A CANDID NOTE FROM THE DIASPORA TO HER EXCELLENCY, MRS AISHA BUHARI FOR THE PRESIDENT TO NOW SERIOUSLY BEGIN TO BE MINDFUL OF HIS STATE OF HEALTH AS WELL AS THE HEALTH OF THE NATION
DELEGATION: Buhari's health, vested interest and the nation...Letter to Mrs Aisha Buhari
SERIES: BUHARISM AND THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW
Now is the time for Muhammadu Buhari to advise Muhammadu Buhari to be mindful of his health, age and DELEGATE responsibilities to able, committed and patriotic subordinates to enable him start REAL governance and concentrate on domestic matters. Whoever stole the word DELEGATION from Mr Buhammadu Muhari's dictionary has dealt him the unkindest blow of all time and such an one MUST be made to have a rendezvous with the EFCC and ICPC! But where's your President, Nigerians?
Your Excellency,
This letter was in fact written last year on March 2, 2015 and has been in draft ever since with all contents unchanged, unedited because of its continuous relevance as the President is carrying too much work load without commonsense which in this case, is found in the ten-letter word: DELEGATION.
Esteemed Ma'am it is to be noted here that ever since I had been prodded on many occasions in the spirit to put it in the public domain via our two publications: SCORPION AND VIGILANCE, but each of such times I had remained stubborn and disobedient to the Spirit.
However, moved by the Spirit again and again lately, I had no choice, but to obey by causing its publication in our two magazines with the hope that it sure will get to you in one way or another, so you could whisper into the ears of our dear President and your husband over issues that have been raised in this note of mine.
Noble one, this letter is necessitated by my concern for the state of the health of your husband, General Muhammadu Buhari, our former HoS and presently the Presidential flag bearer of the APC - (now our President since May 29th, 2015).
Looking at our former Head of State (now our President) from MY OBSERVATORY, the United Kingdom, I very much think that His Excellency, your husband does need sometime off from the public glare and his campaign schedules (then in March of 2015) as lined up for him by the mindless, self-serving, inhumane and unpatriotic compatriots of ours who are merely out for their personal interest in contradistinction to the interest of His Exellency's nuclear/extended families, the nation, all persons of African ancestry and the entire humanity who still do need your husband's inputs in several other capacities other than politics.
Without doubt in my mind, and you would agree with me madam, your husband and our former HoS (now our President) is visibly sick as any discerning and concerned mind can see, except the blind bats around him goading him into taking more than his present state of health and age can bear/carry.
These 'blind people' know too well they need to take it easy with the General (now President), but their greed and selfish ambitions/interests would not allow them to obey the voice of reason and take it easy with him, by giving him sometime to take care of his health and shedding off some of the gruelling events they have stupidly and heartlessly lined up for him, expecting the past to return, so they step in to fill the void and have a place to stand in the void or fill (in) the void.
After God, I want to strongly hold you are the closest person to your husband and only you can advise him accordingly and help him take/make an informed decision that will be beneficial to your personal self, your entire family including extended and the nation.
This decision is too grave and very important to be left in the hands of his private doctor/s, whether in Nigeria or overseas, nor would you make the mistake of allowing the 'vultures' and 'predators' around him to get involved and hijack this soul-searching exercise and exploit for their own inglorious end.
At the end of the day, a Buhari doesn't really need to run or nurse the ambition to come back to rule Nigeria any more as he had before been the leader of this country including all persons of African ancestry.
Taking a critical, dispassionate and an honest view of the state of his health, it is my candid opinion that he will be better off guiding the nation and upcoming generations of Nigerian, and indeed, African leaders from the side line - and the nation, Africa and the entire world will be richer and blessed for this.
But if after having read this letter of mine and you have conferred with him and he tells you he has the strength to go on, then I wish him and all that both of you wish (for) yourselves and the entire family, including the Nigerian nation, but remember/don't forget health is wealth.
Esteemed ma'am, please do permit me to remind you both that the office of president in a democracy, as opposed to being a HoS in a military setting requires 24/7 attention - endless crucial meetings, some of which may not necessarily be delegated, endless planning, strategising, execution/implementation, monitoring, lobbying, receiving streams of visitors from within and without, sleeping very late and sometimes no sleep at all, standing long hours, sitting long hours, delivering/making long speeches at serious ocassions, touring the country, travelling abroad wooing and making friends for Nigeria, addressing the UN standing long hours, reading thoroughly very important documents of national and international importance religiously and digesting before signing them, attending social occasions and many, many more - and to be honest, I do not think his current state of health can carry/take all of these.
Your Excellency, to know when ENOUGH IS ENOUGH is not weakness, but wisdom. And if I'm allowed to use a common Nigerian expression: BODY NO BE WOOD!
Esteemed ma'am, please permit me to close with this passage from the Bible: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth," 3 John 1:2 (KJV).
As my conclusion: Only Muhammadu Buhari can advise Muhammadu Buhari on Muhammadu Buhari's state of health and age.
I thank you for your time from a full heart.
Respectfully,
ODEY OKABO ADUMA
ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
*March 2, 2015 (written last year, but just being published).
MIND LEPROSY
*THE NATIONAL BLUEPRINT FOR A BROAD-BASED DISSECTION OF AND STRATEGIES TO COMBAT CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
BY JOHN ODEY ADUMA, PUBLISHER AND BRITISH CHEVENING SCHOLAR, UNITED KINGDOM
GENERAL ADVICE FOR THE PRESIDENT-ELECT (NOW IN OFFICE AS PRESIDENT)
Watch words to be committed to memory
⦁ ALL NIGERIANS MATTER (ANM)
⦁ EVERY NIGERIAN MATTERS (ENM)
⦁ Always plan each day and remember the 6Ps: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance
⦁ Learn to work conscientiously in accodance with the "fierce urgency of now".
⦁ Delegate! Delegate! Delegate!
⦁ Work and rest, rest and work
⦁ Sleep early, where and whenever it is necessary
⦁ Give deadlines to all getting assignments from you, no matter how small...this was the bane of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, hence we still have Boko Haram to contend with.
⦁ You are not a super man; your health matters!
⦁ Don't do Ghana-Must-Go politics
⦁ Don't do religion, but by all means, do God
⦁ Create the time to be with your immediate family
⦁ Create the time to be with your close friends
⦁ Get advice, but don't be bound by all advice
⦁ Have manageable team to cut cost and in order to avoid unnecessary time wastages
⦁ Let your "No" be "No" and Let your "Yes," be "Yes"!
STYLE OF ADMINISTRATION/GOVERNANCE
Sweet and bitter; bitter and sweet: (Never be a ripe mango in that exalted office, lest you will be sucked by vested interest, as Jonathan was even by Boko Haram. Start work every morning with a carrot in one hand and a horse whip in the other).
BROAD LOCAL PARTNERSHIP TO FIGHT CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
In thinking of fighting corruption, what partnership already exists or will exist betwen the Government and Nigerians - the media, workers, labour unions, NUT, ASUU; the judiciary; professional associations; the police; the armed forces; other institutions, the civil service; NGOs - civil liberties organizations, etc?
ANTI-BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION CLUBS/SOCIETIES
Set up Anti-Bribery and Corruption clubs or societies in schools, colleges and the universities, workplaces, churches, mosques, motor parks, amongst market women and men, etc.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP
Has Buhari been liaising with the international community over his crusade already - if yes, for how long and if No - why not?
What about world leaders, international NGOs - AU, EU, UNO, Transparency International, etc?
NATIONAL ANTI-BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION CRUSADE MEDAL (NABCCM)
There should be rewards for whistle-blowers who expose sharp practices of immense magnitude including journalists whose investigations lead to exposure of corruption on a large scale, and ordinary Nigerians who help to expose corruption.
God bless our Nigeria.
To be continued.
*Excerpt from my book: Mind Leprosy.
We were actually serialising this book (still in manuscript) soon after the President had been sworn in on May 29, 2009 thinking he was thinking what we were thinking about our Nigeria, but had to discontinue to have the time to respond to NATIONAL EMERGENCIES, where the nation is currently as every sector by our reckoning is currently in a state of emergency which requires emergency attention from the government of the day, but the picture we are getting from our OBSERVATORY about governance back home is that of RUDDERLESSNESS/DIRECTIONLESSNESS in the face of a time we consider ought to be declared as NATIONAL EMERGENCY.
**Proudly leading the NATIONALISTS UNITY MOVEMENT OF NIGERIA (NUMON).
***Please pass it on!