Buhari, You Roared Like A Tiger, Stop Biting Like A Squirrel -By Churchill Okonkwo

Churchill Okonkwo

Dear President Buhari, though I have not met you, I’ve known you for a long time, having first voted for you in 1999 when no one gave you a chance. My President, every time your administration commits a blunder (and there has been plenty), or is in caught in increasing acts of corruption, I get a poke and the question “how far” with my incorruptible man? Also, a sister refers to you as my father, which I had gladly accepted. So, I will be blunt with you the way a good son will express profound disappointment to a father he respects sincerely.

Mr. President, you roared like a tiger and boasted to tear up and squash corruption if elected. But now, you are biting your political opponents like a squirrel. Sometimes, you bite and blow cold at the same time just to see if the targeted corrupt PDP opposition members will switch to APC. Meanwhile, the corrupt APC hyenas in your kitchen are shielded from the EFCC and DSS. So Mr. President, what happened to the tiger that Nigerians voted for in 2015?

Mr. President, I cannot see your footprint in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Unless you’re careful Mr. President, you will end up turning into a corrupt leader, something you started out scorning when you were roaring like a tiger. And you, Mr. President, will get a reputation as a pushover who is a tool of the corrupt Nigerian political class you claimed not to belong to.

Every day, Mr. President, Nigerians are confronted with jaw gapping reports of some bizarre new corrupt acts involving your administration. We hold our breath and wait for the tiger to roar before cutting off the heads of the hyenas operating in his kitchen. But all we see is a squirrel running from one branch of the tree to another without a clear purpose. Mr. President, we understand that you have to work within the ambits of the law, but you have woefully failed to even scratch the corrupt aides you appointed.

Mr. President, I can say confidently that you’re doing badly, way beyond the expectation, of those that doubted your incorruptible credentials. We have been speaking up, but its either you have not been listening or the people you entrusted the responsibility of telling you the truth have joined the gang. So, next time you see Femi your media aide, remind him of what you charged him to do on his first day at work. Find out from him why he has zipped their lips.

My President, if you are building a house and the nail breaks, do you stop building or do you change the nail? The nail you are using to fight corruption is not just broken completely, but is now attracting and preserving corrupt characters like a spider’s cobweb. Behind your presidency sits enthroned an invisible, yet very corrupt and powerful aides supervised by your Chief of staff Abba Kyari. They have slowly but surely destroyed what we thought was your impeccable brand.

Mr. President, your failure to act fast and decisively on clear corrupt acts in your administration have brought public faith in your government to an abysmal new low. To bounce back from the NNPC-Baru and Kyari- Malami -Mina scandals, you need to clean your house, beginning with this commonsense sacking of Abba Kyari and your Minister for Justice and Attorney General Abubakar Malami. Nigerians who voted for you in 2015 based on your promise deserve no less. Failure to act will deliver the country into the waiting arms of the PDP mob.

We, the good people of Nigeria are, therefore, demanding that your chronically corrupt aides that have been dismantling the equally corrupt moneybags in PDP get a taste of their own medicine. Mr. President, I urge you to tap into a desperate urge among Nigerians for reform of the entire anti-corruption agencies.

My fear is that if you and your aides continue to take Nigerians for granted, you will receive a sucker punch in 2019. Mr. President, remember that what goes around comes around. If you fail to do the needful now, karma will come to you and the corrupt acolytes in 2019. Mr. President, even if the PDP is like taking Nigeria back to the days of corruption with impunity, Nigerians will not let you get away with your pretense of innocence in all these corrupt acts around your administration.

Mr. President, note that capricious bullying of your political opponents won’t curb endemic corruption in Nigeria, nor will it lead Nigerians to trust that your administration is committed to fighting corruption. And surely, many Nigerians are right now reconsidering whether they have made a terrible mistake by believing in you.

Mr. President, I cannot end this letter without touching on the farmers-herdsmen conflict. This is one of those issues I had expected you to roar as a tiger to reduce the perennial bloodbath to the barest minimum. My President, you are a Fulani herdsman yourself and as such, understands the issue and the solutions more than many of us. You should, therefore, step out of your comfort zone, visit the conflict zones, mediate and find an amicable solution that will protect the farmers and get these herdsmen off our streets and farms to a modern rearing facility.

Mr. President, when you get to sit down with these killer herdsmen, please find out why the kill with such vengeance. Most importantly, go after, arrest, prosecute and jail these killer herdsmen. You have to take responsibility Mr. President and end this bloodbath. So, stop biting the farmers-herdsmen conflict like a squirrel, roar like a tiger Mr. President. The implication of your failure to act on this menace has a multiplier effect in the already divided nation.

Mr. President, it appears that you have taken the impotency of Nigerians as a weakness. My responsibility as a good son is to characterize your actions as unacceptable. I must let you know that you have not only failed to keep your promise to fight corruption, you have also failed to address other issues of urgent national importance like terrible power supply, failure to sell our refineries, Farmers-herdsmen conflict and infrastructural decay.

I am, therefore, not particularly excited about your rumored intention to run in 2019. But I am delighted that you are back, energized and healthier to hopefully squarely face the challenges of running a dying country. Mr. President, now that Obasanjo has dug up your political grave, the choice of opting to fall in, be pushed in or roar like a tiger and save yourself by cleaning up the mess in your trail is in your hands.

This is my “son to father” love message to you, Mr. President. I hope my tone will change from lamentation and rebuke to sigh of relieve and then admiration when next you hear from me. Happy New Year Mr. President. You roared like a tiger, please stop biting like a squirrel.

From Churchill, with love.

You can email Churchill at Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @churchillnnobi