinal promises, which involved dealing with the ravaging insecurity at that time and also fixing the economy.
“In the area of security, it is admitted that you inherited a bad situation, but under your watch it has gotten much worse and become a hydra-headed monster taking on new dimensions previously inconceivable. In addition to the Boko Haram insurgency which we were dealing with under the Jonathan era, we now have rampaging bandits, killer herdsmen, unknown gunmen, ISWAP terrorists and so on.
“These new fiercer security challenges came with their own body counts. According to Dataphyte, an Abuja-based media research and data analytics organisation, over 39, 686 persons have been killed under this regime between May 2015 and May 2022. In another report by SBM Intelligence, over 3,379 persons in 500 incidents were kidnapped within a one-year period between June 2021 and June 2022. Major highways in Enugu, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto , Kastina, Anambra, Ondo, just to mention but a few states, have become impassable due to worsening insecurity.
“Christmas is coming and many Nigerians wonder how they can go to their country homes without being kidnapped or killed on the way!
“In the short term Sir, on the security issue, I would implore you to procure security from anywhere you can find them, even if it requires getting world’s most sophisticated predator drones and soliciting or hiring military support.”