A Diaspora Note to My President, PART 1
Can two walk together, except they be agreed? - Amos 3:3 (King James Version (KJV))
Where I stand in the Nigerian Federation is very well known worldwide such that I can speak my mind at any time without the slightest thought of being misinterpreted in any least way. It is also such that whatever I write cannot be misunderstood as being bias or borne out of prejudice against anyone, any section/geographical area of Nigeria or ethnic nationality as I have within my relatively short years taken up matters that concern all and sundry, wherever they are domiciled in that country.
“Jonathan, why cryeth unto me…what’s that in your palm?”
It is also such that no right thinking person will after having read my writings on key issues of national importance ever conclude that JOHN ODEY ADUMA is writing because he wants to be called to go and chop in Abuja or elsewhere. Thus, in the years of my practicing journalism beginning from my secondary school days till the present, I have always spoken my mind and in this piece which is first and foremost, intended for the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria His Excellency, Dr.Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, I‘d like to speak my mind and be blunt, not out of disrespect for his person or for that exalted office of President. If anything, I’m motivated by love and unalloyed patriotism for our country, hence I shall be unsparing in this article.
Secondly, this article is also directed more specifically, not to the North as a geo-political grouping in the Nigerian Federation, but to the descendants of Uthman Dan Fodio and my Hausa/Fulani brothers and sisters. I will be pointed and direct because many a time all historians and analysts of the Nigerian history have always hidden under the term “North” when writing about Nigeria and its many crises/ills over the years, when by “North” they actually mean the Hausa/Fulanis of Nigeria.
Thirdly, I will by this piece be talking to all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora as the world really do want to know what we want to make of Nigeria. What really do we want as Nigerians, as a people from/for our Nigeria?
The interlude period of not writing anything about Nigeria has been most agonizing as I see a beautiful country such as Nigeria being turned into a jungle by her greedy, corrupt, power-hungry and bigoted sons and daughters and I had continued to ask myself: What haven’t I told Nigeria as others close to me too have been asking: “What haven’t you told that country?”, particularly genuine men of God, not your fraudsters and jet-tors preaching the gambit prosperity gospel extorting money and impoverishing hapless Nigerians in the name of tithes and offerings; making them to contribute to the building of their business houses - the so-called international headquarters of their churches; the building of universities which the children of these hapless and gullible Nigerians cannot at the end of the day attend, etc, etc.
Whilst those who summoned the courage to ask some pertinent questions are bundled into “Holy Detention” where they are threatened with curses and against their wishes, forced to be delivered of what these so-called men of God referred to as demonic contribution syndrome...they are warned: “You must disabuse your mind of that contribution syndrome if you want God to prosper you.” A friend’s wife who took her N250, 000 gratuity in the 90s and gave to a Man of God is having a rendezvous with poverty and eternal remorse today as the promised miracle never came – I mean the so-called financial break-through. The sooner the Christians in Nigeria learn God is not an abracadabra, Father Christmas, money doubler and a magaician, the better for their general gullibility!
Amongst these fraudsters are President Jonathan’s confidants, personal prophets and friends – I mean all those men and women of Mammon who have taken over the Presidency organizing one form of prayers or another ranging from the so-called Presidential Breakfast to Thanksgiving Services hoping to bribe God whilst exposing themselves as the Pharisees of the modern times. If the President’s Brothers and Sisters in Christ are not merely men and women of Mammon, and are indeed, servants of the living God, they would have caused him to declare his assets long ago in accordance with our national Bible – the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
But the word of the Lord to President Jonathan and these hypocrites with their larger than life crosses round their greedy and giraffed-necks or should I say in a Nigerian colloquial (long or longer throats) is: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked…Whatever a man soweth, that he shall reap.” These buffoons together with Jonathan form the Association of Jet Owners of Nigeria (AJON) or in line with the uncreative naming and cliché of the day: Members of the Jet Owners Forum (JOF). I hear the President has 13 or 14 Presidential Jets, and if this is true, the Lord said I should tell him he needs just one jet to do the job, and he must sell the rest and give the money to the poor, and for all those proud owners of jets in cassocks using God to dupe Nigerians, the Lord said I should tell them, everyone of them, repeat, everyone of them using jets currently bought with the money extorted from His children that they don’t need such metal birds to do His work, so should each sell their jet and give the money to the poor. A word is enough for the wise.
These thieves on the pulpits having conned the Brethren to buy these jets are not giving UNTO CAESAR, THE THINGS THAT ARE CAESAR’s at our various airports, where they have these obscenity parked, thereby cheating on the nation’s tax payers twice! What a double tragedy!
Eternal condemnations await all these preachers of Mammon preaching another gospel different to the true gospel of “SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL OTHER THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU”, but which they have for pecuniary reasons changed to: SEEK YE FIRST ALL OTHER THINGS, THEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU!
The simple tests for these Fraudsters-General of the Federation (FGF) is: What would Jesus do knowing in Nigeria; over 110 million people live on less than a Dollar per day – buy jet? The stories of the feeding of the five thousand and four thousand at different times in the Lord’s Ministry are instructive…Verily, verily, I say unto all the jet-owner-pastors, he who has eyes to see the multitude of the poverty-stricken and toiling masses of Nigeria, let him see - and he who has ears to hear the cries of the poor in that country, let him hear. Pope Francis oversees over 2.5 billion Catholics worldwide, yet he does not own a jet, the Queen of England is one of the richest persons in the world, yet she does not own a jet nor the Arch Bishop of Canterbury Justin Welby with members over 80 million people across the globe does!
In both miracles above, the Bible records that Jesus was moved to compassion for the people following Him seeing they were hungry and had not eaten for days, so just what do the proud jet owner-charlatans see all around them in their various little corners? All Nigerians are this day invited to listen to Jesus in the two different episodes referred to above: “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
In today’s Nigeria, the toiling masses are in exactly the same situation as those above on whom Jesus had compassion. In like manner, the people of Nigeria have come a long distance with Shepherd Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and they are hungry having been merely chewing their teeth and drinking contaminated water fetched from Nigeria’s gutters full of effluent discharges. But here is what Jonathan is telling these weary Nigerians in a weary land having also, disdainfully refused to be their shelter in the time of storm: “These is a remote place and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Your Excellency, the difference between you and the Lord is that whilst the Lord cares about the people, you are crassly insensate to the pains, sorrows and agonies of Nigerians. Thus, the Lord said I should tell you: “You are a greedy man. And you have wrongly acquired beyond your needs in a life time.”
Whilst the Lord Jesus is interested in the people, provided for and ultimately died for them on the Cross, you, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan are interested in acquiring more shoes, more jets and in 2015.
As a call to conscience and reflection: By your kind permission, Mr President, I ask: “Why do you not want to declare your assets?”
More than any Nigerian leader living or dead, you do God. Therefore, I want to believe very sincerely; as you do often punctuate your words, phrases and sentences with the things of God, so I want to record for posterity that you are a child of God, a Born Again Christian, probably the first in that exalted office. If this observation of mine is true, why would a child of God not lead by example, Mr President?
By swearing to an oath with the Holy Book and not abiding by your nation’s Bible – the Constitution, you have proved to the world that you are a liar and a deceiver- a man not worthy of the national trust bestowed upon him by the good people of Nigeria.
Your Excellency, have you ever asked yourself as a child of God what would Jesus your Lord and personal Savior have done were He voted into that office and having sworn to an oath to declare His assets?
Esteemed Sir, if you do not abide by the vow you have taken in that exalted office and went ahead to tell your country men and women and the world that you don’t give a damn, why then should your Lord and Maker give a damn to answer your petitions in that “High and Lowly” office?
And the Lord says: Jonathan, my son: Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?”
If you are not a law abiding President, why should anyone in that country under you be law abiding, I mean anyone including members of Boko Haram?
Can you still remember how your journey into that exalted office began? In case you have forgotten, by your kind permission, Mr President, this was how: The mythical bird Goodluck used Justice Egonwari your kinsman to recommend you to Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigh who was then looking for a Deputy. Alam and Gordon Bozimo drove to your then residence at OMPADEC Quarters where you were then just an Assistant Director and requested you to accompany him to INEC to fill forms just like that without you sweating or dreaming to be a Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State of Nigeria. The rest as we say in Nigeria is now history. Then as if you were the most favoured child of Mother Goodluck, she was always strategically positioning you in places where your spiritual helpers could locate you, so also without a personal vision, ambition, aspiration, she again through one Olusegun Obasanjo, a.k.a Baba Iyabo and one Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua pushed you up the Presidency ladder – again the rest is now history. But Ebele, this is you:
True to your character, having been helped to the Rock, you have decided to burn that same ladder so no Nigerian shoeless child ever gets there. And what is more, you now close your ears so you cannot hear the cries of the over 110 million poor who live on less than a Dollar a day! And you have deliberately shut your eyes so you cannot see anyone of your wounded compatriots on the nation’s many Jericho roads. And recently, you well confirmed your utter disdain for the 89 victims of Nyanya bomb blasts and 239 abducted girls when your selfish interest was promoted above their pains and the sorrows of their relatives and their country men and women who have been waiting for you many, many seasons now to drive the Philistines and the Medianites from off their land and totally remove the yokes of Boko Haram from off their necks.
Esteemed Sir, I want you to understand by Philistines and Medianites, I mean Boko Haram, the multitude of Islamists operating under the now franchised brand Boko together with all the international terrorist groups now operating in your country with their cells inside bush, forest, motels, mosques, ruga, restaurants and businesses owned by some Asians in Nigeria, shops, bus stops, the Big Dome in the Vulture City, State Houses, the Presidency, Guest Houses, brothels, hotels, schools, colleges, military barracks, police barracks, cattle markets, universities, palaces, mechanic workshops, abandoned properties, estates, airports, privates houses of all politicians calling down fires on Nigerians, Middle Eastern Embassies belonging to Arab States – Core Arab Nations (CAN), Peripheral Arab States (PAS), Arab States by Descent, (ASD), Arab Nations by Muslim Ummah (ASMU), etc. I’m merely repeating myself in all of these as there is no information that I had not supplied your brambles (efulefu) who pass for security chiefs from here. Make no mistakes; terrorists cells are all over Nigeria and not just in BAY – Borno, Adamawa and Yobe or just in the North!
Just how many terrorists’ cells abound in your country, do you know, Mr President? By the way, why have you not ever since identified and prosecuted the terrorists Masterminds – master planners/strategists, financiers, weapons buyers/suppliers, target identifiers before any attacks are carried out, commanders, directors, guides, teachers, clerics, scholars, mentors, bomb manufacturers – I mean all the local Talibans getting money from the East and colluding with their international counterparts to destabilize our Nigeria? These Talibans surround you on daily basis making inflammatory utterances and getting away with them with your sleeping and snoring prodigal IGP M.D Abubakar treacherously turning a blind eye, but perpetually hounding MASSOB members.
Whilst you and your men point your fore fingers to the forest, which was where I had initially given them a lead when they were jumping about like wild donkeys and kangaroos in Kano and Abuja, do not forget that all your four fingers are pointing back to high places, where they confederate to plot and do detestable things to be carried out by the thoroughly brainwashed children of the Talakawas and other Wild Donkeys of the desert.
Sir, the zero strategy of your so-called security chiefs, experts and analysts are laughable and they expose the nation to its enemies worldwide as a defenceless country and thoroughly weak in every sense of the word. What if the Bakassi imbroglio had resulted in war, Cameroon would have overrun our Nigeria. Yes, I had to discontinue the publication of an investigation as a line editor at the Punch in the 90s when after that investigation which involved my meeting military top notches and other ranks I discovered the nation did not have enough firepower to take on Cameroon in the event of war.
Your Excellency, how do you hope to win this war without making a scapegoat of the terror Masterminds and financiers, both local and international putting weapons in coffins, inside trailers alongside cattle, ambulances, civil service vehicles, military vehicles, taxis, sacks, cement bags, garri bags, rice bags, beans bags, pretended wedding buses, cars, etc, etc to be delivered to dem boys? Sir, Am I to record you for posterity as saying that certain people by virtue of their birth, geography and privileged positions are above the laws of Nigeria?
Mr President, terrorists don’t live on trees, nor do they like aliens live in other planets – they live in houses, their excellencies' guest houses, hotels, they eat tuwo with cooker like any one up North, live in guest houses, sleep in palaces of all those your turbaned traditional rulers shedding goose tears! They buy food stuffs, toiletries, alcohol, drugs in the same markets like other law abiding citizens, visit the same hospitals, chemists, visit brothels, motels, hotels to discharge their white oils into dem beauties, but have lately thought abduction would serve them best, although they had been doing this piecemeal hitherto. They have places they sleep like any other Nigerian; they have friends, brothers, sisters, mothers, uncles, cousins, aunties, etc, etc. They are sneaking in and out of their hideouts taunting and mocking those who are supposed to fight them, and sometimes eat and sleep with them!
So when will you and your men put pressures on all those parents who have not seen their children for say half-a-day, a whole day, days, weeks, months, years? When will you and your men put pressures on the traditional rulers - emirs, imams, alfas about young persons suddenly went “missing” in their mosques, domains, kingdoms. Hang on a minute, all these know about the sudden disappearance of such youngsters, but why have they not reported them to the police ever since? When then will you and your so-called security chiefs - highly partisan with double loyalty whom I have no respect for, ask all parents and guardians whose young persons have not been seen for half a day, a whole day, days, weeks, months, years to report and register the names of such youngsters, young adults, adults and old people at the nearest police station with such names subsequently passed onto you and your trusted security aides?
Who are the recruiters, who are their intermediaries, how many young persons are currently being trained in Arab States to return to bomb their compatriots and country; just which airports are they passing through, what institutions are they lying they are going to further their ‘education?’
Mr President, what ought to be the role of the National Orientation Agency in times like these? And why are they not visiting schools and colleges to warn gullible persons about the dangers of joining Boko Haram and other Medianites and the Philistines? If the current Director- General of NOA thinks it is not his job to re-orientate the thinking and psyche of the nation at this time, why is he still keeping his job at the expense of the tax payers?
How many times have the DG of the NOA and the IGP been on radios, TVs and using other media warn young people against joining Boko Haram and parents of the consequences of joining such evil donkeys? How many times have they and their key personnel visit schools, colleges, universities, markets, streets, etc, etc to educate their compatriots about these giants monsters troubling the nation alongside giving them security education?
What are your good-for-nothing security chiefs doing instead of moving from school to school; college to college; university to university, barracks to barracks, streets to streets warning young people, their parents, their recruiters/financiers against having anything to do with these Wild Donkeys of the desert they are chasing contracts/ LPOs, drinking Brukutu, pepper soup and kain-kain?
Just how many media jingles - radios, tvs, newspapers has the Ministry of Information designed and currently running in the media with respect to discouraging people from joining these Merchants of Deaths?
How many Senators and Legislators have been to their constituencies on similar assignments of warning all young persons, parents in their constituencies against joining terrorist organizations including their backers/financiers and explaining to them that the campaign against terrorists in BAY are not a genocidal mission, but an exercise meant to keep all and sundry safe and secure to shame traitors like Nyako and when will the IGP and the Apex Legislative Assembly summon Mr Murtala Nyako for questioning? “Mr” because this traitor was never an Admiral in the Nigerian Navy. Will the good people of Nigeria please join me in calling for the stripping off of that undeserved rank? Nyako is now to be known and called THE SATANIC GOVERNOR OF THE SAVANNA. All citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should please join me in calling for the stripping off of his national honours of GCON, CFR and other entitlements by virtue of his Naval and other services to the nation. Let Mr Nyako leave our Nigeria and go and be President of the Boko Haram Republic. Will all Nigerians please join me in calling for his impeachment and after having been impeached Mr Nyako should go and look for his country elsewhere and leave OUR NIGERIA alone?
How many times have their Majesties Ado Bayero of Kano and the Sultan of Sokoto been to schools, mosques, streets, playgrounds, sports arenas to warn youngsters against joining Boko Haram instead of shedding goose tears all over the place? Just where were their Royal Highnesses when terrorists exploded in their domains/emirates? How many times have they and other emirs been on radios and televisions to warn parents against allowing their children to join Boko Haram?
When will the country make it a criminal offence for failing to report all terror activities in the land?
Your Excellency, you would agree with me and the rest of the world that in the war on terror you have like Esau already sold your birthright to Boko Haram in your trade mark snail-like approach to issues of national and international importance. You are not only too, too slow, but you are too, too weak, hence a misfit in that exalted office. By this, you are sure not the right man for the job. With all emphasis, I dare say, you are not the right man to get the job done in that exalted office.
Despite the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you really, really do not have the slightest knowledge of what your job specifications entail in that office. Your story is the story of a man with a knife and yam, but does not know what to do to serve all the trustees of that yam, but only to feed your native greed, corruption and crass arrogance, hence you show utter scorn and disrespect for everything Nigerian, except yourself. The three most important interests to you in that office is: Firstly – your personal interest; secondly – your personal interest and thirdly- your personal interest.
You are not in control of things in that office. You do not know your enemies; everyone has too, too free access to you, hence you have lost the total respect of your country men and women; in that office you are neither in control of yourself nor your wife; in that office, you are neither in control of your personal security nor that of your wife; above all, in that exalted office, you are not in control of the security of the nation you claim to be governing. Herein lies the roots of your confusion and do-nothingness in the face of grave threats to national security. The Ship of State is sinking very fast, buffeting against indescribable stormy gales, but like Nero, you wine and dine and dance whilst Rome burns.
Jonathan! Jonathan! The Philistines are all over you! Jonathan! Jonathan! The Medianites are all over you!
Mr President, when you ought to confront the Philistines and the Medianites ravaging and plundering your country, you chickened out to the point of scampering to hide in the comfort of your bunker, which in the Lord’s reckoning an ant on top of it can bring that edifice down. When your country men and women expected you to act, you ran into the clefts of the Rock to hold the nation’s independence anniversary.
The whole wide world and posterity are invited to hear Nigeria’s crying Commander-in-Chief: “When I’m challenged I think more; I don’t rush to take decisions. I listen more to people. That is why, at times, it looks as if I’m slow. I also know that when people rush to take decisions, they also make a lot of mistakes. A lot of people only celebrate their successes and not their mistakes.”
But a voice echoing across the vistas of time is saying to Goodluck Ebele Jonathan: “Be ye wise as a serpent and peaceful as a dove.” You are therefore, expected to in that exalted office posses the characters of a serpent and that of a dove – all at the same time!
Whilst I pause to enable you reflect on this message of the Lord to you, please tell your good-for-nothing security chiefs that fighting terrorism is not as fighting a conventional war, hence four strategies are needful:
Number 1: Strategic intelligence gathering;
Number 2: Strategic intelligence gathering;
Number 3: Strategic intelligence gathering;
Number 4: Other strategic strategies/methods!
Then ACTION!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
***To be continued.
“Jonathan, why cryeth unto me…what’s that in your palm?”