Your Excellency, Alhaji Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu GCFR, I hope and pray this letter meets you in good health.

I write to you with a heavily burdened heart as a concerned ordinary citizen of our country Nigeria.

May this my humble letter never be treated as just one of such.

Mr President Sir, let me start by congratulating you for your “electoral” victory at the Supreme Court even if belatedly.

Now that elections and all that goes with it are over, let me quickly recap that:

1. The presidential election graciously awarded by INEC’s Yakubu and ‘confirmed’ by the Supreme Court was highly tortious, highly contentious, very controversial and highly contested with breathtaking restlessness across the country, in the annals of elections history of Nigeria.

2. The election results released by INEC shows that you had less than 40% of the total votes cast in that election. This shows that more than 60% of the electorates have their preferences for other candidates other than you. Therefore, this is the right time and opportunity to prove them wrong by your actions and results while in office.

3. Somehow, you have been able to scale through all the hurdles, got decorated before your inauguration with the highest honour of GCFR and was eventually sworn-in as President/ Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian armed forces. Congratulations anew Mr. President. Your swift high wired political schemes and moves with your extraordinary well calculated political maneuvers paid off. You said “emi lo kan” (it is my turn) and you got it against all odds.

4. Many people aren’t that lucky as you are now Sir! Even the all-time Yoruba Leader, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, would have loved to be there even for just one day, but he didn’t get it! What a lucky man you are indeed Mr. President!

Now that you have taken charge any which way, with the onerous responsibility to safely steer the ship of the country ashore, may you succeed, Sir.

However, I don’t envy you, Sir, considering the magnitude of challenges you inherited and those created by your administration so far.

The first blow was your sudden removal of the so called “fuel subsidy” when you were being inaugurated without clear alternatives and/or succor to cushion the effect. This singular act of yours spontaneously skyrocketed the cost of PMS and sporadically jump started hyper-inflation across the board.

Needless to say that this singular impromptu action of yours has further impoverished the populace, sharply depreciated the value of Naira to the lowest ebb ever known in history and made life very unbearable for Nigerians and people living in this country.

Your ultimatum and threat soon after your inauguration to Niger Republic’s new military government under the guise of ECOWAS, which has since been observed in the breach with gross ignominy, has greatly undermined and compromised the influence and standing of Nigeria in no small measure.

Your position In this regard is quite understandable since you needed to be in the good book of France at least to guarantee your personal safety and well-being for your regular medical tourism to France among other factors.

In about eight months after your inauguration as President, the security situation in the country has further deteriorated to an all-time high insecurity in a more alarming proportion.

I really wonder if anywhere is still safe in this country.

Human lives have since become more worthless far beyond imagination. Even your Comptroller-General of Correctional Service (Prisons) was quoted recently to have said that, it costs far more to feed their dogs than the human beings held in their facilities!

Before now, your immediate predecessor in the office had made the life of cows more valuable than that of human beings in this country!

More worrisome now is the unrestrained bombardment of Abuja, FCT, the seat of the Federal Government, in recent times by kidnappers, bandits and terrorists.

Needless to state that many more people have been and are still being killed while so many citizens have been forcefully dispossessed of their ancestral heritage in their ancestral homes across the country without consequences, while the armed forces and police seem to stand akimbo as if helpless under your watch.

In fairness to you, Mr President, Sir, the insecurity in the country didn’t start with your administration. Your immediate predecessor in office had deepened insecurity in the country as an act of governance, a “culture” and “legacy” before leaving office.

However, the fact remains that the security situation in the country is getting far worse than the worst per moment under your watch, Sir.

Under your watch so far, armed tribal militia was inaugurated in broad daylight without any consequence as though the country is now a jungle where anything goes and as though we no longer have armed forces, intelligence agencies and police service!

You can imagine what will become of this country if all other tribes and/or ethnic nationalities in today’s Nigeria follow suit! So Sir, many Nigerians will appreciate your quick intervention to urgently reverse this trend to avoid anarchy.

It is also an open knowledge Sir, that while the populace are wallowing in abject poverty, hunger, diseases and loss of self esteem, some of your Ministers and a few privileged political appointees were busy sharing our commonwealth to themselves in billions!

It is also common knowledge that you have somehow “Lagosnized” and/or “Yorubanized” your key political appointments and patronage, particularly in the economy and security sectors.

I don’t grudge you that much Sir. After all, your predecessor had perfected tribalism, nepotism and gross incompetence as sine qua non for government appointments and patronage. May be, Nigerians would have been expecting too much from you Sir, to act differently in this regard as an original “Eko for show” “Lagos Bobo”!

Even more absurd, Sir, is the impression that some of your appointees appear to be above the law and untouchable even in the face of daunting preliminary evidence of abuse of office, conflicts of interest and/or outright corruption of gargantuan magnitude so soon!

Mr. President, Sir, I know that as a typical Nigerian politician, the tendency is to want to parley well with those perceived to be able to help you secure a possible second term in office.

However, the truth is that, this approach has never worked in the past. There is no likelihood that it will work now! Many of those who tried to be politically correct in the past in order to secure a second tenure (which in your case is still over three years ahead) before doing the right things as President, never got it. If in doubt Sir, please, ask former President Goodluck Jonathan!

So, Sir, don’t allow yourself to be deceived by the mirage of a second term that may never come before you start doing the needful. It may really never come, Sir!

So, Sir, please, use your tenure in the office now to do the needful.

You still have more than three years as President in this first instance, all things being equal. Please, use your time now as President to better the lot of Nigeria and Nigerians.

Please, Sir, do not play or allow yourself to play to the gallery by trying to be “politically correct” now in the hope of securing a second term that may never come! Act rightly now without fear or favour and let posterity be kind to you, Sir.

Sir, not a few people are still wondering what your renewed hope agenda is all about. What hope is being renewed, Sir?

There is palpable hunger, despair, insecurity, wanton killings and unwarranted abduction of citizens for ransom from their homes, as it was, if not worse now, with your immediate past predecessor in office. Is that the hope that is being renewed by your administration, Sir?

However, as an incurable optimist, I have sought solace in the fact that, as someone who was actively involved in pro-democracy activities through NADECO in the past, by which you also rode to become Governor of Lagos State, that somehow, the spirit of pro-democracy NADECO, will still find a place in you to do the needful in the overall interest of the country as President/Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

I understand, Sir, that you have already set an 8-point agenda for your administration. That is fantastic Sir! But, going by past antecedents, which government agenda under the operating fraudulent 1999 Constitution as variously altered has ever worked out as intended and/or indicated?

Therefore, tapping on your NADECO credentials, Sir, may I humbly suggest to you as follows:

1. That you should forget about the second term for now and use this time in the office as President to address the fundamental challenge plaguing the country without necessarily neglecting the primary purpose of governance. There is nothing more left to achieve in your political career, Sir. You wanted to be President and you are now the President! Besides, time and tide don’t seem to be in abundance anymore!

2. Please, Sir, kindly collapse your 8-point agenda into just ONE! – RESTRUCTURE NIGERIA peacefully now, as envisioned by the founding leaders of this country Nigeria prior to and at Independence in 1960.

3. If you do 2 above, all other things will most likely fall in place naturally.

4. Sir, you can achieve 2 above in far less than two years out of your remaining over three years in office in the first instance.

5. Four out of the six geopolitical zones of the country are in full support of RESTRUCTURING the country as envisioned by the founding fathers of the country. Even at that, only a fraction of the remaining two geopolitical zones seem to withdraw support for it due to their imaginary “fear”; which can be easily allayed by proper enlightenment.

6. All the materials needed to accomplish 2 above are already with you Sir. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel now. You have the El-Rufai’s report, you have the 2014 confab report with its draft constitution. There are also many other reports preceding the aforementioned. All that is required now is the “political will” and for the National Assembly to enable law(s) or evoke the doctrine of necessity to achieve 2 above.

7. 2 above is a cardinal item in both your political party’s constitution and manifesto. So, executing 2 above will be a very important fulfillment of your political party’s constitution and manifesto.

8. If 2 above is the only achievement of your government, you would have eternally etched your name in platinum even for future generations! Then, all that had plagued you hitherto would be easily forgiven if not forgotten!

9. Do not procrastinate, Sir. Procrastination is the thief of time! So, start the process of actualizing 2 above now. If you do, be rest assured Sir that posterity will be kind to you.

Let me pause here while hoping that your renewed hope and energy will be directed at actualizing the RESTRUCTURING OF NIGERIA in your own time as President/Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Nigeria.

Please, kindly accept the assurance of my highest hope as I hopefully await your positive action and renewed hope in a RESTRICTED NIGERIA in your time as President/Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

•Professor Echefuna’ R G ONYEBEADI

30/01/2024.

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